The Black Dawn
by 1MR Gray
Summary: a carefree fennekin, a jolteon that has much to learn about herself, and an absol that is tangled up with the past, all lived decent lives until one day their trainer catches a shiny red-eyed umbreon. Who is this gloomy pokemon that is haunted with calamity, and who are those that are after him?
1. Stray

**Chapter 1: Stray**

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My paw stood in a wet puddle that stained my silky black fur with crimson. My body shook without control in pure fear from the harrowing scene before me, none of which actually felt like reality. The full moon's lunar lights reflected off the puddle of blood below me. The blue rings that covered my body pulsed with energy, but in the end I was too petrified to do anything but stare at the lifeless leafeon lying on the ground. A jagged laceration in her neck gushed out blood and stained the once pure white snow on the ground.

My eyes made contact with the leafeon's, the one I called mom. The eyes that carried a powerful spark in them that I saw every day now had nothing left in them but a sign of terror from her last moment. The wound on her neck continued to spew blood, staining her smooth silky fur as it made its way to the snowy ground.

"This… this isn't happening," I spoke in denial as I shook my head frantically in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare. Tears began to stream down my eyes as my reality remained. This all felt like a really bad nightmare, one that I would wake up from if I tried hard enough, but I knew it wasn't.

A tear fell from my face and mixed in with the blood. I stared at the blood for a moment, before I looked at my paws that were soaked in her blood. A tremor ran through my spine as I moved back from the blood. I began to feel light headed as I swayed back and forth for a moment. My body felt so weak, and after a moment I fell onto the ground. My eyes clenched shut as I tried to block out the image of my mother, but the image was burned into my brain, when I closed my eyes all I saw was her lying there in her blood.

After a minute, my eyes opened back up, but I flinched back. A once brown paw that was covered in blood extended out towards me. My mothers head slanted to the side as her neck struggled to support her head. Her paw came closer as I remained in place, not once muscle would respond. Her paw brushed against my head, smearing her blood on my forehead. Her paw withdrew from me as my vision began to fade, soon everything was black.

* * *

I quickly jolted up as I sucked in a deep breath as if I was suffocating in my sleep. I remained still for a moment before I allowed myself to exhale a sigh of relief. Feeling groggy from being up so early, I let out a long yawn. I began to stand up, but when I applied pressure on my right forepaw I cringed from a sharp pain. The bones in my leg felt as if they were made of fragile glass. While recovering from the pain, memories from earlier during the day flashed in my head. The memory was a bit blurry, but I still remembered getting the crap beat out of me by three pokemon. The whole ordeal was a long story. Let's just say we didn't get along, and my smart mouth took things from there.

After I felt ready, I pushed myself off the ground. A strong stench pierced my nose, which caused my nose to twitch in pain from the rotten smell. Of course, I was attacked in an alley, and after hours of sleeping in this dump, I probably smelled like trash. A few rays from the sun managed to shine down into the dark gloomy alley I was in. Feeling no need to stay in this alley, I began to limp my way out onto the main street. It wasn't until halfway down the alley I felt my forepaw dip into a puddle of water.

I froze in place as I glanced down at the puddle. Honestly, I was thirsty and needed a drink, but I could never bring myself to ingest anything that came from an alley. Instead of hydrating myself, I stared at my reflection in the puddle. I cringed at the sight of how roughed up I looked, being a stray pokemon usually takes its toll on your physical appearance. Over the years I have acquired a few scars, but none too noticeable, along with scars I was covered in fresh and old cuts and bruises. My once silky black fur that was something I took a bit of pride in was now a dirty mess that was covered in dirt, it was really gross. Although, all that dirt didn't cover up my most notable physical feature, the blue rings on my body that marked me a shiny. Despite the blue rings though, I still had crimson eyes, just like a normal umbreon.

After I finished my inspection, I carried on my merry way towards the main streets of Lumiose city. Once at the end of the alley the rays from the sun blinded me. I moved back into the alley a bit as I looked away. The sun was just not rising, which wasn't something I was happy about. See, I'm an umbreon, and umbreons are nocturnal creatures, so me being the guy I am, I hate morning with a passion. To make things better, many humans were starting their day and the streets were crowded.

"Great," I muttered with annoyance, "Just what I need, humans…"

Luminose city was the Arceus forsaken city I was stuck in at the moment. Like most big cities, there was a good side of town and a polar opposite where you'll die if you're there during the wrong hour. Although, I could always appreciate the humans architecture, it's pretty interesting.

"Now, how do I get around all these humans without drawing attention to myself?" was the question I asked myself. I waited in the shadows of the alley as I waited for the humans to let up, but I soon realized that their was no end to them.

Realizing that I had no choice, I braced myself to run a gauntlet. I crouched low to the ground as I waited for my chance, and once I saw a small opening in the infinite human crowd I took off running on my three good legs. Many of the humans glared at me as I zigzagged around them. Some humans moved away, and some muttered insults as I ran past them.

I scanned the area as I ran down the street. Lumiose was a city full of many shops, most of them I didn't understand. My eyes continued to look around as I ran until I spotted what I was looking for, a food cart. A man tended the food cart as a small group of humans looked at his cart. A sneer formed on my face as I ran towards the cart. In a smooth motion I sprang off the ground and landed on the cart. The old man running the cart stumbled back along with his customers. I quickly glanced at the fruits before I found my target, an orange. I quickly grabbed the fruit with my maw and jumped away as the human reached for me. I felt his hand brush against my tail, but he wasn't fast enough to grip me.

"Thanks for the-," I began to tease while looking back at the vender who was chasing me, but then I looked forward to see a human in my path. I quickly weaved around the human and made it a point to watch where I was going. A turn was coming up in front of me, and I flew around the street corner. My head turned backwards to give that vendor one last glare. Suddenly the wind was knocked out of me as I ran into something at full force. My orange flew out of my mouth, and with a loud thump the obstacle and I landed on the ground. Annoyance rising, I tore my gaze away from the now lost orange to glare at the smaller creature clawing at me. A small yellow fox with air growing out of his ears was making a poor attempt to free himself. A took my eyes off the fennekin to see my orange getting kicked around on the street. A sigh escaped my mouth as I realized it was done for.

"Fucking humans," I muttered to myself, "That was my meal," I spat out with resentment as I got off the small fox. The fennekin remained on the ground in a dazed state. It didn't really surprise me, he did bang heads with an umbreon, and our kind is known for our thick bones.

"W-What was that for?" the fennekin said weakly as he struggled up off of the ground. I rolled my eyes at the fennekin, and I then darted off so I could find somewhere safe.

Everyone was looking at me with accusing eyes of disapproval as I ran through the streets. I could even hear a couple remarks made towards my species as I ran away. It didn't matter to me though, I was used to my kind not being a popular eeveelution. After a couple minutes of running through the busy streets I made my way to the outskirts of Luminose city. Here I actually had some peace and quiet from all the humans and bastards who discriminated my kind. Taking my chance to repose, I stared out towards the countryside. From here I could see the hilly landscape that wasn't bulldozed down for humans to build on. A few tall healthy trees rested on the hills, and in between all the hills was a massive lake. The suns rays danced along the lake, creating a scene worth being awake for.

Feeling relieved, I lied down on my front side. I cross crossed my two paws and rested my chin on them for a pillow. This was probably the only spot in Lumiose I actually enjoyed, you couldn't find peace in the city like you could here. Just as I felt myself relaxing my plans of napping were quickly thwarted by my stomach that let out a loud growl begging for something to fill its empty void. I wish I could comply with its demands, but some asshole kicked my orange away from me. Despite my hunger I continued to lie down and attempt to get some more shut eye.

My ears then pricked up as I heard the sound of light footsteps coming from behind me. In an instant I jumped up and spun around. I crouched low towards the ground as I growled. Facing me now was the same fennekin from earlier. He wore a baffled look on his face as he held a beat up orange in his mouth.

"ummm… hi," The fennekin nervously meeped in a muffled voice from the orange.

'Great, what does he want?,' I mentally questioned. My eyes slowly made their way to the orange in the fennekin's mouth, it almost looked like my orange... I don't know why he would bother bringing me a beat up orange, but I had no interest in talking to him. My eyes rolled at the fennekin as I turned back towards the view I enjoyed.

"You know this is your orange that you dropped earlier," the fennekin said as he walked over towards me, "Would you like it back?" I glanced back at the fire type for a moment, but it was only for a brief moment.

"You're not very social are you?" the fennekin asked as he creeped behind me.

"Leave me alone," I snarled at the fox. Silence followed my hostility, which was pleasing in my opinion.

About a minute passed by before another word came from him, "So, you're an umbreon I noticed," The fennekin pointed out the obvious and my ears flicked up.

"Really? I didn't notice," I replied back sarcastically.

"Well duh, I knew you knew that, I'm just surprised to see a shiny umbreon in Luminose. Umbreon's aren't exactly common, but you're a shiny on top of that," The fennekin said and my patience quickly drained as his mouth kept flapping My mouth opened to make a snide remark, but a loud gurgle from my stomach cut my off.

"Heh, you sure you don't want the orange?" The fennekin asked before he rolled my orange towards me. I eyed the once beautiful orange that had a perfect orange color that showed no sign of bruises or spoiling. Along with that, it was all topped of with a sweet smell that could make me drool just from the idea. But now my precious orange was covered in dirt and lost its once perfect shape. To make things worse it was leaking the juices from the inside, I think I could even make out a shoe print on it... This thing was disgusting now, I could hardly stand to see a thing once so perfect now so… repulsive.

"Yeah I know it got kind of beat up in that crowd, but I know food is hard to get for a wild pokemon," the fennekin smiled with a nervous chuckle.

My eyes narrowed in on the fox, "And what makes you assume I'm a wild?" I questioned the fox.

"I'm guessing you stole it from the man that was chasing after you. Did you steal it?"

"I don't think that concerns you," I retorted with no sign of friendliness in my voice. I had no idea why he was hanging around an umbreon like me. Most people wouldn't go near me, or if they did it was to catch me or discriminate me.

"Well yeah I know, but-"

"Listen, I appreciate you bringing back what's left of my orange, but I really don't want to talk to anyone right now. So, if you could kindly give me some space," I said to the fennekin as I forced a small smile.

Then the fennekin had to open his mouth yet again, "Yeah but if you don't socialize with anyone how would you expect to make friends," the fennekin asked and my patience dwindled to a new low.

"And what makes you assume I want friends?" I growled at the fox. His ears lowered along with his legs as I towered over the shrimp, the fennekin just laughed nervously.

"Well… I didn't say that. I was just trying to make a point," the fennekin stuttered out of his big mouth.

"Well, I'll make a point right now, I'm not looking for friends, nor do I need friends," I growled at him. The fennekin gave a weak nod as he slowly backed away. I sneered as things finally started to go my way.

"There you are Flare, I've been looking all over for you!" A male teenager called out with a smirk on his face. The male looked like he was around sixteen maybe seventeen. His hair was a light blonde that was spiked up towards the front. His eyes were blue as well.. For his clothing he wore a red jacket that had white accents on it and to match his jacket he wore some dark jeans with a matching belt. The loser probably thought he was so cool with this get-up. On his back he also had a big backpack to hold equipment, that's when it hit me and I realized that this kid was a pokemon trainer. The fennekin the human referred to as Flare smiled at the sight of his human, which he then ran to his side.

I was about to take my leave, but then something important dawned on me, "Whoa, whoa hold on a sec. Did he just call you Flare?" The fennekin frowned in response as he sensed my tone, but his reaction proved that was his name. A chuckle escaped me and within seconds it turned into a hysteric laughter that I couldn't stop. In all honesty, I felt bad for the poor fox. he had to live his whole life with that awful name, plus I could have sworn that was the name of some whack-job organization, I mean who names someone that.

"What's wrong with Flare?" the fennekin said as his ears drooped a little and he frowned from the insult. I continued to laugh as the trainer just looked at me as if I was crazy, which must have been an interesting for him since he can't understand me. The human continued to stare at me as a smirk formed on his face.

"Holy crud, I didn't even notice you were a shiny!" the trainer yelled excitedly, which I then chose to stop laughing.

"No! Don't even consider it," I growled at him in an attempt to show my aggression and I revealed my razor sharp teeth.

"Flare you think you can take him," the trainer asked as he glanced at him. The fennekin just gave a confident nod and stood in front of his trainer with a confident posture.

"Sorry umbreon, but I can't turn down a fight if he wants one," Flare said.

"Listen," I snapped at him, "I'm really not in the mood for this today, so I really don't want to fight if possible."

"What you just want to come with us without a fight?" The fox asked with surprise

"No, no!" I yelled back, "I mean I don't plan on going with you, so back off!"

"Sorry, I can't just let my trainer down, that's not how things work with us," Flare responded as he blew out a puff of smoke.

"Listen let's just shake paws and we can both go on with our days." I said as I walked up to the fennekin and forced him to shake my paw. Flare froze up in shock as I turned away to escape the scene. "Anyhoo, have fun with whatever you do on those journeys, toodles." Without another word I picked up my pace, but then something solid whacked into the back of my skull. My head rang as I fell to the ground. I looked behind me to see an open pokeball releasing a light.

"No, this isn't happenin-" was all I managed to say before the light attacked me and I felt a powerful force drag me in.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter in this story. Hopefully you enjoy the rest of the journey from here.


	2. Arrival

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

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**Point of View: Umbreon**

I found myself standing in the false reality of the pokeball that so many pokemon have been trapped in. I was on top of a grassy hill, and on top of this hill was a decent sized tree with many leaves at the top. It was night in this place, and I could see many stars in the sky along with an artificial moon. Other than the hill, it was a grassland that went on as far as the eye could see with trees here and there. This place wasn't really that creative. In fact, it was a rather boring setting.

'How in the hell do you fit all of this in a damn ball?' I shouted mentally.

I had never been in a pokeball before and only heard horror stories about them as well. Supposedly they are these prison's you can only leave when your master lets you out. On top of all that you are alone. Nothing was real here. The grass, the air, the moon everything is fake. Like, more fake than those celebrities on TV that humans watch all day.

'My Mew, I'm going to rot in here.'

All of a sudden, I felt a strong pulling sensation that sucked my entire existence out of my prison. I now found myself in middle of a forest. I was kind of shocked honestly. I wasn't ready to be forced out, and how quickly it happened made me a bit jittery.

Once I got over feeling a little sick, I looked up at my new trainer who had a big happy smirk on his face. He looked at me as if he was about to say something, but I honestly didn't give two craps, so I slammed my head as hard as I could into his little fragile human stomach. The human fell to his knees groaning in pain and his face turned pale.

"What… what did you do that for?" Retorted the idiot who I would now be calling master, or until I get a chance to escape. The same annoying fennekin from earlier then jumped in front of his trainer and got in a defensive position ready to fight for his trainer.

"Why did you do that? He just wanted to welcome you to the team!" the fennekin yelled in an upset tone. I didn't really find him that intimidating, and seeing a puny little fox creature yell at you is rather amusing in my opinion.

I gave a quick look around to see if I had a good chance to run. After I scanned the area, I noticed an absol sitting under a tree in the shade watching us. I couldn't help but notice the evil glare he was looking at me with. I just shook it off though and assumed it was due to what I did to his trainer.

Then, what the fennekin said a few seconds ago clicked in my head. "Wait team?" I responded in a baffled voice.

The fennekin then got out of his defensive position and went back to his happy self. "Yeah you know, we are going to build up a team and-"

"And collect the eight gym badges. I've heard that about half million times," I interrupted him mid-sentence.

I then looked over to my 'master' who was just now recovering from my head butt. I was actually considering doing it again just to show him who is in control. Then again, if I did that he would probably have me put to sleep afterward. The human then got a really frustrated look on his face, and then he sighed and went back to normal as if all his stress was gone.

"Anyways, as I was originally about to say before a certain Umbreon decided to interrupt." My trainer said with annoyance. He also found it necessary to emphasize my species

"I was trying to welcome you to our team. My name is Alex and I'll be your trainer." Alex said with a lot of pride and a big smile on his face. I'd have to make it my new resolution to destroy that smile for kidnapping me and taking up my precious time.

My new trainer Alex then pointed over towards the obnoxious fennekin. "The Fennekin over there goes by Flare," Alex said as he reminded me of the ridiculous name. I tried my best not to laugh at his name, but it was kind of noticeable. Actually on second thought, I was laughing uncontrollably at the silly name.

"And the absol under the tree over there is Grayson, but we call him Gray for short," Alex said yet again with great pride that I will demolish.

"Speaking of everybody's names, we will have to give you a name that isn't Umbreon," My trainer said very excitedly.

"What? I already have a name that isn't Umbreon!" I shouted at him in anger.

"Seriously, how much more can you humiliate me?!" I screamed really loud at my abductors. I would have been embarrassed getting this mad usually, but nobody, and I mean nobody, changes my name. Especially someone who names their pokemon Flare. Alex sat there with his fingers on his chin trying to come up with a new name for me. I waited in pure terror of what horrible name he would come up with.

"How about Blacky, or Shadow, or maybe-" Flare was suggesting excitedly to his trainer who couldn't understand before I interrupted "How about you shut up!" I barked at the obnoxious fox. The name Blacky and Shadow had to be the worst recommendations I have ever heard in my life.

"Hmmm, I know! How about Black!" Alex yelled in excitement thinking he was clever.

"What! That is way worse than Flare! Did you just choose the first color you saw when you looked at me?!" I yelled in absolute rage. I couldn't believe he choose the dumbest and most boring name ever for a total badass, shiny pokemon like me. On top of that I have a real name, which is actually a name and not a color. The worst part is that the name he chose wasn't that far off from that Blacky, name Flare recommended.

"Then it is decided!" Alex yelled energetically. I don't know how this moron managed to misinterpret my anger and frustration as me accepting that name happily. No, I hate this name. It's horrible. Before things escalated too much, I felt a giant gaping hole in my chest. I could feel the hollowness in my chest from where my pride was. This Alex guy was practically pissing all over whatever self-image that I built up.

Flare walked over towards me and sat next to me like we were now friends just because I was captured. Meanwhile, the absol whose name I couldn't even remember at this point just sat under the tree and minded his own business.

"Just curious, but what is your real name?" Flare asked me with curiosity.

"My name was Kaz, and thanks for taking it from me." I muttered with an attitude in my voice.

"I'm sorry, honestly, but I don't think Black is that bad of a name," Flare said with a big smile on his face.

"I get it now. I died in that alley, and I was sent to Hell for all my sins," I said in a sarcastic tone. Flare smiled at what I said even though it wasn't actually meant to be a joke. I was partially serious too. This to me was the equivalence of being damned for eternity in Hell. How in Mew's name did all of this happen to me? What I was going to do next was all I could think about. I wasn't sure how I was going to escape but I would the first chance I got.

Alex began starting a campfire as the sun began to set over the tree line. I just did what I did best… napping. I was lying on the cold ground at least trying to do so, but my asshole of a trainer wouldn't stop talking to Flare even though he can't understand a damn word he says. So, naturally, I couldn't get any peace and quiet.

My stomach began violently screaming for food. I had not yet had in Mew knows how long. I was lying on the ground praying to Mew that our trainer would at least feed me. For those of you who don't know, anyone can go a day without food, but it is another thing to get the hell beat out of you, get kidnapped by a bunch of morons who want to force you to fight to the death with random pokemon, and have an empty stomach on top of all of that. This is the hell I was going through. My stomach continued to beg me for what I only dreamed of having.

Flare, the obnoxious Fennekin, then came back towards me and sat by me to engage in another annoying conversation. "So, how are you holding up?" He asked sounding concerned for me slightly.

I gave him a look of despair and then looked away. "I'm living" I mumbled in a pure bored and dull voice that showed no sign of joy. My stomach continued to cry, which got the attention of Flare really fast.

"Just a guess here, but I'm guessing you are hungry."

"Wow, how long did that take you to find out?" I said in a very annoyed voice. I wasn't mad at him… I just get very pissy when I'm hungry. Especially after not eating around a whole day.

"Oh, well dinner should be served within the hour," Flare said with a smile on his face. At this point I knew I was going to die. I couldn't last another hour like this.

"Flare, I got the living hell beat out of me yesterday. I woke up in an alley hardly alive, got kidnapped, and this whole time I haven't had any nutrition. I seriously may die within an hour."

"Well umm... That sucks." Flare responded very confused on how to react to my wild pokemon problems.

"Okay so I got a question Flare."

"Yeah?" the fennekin said as he tilted his head and looked at me

"Why is it that human capture all of us pokemon, and make us fight to the death? On top of that they get all the reward, and we just get to feel good on the inside. Isn't there a law against this called pokemon cruelty or something? Then the funny part is, if a pokemon kidnaps a human, they will get the police involved, and someone is going to jail. Does any of this make sense to you? Me and you, all of us pokemon are second class citizens in this world" I rambled.

Out of this whole day, I have seen flare look so clueless so many times, but this time takes the cake. Before this could turn into a huge debate causing us to possibly hate each other, Alex finally decided to call us for the dinner I had been waiting for.

I limped over towards him with my injured leg. Alex then held a bowl of berries above me just out of my reach and he stared me in my crimson eyes. I sat there like a complete idiot drooling over the food I wanted so badly, and Alex knew that I wanted it.

I then realized that I was at his mercy. He was the only source of food I had. I am wounded and Mew knows where in the world I am. I would have no chance of finding food on my own in an unfamiliar area with injuries.

"I hope that we can work effectively as a team Black, and I hope that you will learn to trust me and everyone else." Alex said to me with a very kind voice that was friendly and gentle. Alex then set down the bowl of berries, and my jaw dropped in disbelief that I was finally going to get to eat for the first time in forever.

I have never been so happy within the past twenty-four hours of my life. They were not the best berries I have ever had, but I was just happy to put something in my body. I ate until my bowl was completely empty. I was kind of disappointed because I could have eaten three more of those bowls and still have had room for more. Now before any of you get the wrong idea, I'm not fat, I actually happen to be considered in good shape.

After I ate my meal, it was probably around ten-o'clock at night. Everyone but me was getting tired, and soon I'd be able to make my escape. "Alright Black, I am going to return you to your pokeball for the night so rest up buddy." Alex said in a very tired voice with a yawn at the end of his sentence. Before I could even get any say in the matter I was pulled back into my personal prison where I would never see the light of the real moon.

There I sat on the same hill at night, with the endless field of grass. Everything here in the pokeball was just lame, and I didn't want to spend the entire night here. I am a night creature, and I needed real moonlight to be happy, not some artificial moon.

So what my asshole of a trainer never took into consideration was that I'm an Umbreon. Umbreon's are nocturnal creatures. So he expects me to sit in a blank world with absolutely no form of entertainment for the rest of the night, while he sleeps on his lazy ass. This horrible day was now going into overtime, and no matter what, I couldn't seem to catch a damn break.

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**Chapter End**

**Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.**


	3. Confrontation

**Chapter 3: Confrontation**

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Here I was, yet again, trapped within the prison that resided within the horrible pokeball. The inside of the pokeball is rather… boring. I mean, how much fun can you have with just one big hill in the middle of a grass plain? Then on top of that, I had no food, and I'm usually up during the night, not asleep like Alex planned me to be. So now what?

I laid on my back drooling on myself in absolute boredom. 'I can't believe this is my new life now,' I thought to myself as I lied on the artificial grass in the pokeball. Suddenly, I felt that pulling sensation as the false reality broke down around me.

Once I got past my head spinning, I was blinded by a bright light above me. Through slightly squinted eyes I scanned the world around me, and noticed that I was back in the forest we were in last night. I also realized the thing blinding my light sensitive eyes was the sun with it's harmful rays, shining through the trees overhead. The sun: the very thing that made life possible, yet it was the thing I despised most next to pesky humans.

That human, Flare, and the absol I barely remembered, were all staring at me right now as if I was a crazy lunatic. It must have been hysterical seeing me so startled from being ripped out of that 'hell'. I knew they thought that because Alex chuckled, and Flare lost it in laughter, and the absol just rolled his eyes at me.

"'The Hell is this? You keep me in their all night, and then you laugh at me?" at this point I was very pissed. Not that I was insecure with how people view me, I just really didn't like people with low I.Q.'s laughing at me as if I was some sort of idiot. The only one who wasn't laughing at the moment was the absol. He looked relatively lifeless, but he really may be the only sane pokemon here. Maybe he and I would get along… maybe… I still didn't appreciate him rolling his eyes at me.

"Alright guys, what do you say we all get a move on for today?" Alex said gleefully as a smile formed on his face; the kind of smirk I would love to just knock off his little human face. Everybody but me nodded in approval, and began to walk down the trail in the forest. I should have made my escape there, but I was too tired and hungry to think of escaping.

We all followed a dirt trail that went deep into the forest. The sun was beating down on me as the light shone through the branches, which should have provided shade for us. I hated the sun so, so much. It made me feel weak and roasted me like an egg on a frying pan. I'm a dark type that gets my power from the moon, not the sun. As a matter of fact, the sun made me feel noxious at times, so you may understand why I'm not a day pokemon, and especially not a morning pokemon.

I felt myself tiring out a lot faster than usual, mostly since I was still limping from my injured leg and very low on sleep. As I studied the people around me, I could feel my brain cells committing suicide one by one. I tried as hard as I could not to show any weakness. Again, not that I cared about their opinion of me, I just didn't want to appear dependent on them. It's a wild pokemon thing; I wouldn't expect a mere human to understand.

Flare must have noticed my limp, because it looked he finally started noticing my struggle. "Is your leg okay? You don't look too good. do you need us to stop for you?" Flared attacked me with multiple questions.

I just stared at the imprudent fennekin as if he should have known better, which he really should have. "Well, adding on to my previous complaint list, our wonderful and considerate trainer crammed me into a magic ball all night, when I'm nocturnal, and I sat there drooling all over myself all night bored out of my freaking mind. then I'm dragged out of that prison and expected to walk miles upon miles without rest. Yeah, I'm doing great for a second class citizen" I said in a snide voice.

"What do you mean second class citizen?" the stupid fox asked me with a curious voice.

I looked at him as if he was stupid, as my brain cells continued to die rapidly from his stupidity rubbing off onto me. "Think of it this way, I was just robbed of my life because someone wanted to go on an adventure. I won't receive pay, only a thank you, here and there. Also, if we kidnapped a human, Arceus help us, because humans would flip the world upside down, but, hey, it's okay if they do it to us," I snidely said.

"I don't think it works like that, humans and pokemon are equal, and-" the idiot fennekin started to say.

"Are you fucking stupid! How do we have anywhere near the same equality as those-" I was yelling when I felt my injured leg hit something solid.. I gave out a quick gasp of pain as I landed on my injured leg very awkwardly, and felt intense pressure on it along with a small popping noise that didn't sound pleasant in my sensitive ears. Everybody stopped to look at me to see what was going on.

Alex quickly ran over to me without hesitation, and began observing my injured leg. Thoughts of horror simulated through my mind as I began thinking of how bad his medical abilities were. I mean this guy is like sixteen or so. How in the name of all the Legendaries can I expect him to be of help to me? He'd probably just consider amputating my leg, he's so dumb.

Signs of worry showed all over Alex's face as he observed my injured leg. "Are you hurt can you move it at all," Alex asked frantically.

"Just back off," I snarled at my human trainer. Alex flinched back at my aggression.

My attention was then directed towards Flare, which he was looking away as he winced in repulsion. Seeing the clues that something was wrong, I decided to look down at my injured leg, and that's when I finally noticed my dislocated leg. The instant I saw the leg, a pulse of pain shot through the bones and nerves in my leg, the pain was almost unbearable as it intensified each second.

Alex and Flare both overcame the gruesome sight and both stood next to me. Well Alex was more squatting, while Flare was just standing. Absol on the other hand just sat in the shade below some tree's not really caring for the teams most important member (Me of course). I was really beginning to wonder if he was socially retarded, or if being around my dumb trainer, and Flare so long just rotted his brain away.

Before I could think too much about the silent absol, my attention was redirected towards a tousling noise in a bush around one meter away in the tree-line that followed the dirt path. No one else noticed but me, so I just kept watching the bush as I wondered what was in it. The tousling continued to get louder, and then the mother of all houndour's that looked more pissed off than a charizard with a wet tail popped out of the bush, and started sprinting full speed towards us. Everyone froze in fear not expecting an attack.

My feral instinct kicked in, and I jumped up as fast as I could manage with my injured leg, and I dodged out of the way from the houndour, although I ended up tripping in the process and fell back down on the ground. Everyone followed my lead on getting the hell away from the canine. I stared at the Houndour as I slowly got back up to my three good legs. The houndour saw that I was an easy target, or in other words I was an easy meal with my injured leg.

The houndour continued to look at me as he licked his teeth as if he could already taste me, and I then felt a little discomforted by the sight. "Hey buddy, I'm not some chew toy, you got that," I said nervously as I limped back a step back.

The houndour began running towards me again, and that's when I saw a big opening, and I lunged forward on my three good legs, and I head butted the sucker right between the eyes, and I heard the joints in his neck crack from the pressure of making solid contact with an umbreon's skull. One of the perks of being an umbreon is that your body is built as strong as a tank.

The houndour flinched back in pain as he shook his head in an attempt to un-daze himself. I felt really satisfied with getting him out of my face, and I'd gladly do it again if he came at me again. As the Houndour was distracted by his pain, the absol from our group tackled the houndour from his left side, the houndour flew off his four legs and slammed into the solid ground.

The Absol looked down at him with no emotions at all, like he was some kind of badass. The houndour smirked, and shot out an ember right in the Absol's face. Absol flew back, and smacked onto the ground with a singed face. It looked really painful, and it probably was since it appeared that the absol was unconscious from the direct blow to the face. That left Flare, and I to fight, because Mew knows that trainers don't ever help for shit.

"Flare, quick attack!" Alex yelled in a serious voice as he pointed at the houndour.

'There goes our element of surprise,' I thought to myself as I sighed in annoyance.

Flare dashed towards the houndour with quick feet, but his speed wasn't enough, as an ember flew at him, and exploded against his side. Since flare was a fire type it didn't knock him out, and instead it just sent him flying into a tree, and made a really loud 'clunk' noise as he made contact with the tree, and leafs fell down onto his hardly conscious body.

Now it was my turn. I hobbled as fast as I could on three legs towards my new foe. He did the obvious, an ember flew from his mouth that was directed at me. I Barrel rolled out of the way, but as soon as I got up, I kept running toward him on my three legs. When I was one meter or so away, he decided to use a fire fang. I knew if he landed a good attack on me with that fire fang, I may not live to add this to my complaint list. The houndour lunged toward me with all of his might in an attempt to kill me, everything then slowed down as my heart rate spiked up, and I saw him slowly make his flaming teeth towards my throat. I lunged towards him, and swung my claw at his eye right before he reached me. The canine tackled into me, and we both tumbled to the ground. Luckily my throat was still intact. Both I and the canine struggled to our feet. I glanced at the houndour, and saw that his legs were trembling.

My glare went from his leg, to his eye. Blood dripped out of the giant gash I inflicted on his eye. His eye was tightly held shut, as he trembled from the shock of being blinded in one eye. As if a switch flipped, the houndour stopped shaking, and looked at me with his one good eye. Words weren't said, but his eyes lusted for revenge. The canine dashed towards me with a speed I could barely keep up with. I stood petrified, unable to make a proper decision on whether to run or fight.

Instead Flare jumped in front of me with smoke exiting his mouth, and ember escaped between his teeth, and the houndour was blasted with a wave of fire. The houndour went flying like a ragdoll as he hit the ground, and rolled over unconscious. I watched as I saw smoke sizzle off the bastard. I stood there amazed at flare's perfect timing, had he been even a second later, I would would have been the rag doll in that houndour's mouth, and this would have been a completely different scene right now.

The houndour came back to consciousness, and got up sluggishly as blood fluently dripped down his injured eye. I felt a little sick from the sight of the bloody eye the houndour had as he looked us in the eyes with his one good eye. The glare said he obviously thirsted for our blood after what I did to him, but instead he turned around, and dashed back into the woods.

Seeing as the coast was clear, I let out a sigh of relief since I was alive, and I quickly remembered who was responsible for me still being alive at the moment. I looked over at the not so lovable fennekin "Thanks," I blurted out dryly.

Flare smiled at me as he always did since I first met the fennekin "We are a team now, and besides, you practically beat him yourself. If your leg wasn't trashed you would have done a lot more to him probably."

That was true, but I still wanted to thank him. Plus, I may not be the nicest pokemon in Kalos, but I still didn't want to sound like an asshole that was ungrateful. I know when to suck up my pride, and drop the asshole act.

Alex then decided to open his mouth after all that has happened. "Is everybody okay?" he said with worry in his words. I don't know if he was worried for us, or just shocked that he was still alive after such a ferocious attack. The kid practically did nothing, but say one command, and then froze up.

We all nodded, besides the Absol, who lied on the ground still unconscious. Alex walked up to his unconscious body, and crouched down, and gave the absol a small pat on the back, and returned him to his pokeball, and latched the pokeball onto his belt.

"We should probably get him to a pokecenter, along with you Black." Alex said as he worried for his unconscious pokemon, and my injured leg. Alex then unlatched another pokeball off his belt, and I already knew what was coming as he quickly sucked me into the false world of the pokeball. I could have easily resisted, but I was too tired at the moment to care.

I felt that noxious feeling overtake me again, as I found myself back in the pokeball. As usual, the world remained dull and boring. In a way though, this place did somewhat remind me of home. Just some of the features though, like the hill, and what could have been a nice view if there was more scenery in this world.

Seeing as I was going to be trapped here for a while, I lied down on my left side so my now dislocated leg wouldn't be in more pain than necessary. I was now slowly drifting off as everything became hazy and, I finally gave into the urge to sleep.

I now found myself in a similar area as the pokeball world, except I could see a village off in the distance. A forest could be seen very far off in the distance to the left of the village as well. I stood at the bottom of a grassy hill. It was cold out now, and I felt a strange feeling of nostalgia. A few flakes of snow began to gently fall from the beautiful night sky as I looked up to observe the sky. It was also a full moon with a few clouds in the sky, but the moon shone through the clouds. I looked up to the hill, and I could feel this odd force calling me, it was rather… inviting. I followed my urge, and I ascended up the hill.

Once I reached the top I had a perfect view of everything. The world was clearer up here. I continued to look off into the distance. Suddenly a loud feminine scream shattered the silence of the night from behind me. My head hesitantly turned to view what caused the disturbance. The scream was over, but the horrified sounds echoed in my head over and over, getting louder each time.

Lying lifeless on the ground I saw the same leafeon that always haunted my dreams. Her body lied completely still on the floor, not showing a single sign of life. The way her face was frozen in fear stuck in my head, I could tell she wanted to escape her fate so badly.

I looked down from her head, and looked at the gash in her jugular, blood freshly gushing out of the fatal wound, and staining the pure snow red. A tear began to form in my eye as it streamed down my face. The blood continued to gush from the wound, with no sign of ending, the sight made my head spin.

"I'm so sorry," was all I could choke out as tears flowed down my face, and I felt the world over my shoulders. My head fell low as I tried to understand why it had to be her of all pokemon. After a moment, I looked down into the blood, and noticed my reflection. My crimson eyes matched the red substance perfectly, almost as if my eyes were the exact color of blood.

My head began to throb with intense pain. I fell over and held my head in an attempt to ease my suffering, but no matter what, the pain wouldn't go away. After a moment, I opened my eyes and there I saw the Leafeon staring down at me as I wallowed in pain. I froze in terror from the sight of the Leafeon that was dead staring down at me. Her head was leaning to the side hardly able to support itself with such a fatal wound in her neck.

Then I heard her whisper something. "I love you." Everything went silent as those words echoed in my ears, repeating over and over. Each ring was a mockery of what I've lost.

In an instant she quickly lunged toward me with her mouth wide open. I wasn't able to move. My body refused to, I was helpless, and I knew it, and I accepted that. Her teeth sank deep into my throat right in my jugular. I felt my breath become stiff; air would no longer exit my windpipe properly. I felt myself become numb, and my body began to feel cold.

She released my neck, and then stared at me with tears of blood flowing down her eyes. I was struggling to breathe properly with the big gaping hole in my neck, along with blood flowing out of my neck, and mouth. I

I felt myself dying, my breathing got slow, my vision was blurry, and I was very tired now. But I wasn't physically tired, just tired of living an empty life.

As my life faded, past mistakes replayed in my head.

'My life is… pointless' was my last thought as death took me.

I woke up in my pokemon prison breathing heavily in fear. I quickly realized that I was just dreaming. I was still shaken from the dream still though, and I could never fathom how something illusionary in my head could seem so real, and be so scary.

I then slowly got up, and I felt a wet substance rolling down my face. I swabbed the substance, and I saw a tear on my paw now. I was crying from my dream. I now desperately wanted out of my prison. I just wanted to talk to someone to take the mental pain away. But I did not want anyone to see me like this at the same time.

I waited to be released from my prison, too afraid to go back to sleep.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Thank you genericgamer207 for taking the time to edit this chapter of all its flaws.


	4. Prejudice

**Chapter 4: Prejudice**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It took a few hours, but I was eventually released from my pokeball. Once I got over the strange sickness from switching worlds, I looked around curiously as I studied this strange area. All of the walls were painted a glossy white that reflected light, along with red painted pokeballs on the walls. There was a bookshelf on the wall, and in the far back right there was a small little shop. The lights were built into the ceiling and illuminated the entire room. Being a dark type, this quickly got on my nerves because it meant there weren't any shadows, in which I normally resided in, for me to hide in. Over exposure to light always made me feel weak and noxious. It as if it was poisoning my body with a foreign substance. I could never fathom how people could stand tanning, and raising their chances of skin cancer.

Alex was standing by a desk filling out some papers. I could only assume it was to get us signed in for the injuries we had. The Absol sat in the corner of the room right next to a bench. He had a very unhappy look on his face. I wouldn't be happy either after taking an ember right in the face from that that close up.

Anyways, long story short, we waited about thirty minutes until they finally called us to go see the doctor. The doctor walked us down a hall, everything looked the same, it was a complete mystery to me on how they navigated through such a dull place. After a while the doctor stopped at a door, and used a set of keys to open up the door. All of us walked into the room. I looked around in confusion as I tried to understand the way the human world worked. The room had a small bed for the pokemon, along with chairs lined up along the wall for people waiting. In another corner was a desk, probably the doctors. Besides those few things, I really understood nothing in this room. It was all technology based, and I was clueless about technology. Humans are such strange creatures.

"Alright, let's get started," our doctor said as she put on a pair of gloves.

The doctor was a female with long golden blonde hair. She had a normal doctor outfit on, which was cliché in my opinion. She was honestly no one special, like all the other humans that overcrowd this world. The only difference between her and the others is that she has a degree in medical stuff, big deal.

The female doctor walked up to me, and without my consent she picked me up, and put me on the bed. I growled at the discomfort of being manhandled. I really did not like humans touching me. I especially hated being picked up, it made me feel smaller... The doctor reached out to see my leg, but before she came close, I snarled at her and showed off my fangs. If I had to make an example out of her, by Mew I would. I wanted Alex to learn fast that I hated being touched.

"Now,Now don't be afraid, little guy," the doctor said as she extended her hand towards me slowly. My reflexes kicked in, and I snapped my teeth towards her. Her hand flinched back right before my teeth drew blood.

"Try that again, I dare you," I growled at her.

Alex then walked up next to the bed, and looked at me with a stern look. "Black, you need to cooperate, or she can't help your leg," Alex tried to reason. Something snapped in me from having humans crowded around me, this was way too far out of my comfort zone.

"First, back off, and second my name is not Black, its Kaz!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I viciously stared down my trainer, as I prepared to show him what these pearly white teeth of mine can do.

Right before I could attack my trainer, I felt something grab my leg. Before I could even react, I felt a strong pressure, followed by a snapping pain. A popping sound echoed through the air, followed by a pained screech exiting my mouth. I looked over at the nurse, who was now releasing her grip off my leg. I could feel a tear forming in my eye from the unexpected pain I didn't see coming, but I fought off the feeling as best as I could. I tried to avoid blinking, since that usually helped to stop tears from forming in my eyes. After a few seconds, I managed to calm myself a little. I looked down at the leg I felt pain in. To my surprise, it was snapped back in place.

After a few seconds the doctor picked me up once again, and set me carefully down on the floor. I would have fought back, but I felt slightly paralyzed from what I just endured. My train of thought was completely gone. I could only remember how horrible that was, along with the horrible noise of my joint popping back in place.

"Are you about to cry?" Flare asked me curiously, "It's fine if you do, I've never had a bone dislocated, but I'd imagine it doesn't feel too good."

It took a second for word's to form, but I eventually snapped out of my dazed state. "As if," I snidely replied back. "Have you ever heard of a wild pokemon crying in front of others?" I asked Flare. The expected answer was no, but the truth was that not all wild pokemon, were these emotionless creatures that some thought us to be.

"I'm about to," Flare joked.

"Har har, dream on," I spat out as I made my way towards the chairs against the wall. I crawled under the chair, and lied down so I could take a power nap.

"I'll see your absol next, sir" the doctor said to Alex.

The last thing I saw before I shut my eyes was the evil doctor lady helping the absol up to this bed. I could hear the talking, but I mostly blocked it out. I wasn't sure if sleeping was a good idea though, there was no guarantee that I wouldn't have that dream again. The thoughts haunted me for a few minutes, but before I knew it, I was dead asleep. After all that time of losing sleep, it just caught up to me, just like that.

* * *

After Arceus knows how long, I eventually woke up. It took a few minutes, but my eyes adjusted to the lighting and I realized I was on a bench outside. I slowly stood up, and stretched out my body, along with a tired yawn. After noticing that I was possibly alone, I jumped off the bench to see if the coast was clear for my escape. A scan of the area showed a big fountain and a couple cobblestone trails along with a lot of random buildings such as a library, the Pokemon center, and what stuck out the most was the first pokemon gym. I then noticed the Santalune city sign. I didn't know how to read, but I mostly recognized it by the way the sign looked. This was my perfect chance to escape. No one I could see was around, and to make things betters, it was almost dusk.

I could feel a sneaky smile forming on my face as I started to walk away from where I was left. "Stupid Alex. The idiot thought I'd stay here on my own, hah!" I excitedly said as I walked away. 'Finally, after putting up with such torment I will be free, I can… go back to living my life in solitude.'

"Hey Black you're awake!" I heard a familiar energetic voice call out from behind. A scowl escaped my mouth as I turned to face the fox like creature.

"Hey, how about you stop calling me that stupid name."

"Oh, sorry Kaz," Flare emphasized my name, which was kind of annoying, but oh well what was I going to do, kill him… Actually that wasn't a bad idea.

"Anyways, how did I get out here?" I asked as I yawned in absolute boredom.

"We saw you were asleep, so Alex carried you outside and set you on the bench. I was told to watch you while he runs to the pokemart to get some things." I scowled in annoyance the instant Flare mentioned him touching me.

"What's wrong with you? Did we do something wrong?" The naïve fennekin asked.

"I just don't like anyone touching me; specifically humans," I answered.

"So, why don't you like humans touching you, it's not like they will hurt you or anything?" Flare asked as he stared at me. The full eye contact the fennekin gave me felt… odd. Maybe one of the things I'm not used to anymore.

"I don't know. I just can't stand it. I'll never forget the time a human tried petting me, that sent chills down my spine," I replied with some truth.

"So what if I touch you?" Flare asked as he extended his paw to touch me.

"I'm going to smack you in the face, that's what I'm going to do," I replied as I smacked his paw away from me. Flare took the hint and backed off from me, with some good training I'm sure I can break this fennekin in, and show him how to act properly.

"So, I got a question? Why did Alex name me, and that Absol after colors. Does he really have that little creativity?" I was kind of kidding, but it was kind of annoying at the same time. I mean, if I went back out into the wild, and said that was my name I'd get my ass kicked. Although being a disliked species would probably make things worse.

"Oh no, his name isn't really Gray, that's just his nickname, his real name is Grayson. Gray is just what we call him for short," Flare answered with a small chuckle at the end.

"Oh, that makes more sense," I said as I realized how simple the answer really was. Before the topic was completely gone, something sparked in my head, "Wait, why does he get a real name, and I get a freaking color!" I shouted out loud. The few people that did walk around all stopped and looked at me.

"I don't know, I never knew Gray before he got his name, he knew Alex before me, and Gray doesn't really talk, and I can't really ask Alex," Flare defended.

I huffed and puffed in annoyance, "Oh, just fuck the logic," I replied back bitterly as I kicked the dirt below my feet. Sadly for me, I kicked the dirt with my injured paw, and a wave of pain shot through my body. I cringed as the pain slowly faded away. I just decided it was best to not throw a tantrum. I wasn't mentally, nor physically fit to do it right now. As I calmed down, I decided to walk back by the bench and lay below it in the shadows. Once I was under the bench, I felt content with this spot. Shadows were a tropical beach for umbreon's. But a tropical beach is hell for an umbreon. I'd die in such a sun exposed hell.

As I tried to go back to napping, thoughts of my dream came back to me. No matter how hard I tried to forget those horrible dreams, I kept remembering that leafeon's face and those terrified eyes of hers. It was all just so demented, and I wanted it to stop.

Flare looked at me with a frown as he noticed me tossing and turning under the bench. "Are you okay? You look more depressed than usual."

"It's nothing. I just have things on my mind, that's all." I said, trying my best to throw him off the topic. I really did not trust anyone with this stuff, and I never planned on it either. "And what the hell do you mean, 'More than usual'? Are you calling me depressed?" I asked.

"Well, you kind of give off a negative vibe at times. It kind of conflicts with my positive personality, but hey opposites attract so that doesn't mean we can't still get along," Flare said. "But seriously, what is on your mind," the fennekin pried again.

"None of your business, now let it go," I said in a stern voice that was almost loud enough to be yelling. I just wanted to get my point across to him that I didn't want to share my feelings with him, nor did I seek to be friends with him.

"Well, you just seem a bit stressed, and you never know, I could know a bit about what's bothering you." That is when I snapped. I couldn't take this nosey fox anymore. Just what the hell could he know about me?

"Do you not get that I dislike you? I have no desire to be buddies with you, so where do you get off thinking you have the right to talk like you know the first thing about me?" I snarled in an aggressive tone. Upon my venomous words leaving my mouth, Flare's casual smile instantly formed into a frown and his ears fell low.

He broke eye contact with me. "S-Sorry," Flare mumbled as he turned around, and walked away from me. I watched as Flare walked out of my eye sight before I did anything.

"Shit," I muttered to myself for being a complete douche to someone who was trying to be nice. I hated the idea, but I knew I was going to have to apologize for that. I'm just not the type to ever apologize to anyone. For a matter of fact, I just realized that I haven't even attempted to be friends, let alone be nice to anyone for the longest time. Relations with others were just something I gave up on, it always ended as a bitter memory.

After a few minutes of me thinking of what I did, I saw Alex walk out of the pokemart. Alex walked up to me, and looked down at me with a friendly smile "Hey Black, How did you sleep buddy?" Alex asked with a friendly tone that was surprisingly comforting.

"Surprisingly, I slept well for once," I replied back to my trainer, I don't know why I even bothered responding since he couldn't understand me at all. But I think he got the point.

"Okay buddy, what do you say we go to our hotel for the night, and rest up for the gym battle tomorrow?"

A frown formed on my face upon hearing those words "We just met, and we haven't even trained, and you are going to have me do a gym battle already!" I was pretty pissed about his stupid logic, we haven't even trained, and on top of that, I didn't want to dislocate my leg again. or worse, lose a leg.

"We'll do fine, after what I saw earlier, I got the idea that you can take care of yourself," Alex stated.

"True," I responded back to my trainer, surprisingly, he was good at reading my emotions.

Alex gave me a small little wave gesture to follow him, and I complied like a good little pokemon. After a small little walk, we reached the hotel we were staying in. It was actually a pretty comfy looking place. Not as nice as some of the houses these humans live in, but still it wasn't bad. There was a two person sized bed, a TV, a torn up couch, a balcony outside, and pictures of stuff I really didn't understand on the wall. Grayson was lying on the couch, and Flare was at the edge of the bed, and Alex just sat at the other side of the couch from Gray, leaving me with the floor.

Seeing the fennekin again reminded me of how I acted towards him a little earlier today. I knew what had to be done, but it was going to be apologizing that would be hard. I walked towards the fennekin who rested on the bed as I took in a deep breath.

"Hey Flare can we talk… in private?"

Flare looked up in surprise that I even bothered talking to him anymore. "What do you want?" He asked in a timid voice.

I just gestured for him to follow me out onto the balcony outside, which was conveniently open. He followed me cautiously as we made our way out. We both sat on the balcony, which was pretty big for a small town hotel. We had a good view of the whole town, and I could see Luminose tower off in the far distance. The sun was just setting which made the sky a fiery orange color. I guess I got the scenery right for my apology.

"Flare, I wanted to apologize for being a total ass earlier today when I snapped on you. That came out very wrong, and I didn't mean to be so hostile towards you when you have only been a nice person to me." Flare's eyes grew large as his mouth cracked open. Flare was obviously surprised. I myself was surprised; I never-ever apologize to anyone.

"I think I'll accept it," Flare replied back "I guess I should be sorry also though."

"For what?" I said as my brow rose up in confusion.

"You know, for getting in your business,"

I was shocked too now. I was the one apologizing, and he just apologized to me. "It's fine. I just need you to understand that I need my space. A lot has happened to me in the past few years, and I'm not ready to talk about it." I had a tone of melancholy in my voice, and many different emotions no one would understand.

We spent a while out there on the balcony. He tried to keep a conversation that I found kind of awkward, but I figured I would humor him. As time went on, the moon started to ascend. Our hotel was angled so we could see the sun set on the left and becoming easier to see in the sky.

I could feel the moon's lunar rays shining down upon me, filling me with energy. With this feeling of rejuvenation, the six rings on my body began to glow blue with their mysterious power. My leg no longer hurt, even remotely at this point. I felt like a new being now, especially since I haven't been able to see the real moon in a few days. The moon always put me in a good mood. It filled my body with power that let me feel strong enough to take on a tauros, an onix, hell maybe even Arceus… ok maybe not that last one, but I felt strong none the less.

Flare was just staring at my glowing rings with his jaw slightly opened. It was kind of awkward, but then again umbreon's are rare, so it is something not a lot of pokemon see, especially umbreon's with blue rings.

After about ten minutes of sitting outside, it started to get cold, so I decided to head back in along with Flare. Gray was still lying on the couch, but he was now hogging the whole thing to himself. Alex had left, probably to get us all food for tonight, so he could be gone for a bit. I then began to ponder on tomorrow's gym battle. Will we win, will I get injured, and who will we be facing were all question's that ran through my mind.

"So, you think we will do good tomorrow?" I asked Flare out of curiosity. To be honest, I was nervous about tomorrow. I have only heard of these gym battles, not once have I seen or been in one.

"I would expect us to have one heck of a battle tomorrow," Flare responded.

"Should I know anything about these gym battles?"

"Well simple really, we just fight a couple pokemon one at a time, all one on one battles. We just have to win against… two I think," Flare said with an unsure answer.

"But there are three of us, wouldn't that make things unbalanced for the gym leader?" I questioned.

"You know I'm not sure, we may only be able to use two of us tomorrow," Flare spoke back.

"Well, if that's the case, then your absol friend can go for me. I'd rather see this gym battle thing before I go risking my life," I said, volunteering the anti-social absol in my place.

"Typical umbreon," a voice muttered from behind me. My head turned back to the only other living organism in the room, and just as I anticipated, it was the absol who had made the comment.

"Oh, hello to you too," I spat back out towards him with sarcasm. I didn't really appreciate the comment, especially when I haven't done anything wrong yet... at least not to him. It didn't help that neither of us had spoken one word to each other ever since I 'joined' this team

"Why don't you just shut up, umbreon" the absol retorted back, his words sounded especially hostile specifically when he said umbreon…

"That almost sounded… racist," I said as I realized what type of pokemon this absol was. I have experienced a lot of discrimination in my life, and I knew how to tell when someone disliked my species.

"Glad you're taking the hint," the absol growled back.

A sigh escaped my mouth, it was sad to think I couldn't escape the racism within this world "Listen, I couldn't care less if you despise my kind, I've seen every type of racist asshole, you're just another pokemon with a horrible personality problem," I spoke back.

"My personality may not be perfect, but at least my kind has a set of morals," the absol venomously spoke back.

"Why don't you come say that to my face," I barked back.

Gray rolled his eyes as he lazily rolled off the couch, and walked over towards me sluggishly, I could see the hatred in his eyes for me separating him from his couch. Gray came in really close to my face, and I could see the hatred within his eyes. The death stare made the room fall silent, for what felt like forever. I stared back at him with my evil glare as well.

"I don't like umbreon's. So why don't you just fuck off before I make you." He said in a very spiteful tone.

"I don't even think you just realized what you just told me to do, but I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that." Yes, I choose to be a smart ass towards him, because that really tends to piss off pokemon a lot. Plus, if you think of what he said, it's truly disgusting… It took a few seconds for what I said to actually sink into the absol's head.

"Is there even a half decent reason to why you hate my kind, or are you like everyone else, and you're just scared of my kind?" I was always curious to know if there was a story behind someone's hatred towards my kind, yet at this point I was just used to some people automatically hating me for no specific reason.

Gray's eyes narrowed as he glared at me, "Your kind has always plagued this world, your kind always causes trouble, and anywhere your kind goes calamity will follow. Your kind is always hiding in the shadows waiting to destroy somebodies life. Never before, have I ever met an umbreon who wasn't a selfish monster who only thought of himself. There is a reason other eevee evolutions dread evolving into what you are, and people prefer you worthless creatures dead."

Those words echoed in my ears for a few seconds until it caused something in my brain to snap. Feeling no control over my body, I sprinted towards the racist creature, and tackled right into him. The absol and I both tousled to the ground, luckily with me on top. I stood up on top of the absol and raised my paw. It slashed across his face, and left a minor gash. Before my claws could draw any more blood, Flare slammed his whole body into me, and knocked me off the absol. I fell to the ground along with Flare, who was now using everything he could to pin me down.

Without any warning Gray knocked Flare off me, the fennekin's head smacked into the wall with a loud 'thud' that echoed through the room. Gray then slammed his left paw down onto my torso, and held me down to the ground. I squirmed around in every direction, but the absol easily overpowered me, there wasn't a chance of me escaping his grasp. Then the absol raised up his paw, and I could see his razor sharp claws. Gray readjusted the paw he was holding me down with, and then he pierced my upper torso with one of his claws. I gritted my teeth tightly as I tried to fight off the pain. As I thought things couldn't get worse, Gray then dragged his claw downward, and as he dragged it down, he swerved it to the left, and right. As he cut through my pelt, I felt a sharp burning sensation from the damage he was causing. I shouted from the immense amount of pain. The absol didn't stop until he almost reached my gut. My whole torso burned from the cut I just received. I looked down to see that the end result was a snake shaped cut that went from my upper torso, and stopped right before my stomach.

Gray got off of me as I groaned in pain, he then made his way back towards the couch as if he did nothing wrong. "If you attack me again it will be your face, and eyes I cut next time. Do you understand? You will also understand that you are a lesser than all other pokemon. Your life is worth nothing." His words were venomous and full of hatred, but it was not the first time I have been talked to this way. I have been persecuted many times for being an umbreon. I didn't get to choose who I am, and just because a few umbreon's where corrupt to the heart, doesn't mean all of us were. I was a good pokemon for the most part, or I at least I like to pretend I'm a good pokemon on the inside.

I held my torso in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The wounds were deep, but wouldn't be lethal if I got help soon. It hurt to move anything that required the muscles in my torso area, so I wasn't able to get up on my own. Flare finally was able to get back up, and come to my assistance. He looked very worried. The truth was that there was nothing he could do, but watch me squirm in pain. Gray just went back to his couch and attempted to go back to sleep. I'm sure me moaning in pain was like a lullaby to his ears.

A few minutes after Gray assaulted me, Alex came back into the room with bags. The instant he noticed the scene, he dropped his bags, and ran over to me to check my wounds. I have seen him worried a lot, but this time he was really worried.

"Black! what happened?!" Alex yelled as he began to pick me up. Alex cradled me on my back so my wound wouldn't get any worse than it was. In an attempt to tell Alex, I looked at Gray, but before Alex took the hint he dashed out the door with me in his arms.

Alex ran down the stairs of the hotel as quickly as he could, leaving Flare, and Gray in the room. Alex was completely oblivious to had just happened, and there would be no way for me to ever tell him the truth of what happened. Gray would pretty much just get to walk free, and act as if he did the right thing.

Alex eventually made it out of the hotel, and ran across the street towards the pokemon center. Everything moved fast as Alex ran down the street with me in his arms. Each step Alex took sent a wave of pain through my body. After a long run, Alex made it to the pokecenter. Alex didn't bother setting me down, he just used his foot to knock the door open. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Alex, with me bleeding all over him. A doctor didn't waste any time and grabbed a mobile bed that was handy, and pushed it up next to Alex, and I.

"Put him down on the bed," the doctor requested. Alex gave a quick nod and put me down on the bed. I groaned in pain as the bed dashed through the pokecenter. One of the other doctors ran alongside the cart I was on. He then stuck up his hand, and revealed a needle. I tried to flinch away from the needle, but he injected into my neck before I could even process what was going on. Panic ran through my head, was I being put to sleep, permanently? I mean it's what doctors do to the pokemon that people don't want to pay to keep alive and healthy. A numb sleepiness overtook my body. I tried to fight off this feeling, but it only intensified with each second that went by.

My eyes closed, as I pondered if I would ever wake up again.

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

**Thanks to genericgamer207 for putting in a lot of time on editing this chapter.**


	5. Recovery

**Chapter 5: Recovery**

* * *

**Point of view: Flare**

I glared at Grayson with anger built up inside of me as the absol slept on the couch as if he did nothing immoral to Black. I couldn't believe what I just witnessed. Gray was always quiet, but I have never seen him act so violently before.

"Why did you do that to him!" I screamed towards Gray at the top of my lungs. Gray's eyes slowly opened, and he gave out a tired yawn as if everything was normal.

"What did Black do to you?!" I questioned Gray.

"That umbreon attacked me first. I was just giving him what he deserved for being an insolent fool," Gray replied in a calm voice.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't blame him for attacking you! You were being a complete jerk towards him, and you had it coming!" My words thundered through the silent room, but Gray just remained in his calm state as if we were having a normal conversation.

"Gray, I don't even know if you can make this right even you tried to," I told gray. Gray then chuckled at what I said as if I just told a funny joke. To this point I have always respected Gray, but now I didn't even know what to think of him.

"I don't understand what he did to you? I get that he's a bit snarky, but I still feel that he's a good person," I told Gray.

Gray just stared at me for a moment and thought until he took in a deep breath. "Did you know at one point absols where one of the most hated creatures on this planet? Absols can sense natural disasters, so whenever a natural disaster was going to occur we would always try and warn everybody. But the humans always thought we brought the calamities upon them ourselves. We absol's were victims of their misguided hatred, later though it was discovered that we were not the problem, and that we were just trying to help warn everybody. But Umbreons have caused nothing but trouble in the past. I'm telling you to listen to me, and accept that that umbreon will only cause us trouble. I can sense these things, and I know he will bring calamity upon us, just you wait. Trust me when I say that absols have a keen sense of danger, and that umbreon does nothing but creep me out," Gray warned me.

"That still doesn't answer why you hate umbreons."

Gray looked me directly in the eyes, "Long ago before I even knew Alex or you, I had a friend who I was very close with. We both wanted to make a difference in the world, and we had many other friends who supported what we wanted. Well one day an umbreon we all trusted backstabbed us, and now everything I held dear is gone. Over the course of my whole life I have not met one umbreon that wasn't selfish, greedy, and a sneaky leech just waiting to stab you in the back for their gain," Gray told me with melancholy.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, but you can't take this out on Black. He isn't like that. He is a good person, I can tell. Now I'm going to the pokecenter to check on him, you should come and apologize to him, but I already know you aren't. Instead you will probably just lay there laughing at me once I leave." I said as I headed towards the exit to the hotel room.

I eventually did make my way to the pokecenter. Luckily they had doors that I could push open, so it wasn't too hard to get inside without any help. Inside, I saw Alex sitting on a bench with a worried look on his face. Alex almost noticed me right away, and he gave me a small wave that lacked enthusiasm. I nodded at Alex, and I jumped up on the bench and sat right next to him.

"Do you know who did this Flare?" Alex asked with a concerned tone. I know Alex really did care about all of us equally, and I really wanted to tell Alex the truth. But, if I told him it was Gray, I would risk him being put to sleep, since vicious pokemon are put down. I could just hope that Black and Gray find a way to work this out later on. So as my answer, I nodded in a no gesture to Alex.

Time went by, and Alex and I continued to sit on the bench in a deep thought. Then, the lady at the front desk finally called us. "Sir, your pokemon is now out of surgery and stable. You may see him now if you are careful, but he is still asleep." Alex and I both jumped up anxiously to see Black after what felt like forever. The lady at the desk had an assistant guide us down to where they were keeping Black. The walk down the hall felt like it was never ending, I was pretty nervous honestly. Black tended to be a grumpy person most of the time, so I'd imagine when he wakes up, it will be the beginning of the end. After the assistant guided us down the hall, we finally reached the room Black was being kept in. Alex stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, and walked in the room as I followed his footsteps.

Alex and I both looked at Black as he snoozed peacefully on the bed almost as if he was never attacked in the first place. Black had bandages wrapped all around his upper torso, and the bandages went down to his stomach. Seeing Black in this condition, I couldn't help but feel slightly responsible, since I did stop Black in the fight, which resulted in Gray hurting him even more. Everything just got way too out of control, and no matter what I did someone got injured.

Alex and I waited patiently for about thirty minutes, and we soon realized that he wasn't waking up anytime tonight. "Flare we should probably head back. It's pretty late, and we need to get some sleep so we can be in our best shape when Black is awake." Alex said, and I had to agree with his statement. I gave Alex a nod of approval, and he led the way towards the exit and I followed.

After a small walk, Alex and I eventually made it back to the hotel so we could get some sleep. Alex seemed to fell asleep really fast, but I tossed and turned as I continued to be haunted by thoughts of what to do with Black and Gray. I still couldn't understand where Gray was coming from. He's never told me anything, and over the years I have known him, he has mostly been quiet.

After a long night of tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep, and awoke again when dawn broke. With my groggy vision, I saw Alex still sleeping and Gray was passed out on the couch. Then last night came flooding back into my head. With the memories of last night now stuck in my head again, it felt like forever, until Alex finally woke up.

As Alex slowly got out of bed, he noticed that I was awake as well and gave me a smile, "Morning Flare, how'd you sleep?"

"Alright I guess," I replied in an empty voice that was to tired to show any emotions. Despite the fact that we couldn't understand each other, Alex still usually managed to get a good idea of what I said based off my tone.

"What's the matter, you want to go see Black?" Alex asked me.

I nodded up and down. I lost a lot of sleep last night due to me being worried about Black, and I was anxious to see how he was going to take this whole situation. After Alex grabbed some things, we set off towards the pokecenter and left Gray since he was still asleep. Once we arrived at the pokecenter Alex checked in, and we went to Black's room.

Once we finally did make it to Black's room, I was quickly disappointed to find the umbreon still asleep. I could only guess that with the painkillers they gave him, and with him being off his regular sleep schedule, would result in one sleepy umbreon. Then again, Black was always sleeping, or at least sleepy, ever since I met the guy. Sadly, Alex was only able to stay for about an hour or so before he had to leave to run a few errands.

So, I sat in the room with the unconscious Black for about thirty minutes, and right when I was about to fall asleep, Black began to move. I slowly walked up next to his bed and jumped up onto the stool that was right next to his bed and stared at his face to see if he was waking up finally. His eyes slowly cracked open, he struggled to open his eyes at first but they did eventually open. It was a relief to finally see Black waking up. I was actually starting to think he was in a coma or something, and Alex was going to go bankrupt just to keep Black alive.

"Where am I?" His voice was very weak and quiet.

"You're in the pokemon center, don't you remember anything?" I asked Black.

"Where?" He asked me again in a confused voice.

"I said the pokemon center" I said with emphasis on pokecenter.

"Oh." He replied quietly. Black then began to slowly stand up and he jumped off the bed and headed towards the door as he swerved left and right, failing to walk in a straight line.

"Hey, where are you going, you can't leave, you're still recovering!" I yelled to the umbreon.

He awkwardly turned back at me, "I'm leaving, we got to go to that battle thingy today," Black said as I noticed the droopy look on his face. Many things seemed off about Black right now: one his ears were drooping down to the side, two his eyes blinked at separate times and freaked me out, and three he was never originally in a hurry for the gym battle, so why did he care now? Black was kind of creeping me out right now, he was very out of character, and I was one-hundred percent sure he was high on the medicine he received from the pokecenter...

Black then turned around and continued to walk until he walked directly into the door and fell over. I just stood in place with my jaw wide open, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The drugs they gave him must have made him completely loopy. I walked up to Black and I assisted him back up and tried to guide him back to his bed, but the umbreon began resisting me.

"I don't wanna go back to bed," He stubbornly said in a droopy voice.

"You have to, you're not well! And are you even listening to yourself? You are completely out of character, just please go back to being grouchy!" I yelled at him, but he just kept resisting me as I tugged on his fur with my teeth. I was attempting to drag him towards the bed, but he kept trying to fight toward the door. Then he got the smart idea to stop pulling me toward the door and since I was pulling him as hard as I could, physics caused him to fall on top of me. I gasped for air as I was crushed by the umbreon who was three times my size.

After a minute of dying beneath Black, he finally got up off of me, and began to head towards the door again. Black pushed his head against the door in an attempt to open it, but he failed to realize that these doors had nob's on them and they couldn't be pushed open. So, the end result of Black's actions was him sliding back down to the ground.

"My Mew Black! You are completely high!" I yelled at Black as he claws at the door from the ground.

Black eventually did give up on opening the door, and he just looked at me with his droopy tilted head, "Why won't you let me leave?" the umbreon questioned in his tired voice.

Black stared at me for a second, and then out of nowhere the door slammed open and crushed Black between the door and wall, a young blonde nurse was pushing a medicine cart through the door and got it stuck. Black just sat there looking as if he was suffocating. The nurse continued to try and force the cart through the door, and the more force she used, them more Black began to look like he was going to pass out. Finally, the nurse finally got the cart through the door. As the nurse walked in she noticed Black crushed against the door, and she gasped in reply.

"Ugh… whoops," she said nervously as she walked over to Black and picked him up carefully. Black didn't even resist her, at this point he was too close to passing out to even be aware of what was going on. After the doctor checked up on Black, she left Black and I to ourselves. Black was given more medications, and the poor guy passed out again.

Around another hour later, Black finally woke back up. "Uhh… Why does my neck hurt so freaking bad," the umbreon complained.

"Black, are you feeling alright now?" I asked the umbreon.

"No, my neck feels like it got stepped on by a snorlax," he complained. "How long was I out?" Black asked me.

"You mean… you don't remember anything?"

"I remember an asshole I'm going to get back at for attacking me," Black bitterly replied to me. A small smirk formed on my face as I realized that he had no memory of him being high on the pokecenters drugs, this was possibly the best blackmailing material I have ever had in my life, but I wasn't sure if I could morally use it.

"Anyways..." I awkwardly said, "I think if you don't move around a lot you will probably be able to leave tomorrow," I told Black.

For once in Black's life, a smile crept onto his face, "Really, I can't wait to get out of this place," Black told me.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Thank you genericgamer207 for helping with editing this chapter.


	6. The Bug Gym

**Chapter 6: The Bug Gym.**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

As Flare predicted, the pokecenter was going to allow me to leave this morning. I let out a tired yawn as I watched Alex fill out some paper work so I could leave. Alex cringed the moment he saw the bill for my minor surgery. I bet regret was rife in his mind about actually choosing not to put me down after my injury. After watching the long and tedious process of Alex filling out paperwork he finally finished and made his way towards me.

"Good news Black, we can finally get out of here!" Alex gleefully said with a smile, I couldn't say that the thought didn't sound too bad.

During my short, yet seemingly long stay at the pokecenter, I spent most of my time daydreaming about life. However, despite my attempts to block them out, my mind was still cluttered with thoughts of rage towards that absol. I looked forward to getting back at him. I was never the type to take crap like this.

"How're you feeling?" Flare asked me curiously.

"I'm living," I replied dryly.

After mostly everyone finished asking me if I was fine, we departed and headed back to the hotel. Every step on the way back was uncomfortable, and irritated my injury. After a long walk back, we finally made our way back into the hotel. The moment the door to the hotel room opened, my eyes looked towards the absol who assaulted me. The absol quietly lied on the couch as he noticed our presence. Rage began to build up within me, and I started to grind my teeth together as I tried to keep myself from exploding in fury.

"You," I said bitterly as I shot the absol a menacing glare.

"Great, your back," the absol scowled towards me. "I'm surprised you didn't run away crying back into the wild."

"Gray, that's enough. We're a team whether you like it or not, so we can't let our differences come between us," Flare said as he stood between Gray and I, although I don't know what Flare was thinking he could stop with his small body.

"Yeah, how about you say that when you're the one who got attacked," I snapped at Flare.

"Yeah I know Black… I wasn't the one attacked, but you can still be the bigger person," Flare tried to reason. "But what does getting even get you?"

"Sweet satisfaction," I bitterly responded as I looked towards Gray.

"And you think you can manage to take me on?" Gray responded as he began to stand up.

"I don't think you do stand a chance, you one horned freak," I said to Gray with a vicious growl.

"You're rather funny, joking about beating me," Gray replied to me as he jumped off the couch and stood in front of me, "Where would you like your next scar, I'll let you choose this time?"

"Shut your fucking mouth," I yelled back.

"You two stop it!" Alex yelled from across the room as he threw a pokeball. I flinched back expecting to get sucked in, but instead a bright light flashed and absorbed Gray into his pokeball.

"Sorry Black, I should have warned you that he's a bit antisocial," Alex said as he retrieved Gray's pokeball off the ground.

"A bit…" I replied in a low voice.

"Anyways, are you two ready to begin the first gym battle?" Alex asked Flare and I excitedly. "Well, obviously you won't be fighting Black, you're still recovering," Alex began to say, and the trainer directed his attention towards Flare, "I think you and Gray will have a good shot on doing this on your own, what do you say, buddy?"

"We can take them," Flare said, with newfound excitement, instead of the tense feeling he had moments ago.

"Let's get going then, I can hardly wait," Alex said excitedly as he grabbed his backpack and headed towards the door, with us following.

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

A scowl escaped my mouth as I looked down at the grassy ground below me. "Piece of shit umbreon," I said out loud with spite.

After a moment of standing, I began to grow a bit tired and I lied against a tree. Even though Alex made huge efforts to not constrain us in our pokeballs, I could still never stand being confined against my will. It was such a degrading feeling.

A few minutes passed by, until my eyes sprang open as I felt myself get sucked out of the pokeball, and thrusted back into the real world. My head spun for a brief moment, and my weariness left almost as fast as it came.

"Are you ready Gray?" Alex asked me, as he looked down at me with a small smile and patted me on the back, but I quickly moved away from him, avoiding his touch.

"Ready? For what?" I questioned.

"For the gym battle," Flare answered. As the fox stood by Alex's feet, I looked to the trainer's shadow and saw that cursed umbreon hiding it it. The two of us swapped hateful glares for a short moment, then my vision shifted towards the building in front of me, that I hadn't paid attention to until now.

'This is the first gym?' I mentally said, as I stared at the pokeball shaped logo on the building, with the lightning bolt shaped thing exiting the bottom right of the pokeball. As I observed the building, Alex walked up to the double doors and pushed one of the two open and held it for us Flare and that umbreon both walked in without much thought.

"You coming Gray, we can't do this without you," Alex said to me. I just looked at my trainer for a moment, then obeyed his order and headed into the gym.

Inside the gym was a wide open arena with a stone floor, and a giant white outline of a pokeball in the middle. On the outskirts of the arena, there were bleachers for spectators, and the ceiling had multiple lights that shone down on the entire area.

"Good afternoon, I assume your party is here to challenge me?" a lady with blonde hair hair asked Alex. This lady appeared to be in her early thirties, and she wore a white tank top, with some olive-green pants.

"That would be correct," Alex said with a smirk on his face.

"Alrighty, I'll just need you to sign a waiver, and we can begin momentarily," the women said in a rather cheerful voice, "Also, my name is Viola, and you are?"

"Alex Hayter, nice to meet you," Alex said as she handed him a waiver, and the two shook hands. "What are these for anyways?" Alex asked as he began reading the book of pages, that was the waiver.

"Ah, it just say's we're not responsible in the event that you or your pokemon get injured, die, suffer permanent injuries, and etcetera," Viola answered.

"Oh…" Alex said nervously as he scratched his name down on the waiver and handed it over to the gym leader.

"Alrighty, are you ready to get this show on the road?" Viola asked as she eagerly placed her hand over one of the pokeballs on her belt.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Alex said as he looked towards out group.

"Excellent, step onto the field, and choose your starting pokemon," Viola said as she walked to the other end of the arena. It took a moment for the two to get fully prepared, but after a moment, the two had fiery determination showing in both of their eyes.

"Gray, you want the honors of going first?" Alex asked me, as he looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Do I have a choice?" I said as I stepped onto the arena.

Viola unclipped a pokeball off her belt, and she tossed the ball up and down, as she observed me carefully while she wore a displeased look.

"You know, an absol would not be the first pick for most trainers, are you sure you want to start with a dark type?" Viola questioned Alex.

"I'm positive, don't underestimate him, he's a handful at times, but he's far from weak," Alex said with confidence, and his words managed to spark a confident smirk on my face and I glared at the gym leader.

"You're absolutely right, I'm not weak."

"You're weak," the shitty umbreon yelled at me from the sideline. The moment I heard those words, my smirk disappeared and turned into an unpleasant frown as I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes.

"I'll deal with you later," I muttered to myself.

"Well, no need for delay," Viola said as she stopped tossing the pokeball, and threw it, "Go surskit!" Viola shouted as the pokeball deployed the pokemon she just announced.

"Are you ready?" Viola asked, for the final time. Alex responded with a nod. "Excellent, then get ready," Viola began to say as I lowered my front end low to the ground, and got ready to attack. "On your mark," Viola continued, and my heart rate began to spike up, "Go!" Viola yelled, and my perception of time slowed down as I sprinted towards the surskit, without even waiting for Alex's command.

"Gray, use ice beam!" Alex commanded. Doing as he commanded, I slid to a dead stop, and concentrated my powers into an ice beam as I opened my mouth with a concentrated energy in my mouth.

"Dodge and use bubble," Viola commanded with tranquility, right as the beam shot towards the surskit. The surskit lept out of the way, and the beam zoomed past it, freezing the ground below the beam, before it collided with the wall and left a patch of ice frozen to the wall.

Phase two of the gym leader's command went into progress, and the surskit opened its nearly invisible mouth, and multiple bubbles floated out of its mouth. The bubbles grew in size as they exited the mouth, and they floated towards me at a slow pace. I stood in place as I stared at the bubbles slowly floating my way. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure how I should have felt at the moment… I mean should I be intimidated by these bubbles? So, not sure on how to respond, I just stood there in disbelief.

"Gray… you may want to move," Alex said calmly, as he gestured for me to move to the side.

"Right…" I said as the bubbles closed in on me, and not feeling threatened, I decided not to move, just see how harmless this attack was. The bubble bumped into me, and the instant it touched my fur, it popped thundering a sound like a balloon popping through the air, and a strong forced threw me back skidding across the ground.

I looked across the arena with my dazed vision, and I could see the other bubbles closing in on me. Alex began to tell a command at me, but the ringing in my head muffled him out. Despite my weariness, I forced myself up, and I tried to move, and the instant I moved, I felt my paws sticking to the ground.

"What the?" I said as I forced myself to move out of the attacks way, even though my paws were sticking to the ground. A slimy substance drenched my fur. I tried to shake it off, but the material managed to stay on my body and stiffen the fur on my body.

"Gross," I said as I continued to try and shake it off, but had no luck. "Seriously, what the hell, explosive bubbles?" I said in disbelief as I looked at the surskit. The creature just stared at me with a blank expression, and the lack of emotions just sent a chilling tremor down my spine.

"Surskit, use mist," Viola commanded. The surskit inhaled a deep breath and it exhaled a thick mist that covered the entire gym arena.

"Now, finish him up!" Viola yelled.

"Gray, stay on the move, and don't let your guard down," Alex said to me through the thick mist.

I looked left and right quickly, and seeing that my vision was lowered, I decided to go with Alex's plan. I took of running in a random direction, each step I took my paws stuck to the ground and took effort to rip off the ground, due to the sticky bubble substance covering me.

After a moment of running, I slid to a stop as I began charging an ice beam. I aimlessly fired the beam and I prayed that my attack would land, but all I heard from the attack was it hitting the wall

on the other side of the gym.

"Surkist, use bubble beam!" Viola's voice yelled through the thick mist.

"Bubble beam?" I repeated to myself.

"Gray, move and counter!" Alex said as the mist was blown away by multiple bubbles that were flying towards me at high speed. I quickly dove to the side, and the bubbles barely missed. As I fell onto the stone ground, I launched an ice ball out of my mouth in the direction that the bubbles came from. The ice ball zoomed through the air blowing the mist from its path and opening a small line of vision and revealed the surskit.

The surskit quickly jumped to the side, and responded with more bubbles. I quickly got up to my feet, and sprinted towards the surskit carefully maneuvering around each bubble. As I neared my foe, I jumped into the air with an attack charging in my maw, and as I reached the peak of my jump, razor sharp shards of ice shot of my mouth, and rained down on the surskit. The surskit flinched back as multiple pieces of ice stuck out of its form.

Not wasting a single chance, I lunged towards the surskit and swung my claws at it. My claws scraped its side, and left three decent sized scratches, but the surskit managed to move out of the way, and saved itself from any real damage. Once again I jumped towards the surskit, but this time the surskit stood in place, and opened its mouth. My eyes widened as a bubble blew out, and collided into me. A loud pop echoed through the arena as I was blown back, and I was sent rolling along the ground, scraping up my body.

"Gray?!" Alex yelled at me with fear as he began to withdraw my pokeball from his belt.

I looked at him in defeat for a moment, I couldn't believe I was losing to a bubble spitting surskit. "No," I said to myself as I pried myself up off of the ground and faced the surskit.

"I'm not losing to you, it'd be degrading?" I said as I panted in exhaustion and I faced the surskit. I took in one final breath, and I ran towards the surskit as fast as my body could handle.

"Surskit, use bubble beam," Viola commanded.

A series of bubbles left surskit's mouth and flew towards me. I quickly dodged to the right, and ducked as a few of the killer bubbles flew over me. Once I got within range, the surskit lept back and blew another bubble towards me. I quickly sidestepped the attack and leapt towards the surskit, and I swung my jagged claws towards it. My three jagged claws tore into the surskits skin and left three scratch streaks on its face, luckily missing the eyes and thankfully the injury was nothing fatal.

The surskit fell to the ground with a high pitched whine and refused to move after my attack. Viola looked at surskit for a moment, before she gave a nod and returned the surskit to its pokeball.

"Good job surskit, you fought well," viola said as she attached the pokeball to her belt. "Well, congrats, you've won against one of the three competitors," Viola said with a smirk. "I hope you're ready, because we're not going down without a fight."

"Neither do we," Alex responded with a confident smile, and then directed his attentions towards me, "Hey Gray, you did an awesome job, why don't you swap out with Flare, so you can catch your breath," Alex suggested.

I responded with a nod, and I walked off the battleground and I as I walked to a spot to take a nap, I passed Flare, "If I can win with a type disadvantage, then you better be able to do your part," I said to Flare as I walked past him.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on leaving here as a fire type that lost to the bug gym," flare said to my back, even if I couldn't see him, I could still sense that smile that he always wore so proudly.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End**

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Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing


	7. Arthropod

**Chapter 7: The Bug Gym Finale**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I stepped onto the arena and faced Viola as I felt adrenaline begin to pump through my body. I let out a nervous sigh as I waited for her to withdraw her choice for my opponent. No matter what she threw at me, I had no choice but to win, since Gray would struggle against the other pokemon, like he did with the first one.

A smirk formed on Viola's face as she unclipped a pokeball off her belt. Viola cocked her arm and threw the pokeball, and a blinding light flashed . As my vision recovered, I made out a vivillon fluttering in the air.

Viola clipped the pokeball on her belt for safe keeping, and then faced Alex and I, "Are you two ready to begin?" Viola asked us two.

"You ready Flare?" Alex asked me, and I turned back and gave him a quick nod.

"We're ready," Alex said to Viola.

"Alright, begin!" Viola shouted, and adrenaline kicked in even more, as my heart began pounding within my ribcage.

"Flare, use flame charge," Alex commanded.

Not wasting a single second, I inhaled a deep breath as I concentrated my energy, and within a few seconds, a flame engulfed my entire body. Once the flames shrouded my body, I darted off towards the vivillon and once I was in range, I jumped towards the bug type in an attempt to tackle it out of the air. The vivillon swiftly flew out of the way and I fell back to the ground. After landing, I inhaled a deep breath and the flames around my body flowed into my mouth, and I blew them back out in the form of a massive flamethrower.

"Use gust!" Viola desperately shouted. The vivillon then gave one mighty synchronized flap of its wings and a visible gale of wind collided with my flamethrower, and the force caused a torrent of flames that caused me to slightly lose my balance.

"Flare, use ember, don't give it any room to breathe," Alex commanded me excitedly.

Doing as he commanded, I shot an ember at the vivilon, but it flew above the attack. After the first attack, I continued to spray a flurry of embers, until I had to stop to catch my breath. My head hung low for a moment as I began panting.

"Use stun spore!" Viola shouted. My head cocked up just in time to see the vivillon open its mouth and release a cloud containing tiny spores. The vivillon the flapped its wings, and the cloud of spores were blown in every direction possible. I closed my eyes as the spores flew around me. After a moment I opened my eyes to see that I was perfectly fine and looked back at the vivillon in surprise.

Flare, are you alright?" I nodded back at Alex, and he directed his attention back to the vivillon, "Alright, try ember again, and don't let up on it," Alex told me. I took in a very deep breath before I exhaled and sprayed out a hellstorm of embers at the vivillon, but the butterfly like pokemon swooshed out of the way as it barely dodged my attack.

As I continued to shoot embers at the vivillon my body all of a sudden became very fatigued, it all just hit me within a few seconds. I swayed back and forth as I tried to keep my footing, but after a moment I smacked into the ground. I tried to looked around but my vision was blurred, and I felt so tired.

"Wha… what's going on," I said in a drowsy tone, as I tried to pull myself back up, but I couldn't muster up the energy.

"Flare?" Alex called out to me, but his voice sounded so far away.

'What's going on?" I asked myself mentally as I tried to understand this situation.

"Looks like your fennekin is finished, you can either send out your absol again, or your umbreon," Viola said.

Just as I was about to give into this unexpected drowsiness, the memory of that stun spore attack replayed in my mind. I remembered it doing nothing, and it was so odd. I turned my head and I looked at my fur to notice spore like things attached to my fur. My eyes widened in surprise from the sight, how could I have been so stupid?

"Well, which pokemon are you sending in next?" Viola asked Alex, as his arms dropped in disappointment, and he looked back at Gray and Black.

With the little strength I had left, I pried myself up, and forced myself to stand, "I'm… I'm not done," I said as I closed my eyes and used whatever energy I had left, to engulf my body in flames. The flame around my body was weak, and barely managed to keep its form, but as I looked at the spores on my body, I could see them burning off me. As the spores burned off, I could feel my energy slowly coming back, and within a moment the spores were gone. My energy didn't feel like it was as high as it was before I was hit with the stun spore, but it still recovered significantly.

"Actually, it looks like your fennekin caught on, a bright little guy, isn't he?" Viola said as she looked at me and gave me a nod of approval.

"Bright, figuratively, and literally," I added to her previous statement, as I waited for Alex to tell me my next move.

"Are you sure you can go on, Flare?" Alex questioned with concern.

"I got this," I replied with a confident smirk.

"Vivillon use hurricane!" Viola commanded. The vivillon flew up quite a distance into the air until it started flapping its wings really hard, and as it continued to flap its wings a strong breeze started to pick up. The breeze soon turned into a mighty gale that started to blow me off my feet, but I was quick to dig my claws into the ground. I held on with everything I had as the gale attack tried to blow me away.

I knew I had one shot at beating this vivillon, so I was going to have to take this shot now. I haven't quite mastered this attack yet, so I could only use it once at best, but right now it was all or nothing. I inhaled a deep breath as I closed my eyes and took a moment to concentrate. I channeled the flames in my body and meditated for a moment as I tapped into the energy of the flames, almost as if they were actually living beings. When I felt fully concentrated and in link with my powers I opened my eyes. I changed my footing up a bit and I inhaled another deep breath, before I exhaled a spiralling flame that overpowered the might gales of the hurricane and seared towards the Vivillon. The butterfly stopped its hurricane attack and tried to flutter away, but instead it became ensnared in my fire spin attack. The flames circled the vivillon and after a few moments the attack ceased. The vivillon soon fell straight for the ground with a stream of smoke following it. Viola was quick to run out onto the arena and catch her pokemon.

Viola cradled the vivillon as she unsnapped one of the pokeballs off her belt, "You fought very well Vivillon," Viola said as she returned the vivillon to her belt.

I panted in exhaustion as I watched Viola care for the injured pokemon. I felt my legs give out, and I fell onto the ground. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, and I was lifted off the ground. With the little strength I had left I looked up to see Alex.

"You did awesome, I'm proud of you for winning this one," Alex said with a smile as he sat me down right next to Gray. I let out a tired yawn as I rested my head on the ground, but I planned on staying awake for the final match.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

What Flare did was actually pretty impressive, I'm not going to lie. I would hate to be trapped in one of those things. I gave a quick glance at the fennekin that was next to the absol, Flare looked as if he was about to pass out. I guess I would too if I was in that sticky of a battle.

"Black," Alex called to get my attention. I looked towards my trainer as he knelt down to get as close to my eye level as he could. He placed a hand on my shoulder but I was quick to move arms length from him, I never understood why humans always wanted to touch us pokemon, yeah I get it we're furry and all that.

"Black, I know you're getting over an injury, so I'm not going to force you to fight, but I'm also not going to deny you the opportunity. What do you wanna do?" Alex questioned me.

Truthfully I didn't really care too much about this gym battle thing. The only reason I even took remote interest in it was so I didn't die here, but if I didn't have to fight I wasn't going to. Just as I was almost set on my answer I gave a quick glance back at Flare, and the asshole absol. I didn't really want to listen to this later from Flare then again, and I wanted to hear that absol condescend me later even less. This decision wasn't an easy one… I didn't want to seem like a coward, nor did I want to fight. I pondered the thought for a moment before I came to a conclusion.

"Alright, fine. But don't think I'm actually taking an interest in your pokemon cruelty games," I answered Alex as I gave him a nod, which was probably the indications he was looking for the start with.

"Alright, sweet!" Alex gleefully said, "Just step onto the arena and listen to my advice throughout the fight."

"Yeah-yeah, I wasn't born yesterday, I watched Flare and that absol do this ya know," I responded to Alex as I walked onto the arena.

"Are you two ready to begin the last battle?" Viola questioned us.

"Yes, we are," Alex answered for us.

"Good, because this last one may be a challenge, especially for a dark type," Viola said as said as she threw her last pokeball, and a bright light started to take a shape. The form soon revealed a scyther, one that wore a cold blooded look on its face. I cringed a bit as I looked at his blades until I noticed that they weren't sharp like most scythers, instead they appeared mostly blunt. I guess if they wanted these battles to be safe the couldn't have razor sharp blades that would easily decapitate me, that wouldn't exactly be a pretty sight.

"So, let's begin!" Viola chimed as she excitedly raised her fist into the air.

"Umm Black," Alex said as he took a moment to think. This is when it probably occurred to him that he didn't know any of my attacks other than quick attack, which was something like all pokemon knew.

"Just say quick attack or something," I stated as I got into a defensive position. I personally never understood why the trainers had to tell me how to fight. There is absolutely no form of surprise if I have some idiot blurting out my attacks.

"I know, use tackle!" Alex commanded me.

'Well, I'll just let the scyther think he knows what is coming his way,' I thought to myself as a small sneer formed on my face.

With a plan formulated in my mind, I ran towards the scyther, and as I closed in my running pattern turned into zig zags.

"Scyther, use slash!" Viola ordered.

As I closed in the scyther swung his blade downward, but I quickly jumped to the side. I quickly slid to a stop, blades length from the scyther. The first logical thing to do would be to get an idea of his capabilities, just get a feeling for his speed and stuff.

"Black use quick attack!" Alex ordered me around.

"Scyther, X-scissor." With that command said, the scyther darted towards me in a flash, he crossed both of his blades near his chest, until he swung both at me in an X shape. The two blunt blades smacked into my skull and sent me tumbling the the ground with a serious migraine. Those blades may be blunt, but they hurt like hell.

I grunted as I pulled myself back up. "Okay, now I'm getting a little mad," I muttered to myself as my view deadpanned on the scyther.

"Black, stay quick and keep your eyes open or you won't know what hit you," Alex told me.

"No dip sherlock holmes," I muttered.

"Scyther, Fury cutter!" Viola shouted to her pokemon.

"I don't like the sound of this…" I whispered as the scyther dashed towards me at light speed. It stopped right in front of me and began swinging a series of attacks at me. I was quick to jump back, but the scyther kept pursuing me as it threw its attacks aimlessly at me. As the scyther chased me I felt my adrenaline kicking in as I kept jumping away from his attacks, everything was slowing down, even the scyther. After a moment I saw a small opening. I impulsively lunged towards the scyther, and with everything I had I rammed my head into the scyther's gut. The bug type flinched back as it placed one of its blades on it's gut, but kept the other on guard.

"I gotcha," I said with a sneer as I moved back to a safe distance.

"Air Slash!" Viola shouted at her pokemon.

The scyther quickly jumped back and he swung his blade in my direction, and a wave of wind came towards me. I was quick to dive out of the way as the attack hit my last location. I looked back to see a giant slash mark in the ground, if I was a second later I would be in bad shape right now, especially since the scyther has a type advantage, one good hit and I'm done. I let out a sigh of relief since I was still standing.

"Black, do what you did the first time, wait for your opening and strike, I know you can do it."

"Boy, you just love stating the obvious, what else am I going to do?" I spoke to myself.

"Scyther, continue with the air slashes, give the umbreon no breathing space," Viola told her scyther, and he responded with a nod.

The scyther began swinging his blades, and multiple air slashes flew towards me. I quickly zigzagged around them as I charged at the scyther. One of the air slashes cut the side of my cheek, but I continued running towards him. Once I got up close the scyther smashed his blunt blade down towards me, but I sidestepped the attack. I attempted to tackle him, but the side of his free blade smacked into the side of my head, and knocked me to the ground. I groaned in pain as I looked at the scyther and say doubles for a second, until my vision stabilized. I quickly recovered to my feet as the scyther tried to swing his blade at me again, luckily I was fast enough. As the Scyther's blade was extended out towards the ground, I quickly jumped towards the Scyther and head butted him in the forehead. The scyther flinched back and attempted to grasp his skull with his two blades, I on the other paw just wobbled around as my skull rung. Turns out a scyther's exoskeleton is almost as hard as the thick bones of an umbreon.

Despite my dazed state I ran towards the scyther and I slammed my whole body into him. We both tousled to the ground, sadly with him on top. The scyther broke his dazed state as he lied atop of me. The scyther glared at me for a moment, until I rammed my head into his forehead again. I let out a screech of pain as my head became very numb. The scyther fell on top of me again, but this time his body was completely limp. Using all the strength I had left, I shoved him off of me. The scyther rolled onto his back, and remained unconscious. I managed to roll over onto my stomach and get off the ground. I looked towards the Scyther and I saw that the forehead of his exoskeleton was slightly cracked… I prayed that my skull wasn't cracked from that head but, but I doubted it. As I stared at the scyther a bright light flashed towards him and sucked the Scyther in. I looked back to see Viola holding the Scyther's pokeball.

"Good job Scyther," She said to her pokeball, before she looked towards Alex, "Well, it looks like I lost this battle, congratulations Alex!" With this words said Alex and Flare ran out onto the arena towards me. Alex was quick to pick me up and give me a strong hug.

"Hey, let me down!" I said in shock as my trainer finally let me go, "Don't touch me, I don't like it," I snapped at my trainer.

"Congrats Black, you won the last match!" Flare congratulated me excitedly.

"Thanks, I guess," I responded nervously, not really knowing how to respond to this kind of attention.

Viola stepped out onto the arena and she approached Alex with something in her hand, "Well, I guess you earned this today, not just you though, you and your pokemon earned it," Viola said as she held out a badge in her hand. The badge kind of looked like a bug with two green gems on it, one on each side of it.

"Wait wait wait!" I began to say in confusion, "We did not just go through that for a little stupid boy scout badge did we? I mean don't we get something that makes it worth nearly dying?" I questioned in disbelief.

"No, that's it. I mean most of this eight gym badge stuff is mostly about the thrill of adventuring and growing closer with your friends and growing bonds," Flare answered me.

"Unbelievable," I said in anger.

After a bit of talking between Alex and Viola, we all headed back to the hotel. Everyone lied around the hotel lazily, until Alex called all of us.

"Hey, I picked these up earlier, since I knew we'd win that battle," Alex said as he reached into a bag.

"We as in not you," I remarked. After my snide comment I picked up the scent of something sweet from whatever was in that bag Alex had.

"The other night I got some really fancy pokepuffs for when we won, I hope you guys enjoy them," Alex said as he began to pass out the treats to us.

"Wow, I didn't know you could get rewarded for violence nowadays," I said jokingly as Alex gave me three of the treats. It didn't take long for me to scarf them down, they were oh so delicious, even my pride wasn't too high and mighty to accept something this delicious.

"You guys should get a good night of sleep tonight, because tomorrow we are leaving to head out to the next gym,"

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Point: **Thanks to genericgamer207 and The pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.


	8. Dawn

**Chapter 8: Dawn**

* * *

**Point of View Anonymous**

I have been crammed up in a small cage for Celebi knows how long in a location just as vague. Accompanying me were five other pokemon, of which all sat in the silent despair of their own cages. The room we were all trapped in was completely dark with only my tail for light. I hadn't seen the light of day in what I imagine was a few weeks. The room also smelled like a dump, but the sad part is that I had actually gotten use to that. Everyday someone would come in and bring us just enough food and water to get by, and then we would be left in solitude until we rotted. I was now beginning to give up on hope and feel my sanity slowly being drained along with the dim flicker of my tail.

Suddenly the door to our prison opened. The bright light that shined in the room burned my eyes. I squinted as someone walked in. I couldn't make the figure out due to my still dazed sight.

"Charmander, my boss wishes to speak to you." I was then able to make out our prison warden. He was a houndour with a nasty eye scar and he looked like he was in a nasty mood. He then came over to my cell. Then he literally ripped the lock off my cell with his teeth as if it was a chew toy. The door to my cell slowly creaked open and for once I actually wish my cell was still locked, because he was friggin' scary as hell.

"Follow me, and if you try anything, I will break your arms and legs... slowly." I then followed him out of the closet. We appeared to be in some kind of abandoned storage warehouse. There were worn out crates everywhere covered with dust and rust. I have no idea when or how I got here. I just remember having a bag put over my head and then being knocked out.

I followed the one eyed houndour down a path of crates until we turned and started ascending up some stairs. We then went through a door that was already open, and I then came into a well lit office that was actually clean unlike the rest of the storage. There were files stacked on a desk and a bookshelf, some dead plants in the corner and an empty fish tank integrated into the wall. Then I saw an espeon on the other side of the room, but for some reason it was white. He then turned around and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were crimson red, and made him look like he would kill me without a second thought, yet his gaze also showed that he has insight and he wasn't going to just make any rash moves. There was also a quilava leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed as if he was napping.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my name is Vincent," The espeon said with a very intellectual voice along with a hint of seriousness in it.

"I bet you are wondering why I let you out of your cell?" the espeon said with a pause between his sentences. "Well then, straight to the point... I'm willing to cut you a deal," The espeon now had my full attention.

"Flynn give us some privacy while I discuss things with our new colleague. Don't worry, he won't be a problem." The houndour looked the espeon in the eye for a few seconds and then started making his way towards the exit and left us in privacy.

"You said you had a proposal for me?" I said. I was very nervous and clueless on what he wanted from me.

"That is correct. Obviously you were imprisoned in our facility because you and your trainer was caught spying on us. Now I need you to do something for me and my colleagues. It's just a simple task and then you can be free and go back to your trainer as long as you no longer interfere with us. If you defy us though it will result in the termination of you, your trainer, and anyone who tries to stop us."

"What could you possibly need me for?" I was very confused on why he had chosen me to help him out on his errand.

"Well, I need you to help Merrick over there in the corner locate and apprehend someone for us. You will bring him to me by any means necessary. You are not to kill him. I have chosen you because the culprit does not know you, and I would imagine you're able to get some things done. Regardless it should be an easy task for you two if you follow my instructions."

"Who am I capturing?"

"His name is Ryder, or he now goes by the name of Kaz."

**Point of View Black**

It was now noon, and I was waiting outside a pokemon shop with Flare and Gray, but Gray was was off in the far distance. I wish I could say we could get along but I now realize that it is more likely for magikarp to take over the world, but things were still the same, and he just wanted me out of his life. My muscles didn't hurt as bad as I thought they would but they still ached from my battle with the scyther. Most of my cut wounds healed over the night and thankfully would not turn into scars, like the one on my chest.

"Hey Black?" Flare asked me

"Yeah?" I replied awaiting his question.

"What were you doing before you joined our team?" Flare was now prying at my previous life before I was captured yet again.

"One, I didn't really join your team, you technically abducted me. Second, I already told you I didn't want to talk about this stuff. So, if I tell you a little bit, will it stay between us okay?" Flare stared at me excitedly.

"Before I was abducted by you guys, I was trying to settle a personal vendetta with a few people who destroyed my life." I could feel depression engulfing my body as flashbacks appeared in my head.

"And what happened?" Flare asked expecting more to my background.

"I really don't want to remember any of this. I'm sorry, I can't. I honestly just want to forget." I could now feel the memories flashing in my head. I could feel the memories consuming me and putting me back in my state of depression.

"I'm sorry. I know you said not to ask, and I should have minded my own business. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how painful that was for you." Flare sounded really sad that he made me depressed. It feels good knowing that I had someone who actually cared about how I feel, so I wasn't angry at him for only being curious about my past.

"It's cool Flare. I put that life behind me, and I'm moving on now. Joining up with you guys has changed my life." I was speaking the truth too.

Alex then walked out of the store while putting equipment into his bags. "Are you all ready to go to Luminose city?" He wore a big grin on his face and was very pumped up to continue our journey.

"Yeah!" Flare yelled very excitedly to keep going. I personally wanted to lay down on a bed or something all day watching some of those crappy TV shows humans watch, but no instead I'm going to walk all day when I'm already aching in pain.

We then left the town and began walking down a trail. We were now heading out into the rural area between the two cities. The area up ahead was mostly just grass and a few flowers here and there. The sky was nice and clear, but the sun was beating down really hard on me. The temperature had to be at least in the eighties, and since my black fur absorbed a lot of sunlight, I was overheating. Flare looked just fine though, actually he looked like he was in his prime right now. Him being a fire type he lives for this type of weather.

We probably walked for a few hours on the trail before we decided to stop for a break. This made me fairly happy because I was now starting to get tired of walking. I found a tree and lied down in the shade. I was slowly drifting off into sleep and I didn't even bother resisting it.

I was in that same nightmare again. There I was standing at the bottom of the hill on that dark night. The full moon shined upon me, yet it gave me no energy. The snow gently fell from the sky slowly covering the ground. I began walking up the hill again, knowing well that this dream never ended happily. Once I reached the top I saw the dead leafeon again. Her neck had blood gushing out of it. I felt tears beginning to run down my eyes uncontrollably. No matter how many times I've seen this scene it always had the same emotional effect.

Her body nudged, and she then began struggling to her feet. She was struggling to hold her head up with the big gash in her neck. My body froze up as she began walking slowly towards me as blood dripped down her neck.

"I just want to forget." I choked out of my mouth.

She continued walking towards me. Every muscle in my body froze up, I wanted to run so badly but I couldn't. I was damned to relive this dream over and over until one day I go insane.

My head then began to throb, and I felt like my head was going to explode. I fell down and I accepted that I was going to continue being tormented. She then took her claw and put it on my chest.

"The black dawn is coming" she whispered into my ear. Those words were very familiar to me. Something someone once told me long ago. "You will be the key of this calamity." Her voice became very demonic during her last sentence. I was now terrified beyond what I thought was possible.

She then began pushing on my chest with strength that shouldn't have been possible. The blood from her neck was dripping all over me and got into my eyes. I could feel my ribs crack and I felt myself struggle to breath. I then felt my ribs snap and her hand went into my chest cavity.

I woke up screaming in complete terror. Once I realized it was a dream, I noticed Flare was staring at me.

"Are you okay?" Flare yelled as he was running towards me.

I had tears running down my eyes and I was absolutely scared, my nightmares have never been that bad before. "No, I'm not!" I screamed venting my anger on Flare.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He was now very worried about me since he has never seen me act this way, especially not out of nowhere.

"No. Just please go away. I just want to be alone!" I choked out my mouth sobbing on tears. Flare denied my request and sat right next me.

"Hey buddy it's going to be okay. I know you probably don't want to talk about it but I'm here for you." Flare had a really reassuring smile on his face that did make me feel slightly better and my tears began to slowly go away.

Alex was out with Gray at the moment probably collecting firewood and supplies for the night, so thankfully no one else was here to see me in my weak state. I was especially thankful Gray was gone because I know he would have probably laughed at me, and that would be the moment I murdered him. Flare and I just sat there talking about random stuff. Flare occasionally tried to make me laugh, which he failed at. Alex and Gray finally came back with water and firewood. After about an hour of me sitting there trying to become mentally stable again.

"You look even shittier than usual umbreon." Gray said with his usual snide voice. I wasn't in the mood to reply back. I just sat there next to Flare.

The leafeon from my nightmare said a black dawn was coming. I've heard those words before. 'But what do they mean?' I mentally asked myself. I am the type of person who actually believes that dreams mean something, so I was very curious to know what the black dawn was, and why I would be the cause of it. For now I was going to keep all of this to myself. Everybody already probably thinks I'm mentally unstable enough.

All I know is that I am not going to bed tonight.

* * *

**Chapter End.**

* * *

**Author Note: Thanks to genericgamer207 and The Pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.**


	9. Stalk

**Chapter 9: Stalk**

* * *

**Point of view: Black**

We finally arrived in Luminose city some time in the afternoon. It was raining really hard today, and we were all soaked and freezing from the cold rain. There was thunder here and there, along with occasional lightning off in the distance. The city looked fairly normal. Just like most others, it had a relatively nice side, and a completely ghetto side.

We walked down the busy streets of the city along with a few other people who were smart enough to bring umbrellas. The place already looked kind of gloomy, and the rain certainly didn't help. There was a lot of cafés and restaurants along with a few other miscellaneous stores for stuff such as clothes, groceries and all that boring junk. After a couple hours or so of walking in the freezing rain, we ended up in a suburban area made up of a bunch of worn down condos. Most of them were in okay shape, but they looked fairly old, and definitely lacked proper maintenance. Most of their lawns were overgrown in some areas and brown and dead in others, while the condos themselves showed worn red bricks, broken siding, and peeling paint.

We walked pretty deep into the suburbs and then Alex walked up to a condo.

"Well, we're home. Black, you haven't been here yet, but everyone else has." He sounded a little nervous about being home. I would be too if I lived in this dump. Every time he comes home, he probably finds out his house was broken into or something fell apart inside.

"He lives in this dumpy crap hole?" I asked out loud.

Flare looked at me looking insulted for his trainer. "It's not that bad once you go inside. His dad just didn't want to pay for a big house when it's just the two of them." Flare stated.

'Wait, what about his mom?' I asked myself in my head.

We walked into the condo. Flare was completely wrong. The inside made the outside look upper-class. There was random junk lying around everywhere, random holes in the wall, stains on the carpet, and even half eaten food lying around. On top of all this, there was also probably the worlds largest tower of pizza boxes stacked up so high it leaned to one side sitting on the kitchen counter. On the topic of the kitchen, the refrigerator looked like it would turn anything inside radioactive too. There were other rooms that I couldn't see into, but I assumed they would probably look pretty similar.

If you can somehow look past how disgusting the place was, It had some nice features to it too. It had a couch (with dishes on it) and a flat screen TV (with half eaten pizza in front of it) in the main room, and the kitchen had a gas stove (with used pots still on it) and a granite countertop (that was worn down and hosted the pizza box tower). In other words, the place was totally unfit for living.

"Dad I'm home!" Alex yelled across the house.

One of the doors in the hall then opened up, and a middle aged man walked out. He was tall and wore light blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a nice stain on it. He had long dark brown hair that was unmaintained along with a small beard that needed a little trimming.

"Oh, welcome home, I guess." The man looked like he didn't really care and he hadn't slept since he was born.

"That's his dad? This guy looks like a filthy hobo." I whispered to Flare.

"I wouldn't judge him so fast Black. Believe it or not, but he is actually a scientist. He just works a lot and barely has time to sleep, let alone keep up on appearance." Flare whispered back towards me.

Then a female jolteon walked out of the room and sat by the hobo's feet. She looked like a normal jolteon. "Oh, it's good to see you guys are back. How did the first gym battle go?" She asked in cheerful voice.

"Wonderful," Gray replied in an annoyed voice.

"It went great Kana. We also got a new friend. His name was Kaz, but Alex renamed him to Black." Flare said while gesturing to me.

"Oh, umm... Hi." I replied awkwardly. My personality may have become less hostile lately, but I still felt socially awkward around pokemon or humans I didn't know.

"You are not too talkative are you Kaz, or was it Black?" She replied still confused on what to call me, which was actually a little amusing.

"Just call me what you want, it doesn't really matter to me honestly."

"I'm going to try to call you Kaz since that is your real name, no one should ever discard their real name no matter what, it is a part of who you are." Kana had a real happy tone to her voice which was sort of similar to Flare. I just hope she wouldn't be as much of a hand full.

"Whatever works for you," I replied yawning at the end of my sentence. I wasn't trying to be rude, it was just between the gloomy weather and my lack of sleep, it was a sleepy day for me.

"So you are an umbreon. I have not seen one of you in a very long time," Flare then whispered something into her ear and then glanced an eye towards me and Gray.

"Oh," She said out loud awkwardly. I had a few good guess on what Flare said and I'm sure it had to do with the wonderful friendship between me and Gray.

"Alex, I'm going to order a pizza. Maybe while I'm doing that you can run down town and get some food for your pokemon," his dad said as he was picking up the phone.

"No, its fine Dad. I actually have some in my bag. I'll just help clean up around the house if that's fine." Alex would dare even attempt to clean the un-cleanable. That almost seemed braver than me going against that scyther, almost.

"If you want to do that, I won't stop you," His dad was now entering in the number for the pizza place which he apparently had memorized. Alex then began picking up dishes and doing other stuff to help at least make this place remotely presentable. I just decided to go into the living room and lay on the couch, but once I got to it, I then couldn't help but notice there was dishes all over the damn thing.

"Oh sorry about that buddy," Alex then picked up all the dishes so there would be room for me.

"On second thought, I think I'll just stand for now," Mew knows how long those dishes where on the couch. I wouldn't even poke that couch with a ten foot pole.

"Yeah, I know this place is a disaster," Flare said in embarrassment for Alex's dad. I don't even know if I could tell him that I didn't care with a straight face, because this was just repulsive, and that's coming from a wild pokemon. Since I didn't take the couch, Gray gladly took it without even thinking twice. I was just waiting for him to start mutating from contact with that couch.

Kana then walked up to me. "So, have you been to this city before?" Kana asked me curiously in an attempt to get to know me.

"Actually, funny that you ask. This is actually where I was before Alex abducted me. But I did spend very little time here and I was just passing through here at the time. So I really don't know a lot about this city."

"Well, I assure you the whole city isn't as dirty as this home," she jokingly said.

The doorbell rang indicating that the pizza arrived. Alex walked to the door with the money his Dad had given to him earlier. The pizza man was holding around five large pizza boxes that could feed a family for the rest of the month.

"Holy mother of Mew! How much pizza do you two need!" I yelled in surprise to the quantity of pizza Alex's dad ordered.

"That pizza is what Mr. Hayter eats all week. Although, I don't think a better diet would kill him though," Kana said to me defending Alex's father. Why she decided to formally call him MR. Hayter I don't know.

Alex then brought in the five pizza boxes and set one on the table and put the other four in the fridge. The fridge had absolutely nothing in it except for pizza and beer. Alex then pulled a few cans out from his bag and each of us a decent sized meal of poke puffs and berries.

Alex and his dad then sat down next to Gray on the couch and began watching TV. They were watching some show about the world's dumbest criminals. I have to say, it was pretty funny seeing how dumb humans could be, but that is when I realized that the human race was doomed.

Alex's father passed out on the couch after a few hours of sitting on the couch. Alex then got up and took his dishes and put them in the sink to clean later. He then put a blanket on his now sleeping dad and started heading towards his room.

Everyone was now asleep besides me. I was still scared to go to bed. What if I had that nightmare again? I couldn't take it anymore, but I was so tired from getting so little sleep. I decided to stay awake the rest of the night because I was not going to risk it again.

It was now about five o'clock and an alarm started going off really loudly. It scared me half to death since I was barely awake, and I was drifting in and out of sleep. My heart was now pounding really hard from the jump scare I just experienced. Alex's Dad then got off the couch he fell asleep on and gave a frustrated sleepy groan. He then dragged his body off of the couch and went into his room and turned off the cursed alarm clock.

Alex's Dad remained in the room for around five minutes until he came out. He was now in a white scientist uniform, and actually looked clean for once. He even took the time to brush his hair. He then noticed I was awake, but he paid little to no attention to me since he probably had better things on his mind. He then got a cup of coffee and walked out the door and left to go to his job.

About three more hours passed and then the house started coming to life as the sun completely came out and everybody started waking up. Everybody just lied down lazily trying to get a few more minutes of sleep except for Alex who was now back to cleaning.

"Morning guys," Alex said in a tired voice.

I nodded back at him to show I noticed him comment. Then Flare was the first one to give up on getting more sleep and then sprang to life and walked towards Alex in a tired motion. We all just kind of hung around, too tired to really do anything significant.

"Hey, I'm going to have to go out and run some errands as well as meet up with someone today. You guys can leave the house and do whatever you want as long as you don't get into trouble. Black since I know you probably don't know your way around this area too well, I am going to ask that you stick with someone you know if you do choose to go out." Alex was now giving us some freedom to actually enjoy ourselves for once.

Alex then grabbed a few things and left out the door to go run his errands.

"Flare, would you want to go out and explore the city or something? At least find something to do besides being cramped up in this house all day." I asked ready to get out of this condemned house.

"Sure, that sounds fun. I can show you some of the cool things around town." Flare actually did sound like he wanted to go.

"Would you two mind if I tagged along?" Kana asked us.

"Not at all, the more pokemon the better. What about you Gray? Do you want to come?" For some reason Flare found it necessary to ask him out of all pokemon to come with us.

"No," Gray replied really quickly. He was like a black hole and sucked the fun out of anything. In other words, he is no fun and really needs to do something besides lay on a couch all day.

We all walked outside the condo and went onto the streets. It was still cloudy out from the previous days rain, but it was not raining at the moment thankfully. We left the complex and went into the main part of the city that wasn't garbage. There were a lot of stores that held no personal interest to me or any of us on top of that.

"So where are we going?" I really wasn't in the mood to mindlessly wonder around the city all day since I got no sleep, and I had spent the previous days walking.

"How about I show you luminose tower or maybe we can go to a park and just relax and enjoy the… uh... semi-nice weather." Flare for some reason would consider a day where everything was gloomy nice weather.

"Let's show Kaz Luminose tower since the park will be really muddy because of all the rain we got," Kana decided to answer for all of us. I didn't really mind going to luminose tower though since I haven't been there yet. I've only heard that it was a cool place to check out.

So we then began making the very long journey towards Luminose tower.

* * *

**Point of view: Charmander**

I now found myself in the shadows watching the umbreon and his friends. They have been at luminose tower for about an hour now, just awkwardly talking about useless gibberish that was putting me to sleep with each passing second.

"Merrick, I have located the umbreon. Repeat I have located the umbreon," I whispered into a walkie-talkie that was given to me earlier that day by that white furred bastard.

"I hear ya, just hang tight there, we don't want to rush into this and cause bigger problems," Merrick responded from his radio set.

"One problem though. He's with some friends, and they won't shut the hell up."

There was a long silence until Merrick finally decided to respond, "Okay, we got a plan, and it should get Ryder to go somewhere a little more… private."

Merrick began to tell me the plan. As I listened, I kept nodding my head up and down, since it actually didn't sound too bad.

"Okay Merrick I can do that for you. After that though, I'm out, and I'm going back to my trainer, and we will never see each other again, are we clear?"

"Buddy, if you pull through, I will literally carry you to your trainer, and set up a five star sappy reunion for you two. Just know that I will not screw you as long as you pull through for us. Remember, we're doing this to make the world a better place. What you are doing is justified. Mandus will be pleased once we bring the umbreon to him." Merrick replied over the radio.

I could not believe what I was about to do. Celebi knows what they will do to that umbreon once they actually get him. The umbreon and his friends then all began leaving luminose tower. I followed them from a safe distance making sure to stay out of sight and not bring too much attention to myself.

They were all talking and laughing a lot. Except for the umbreon. He didn't look like he had the best humor or he was just mentally laughing. I kept following them down the main streets for what seemed like hours. They were oblivious to the fact that I was following them.

"Alright I am at the construction site. Proceed with the plan Charmander." Merrick said with a serious voice over the radio.

"Okay, I will do it once they are in a bit more of a secluded area." I didn't want to take any risks. I was not going to blow my one chance at seeing my trainer again. If one thing went wrong, it would not be too far-fetched at all to assume they would kill me and my trainer without a second thought.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Thanks to The pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.**


	10. Turn of Events

**Chapter 10: Turn of events**

* * *

**Point of View: Flare**

It was now around five o'clock and we were all deciding that maybe was time to go back before it started getting dark, so we began making our way back to Alex's condo.

"Well, what do you think of Luminose city Kaz?" Kana asked Black

"It's okay I guess." Black replied looking bored out of his mind.

"Well I enjoyed our day. It's just nice to finally be able to relax," I stated.

"Hey, I'm starved. Can't we take any shortcuts to get back faster?" Black impatiently asked.

"Yeah, we can cut through the alleys, I guess." Kana said. We then decided to start cutting through the alleys to hurry up and get back home faster. Most of the alleys looked very shady but since there were three of us I doubted anyone would try anything. We then began cutting through a really dark alley that was really long and had no life in it at all.

"Hey Ryder!" someone yelled from behind us. We all turned to see the pokemon who was shouting. It was a normal charmander. I then noticed Black had a very nervous look on his face.

"Or maybe you prefer to be called Kaz nowadays?" Kana and I were both very confused on why he called Black Ryder.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?" Black replied with a sharp tone in his voice.

"Okay, I'll get straight to the good stuff kid. Vincent wants to speak with you." Black's face seemed frozen in complete shock from what the charmander had just said.

"Where is Vincent? Take me to him now!" Black had a serious and angry tone in his voice. His eyes became filled with this sudden anger.

"Very well. Follow me then," The charmander said as he started walking.

"Wait. Black, who is Vincent?" I asked as he then began anxiously following the charmander without a second thought.

"Go home guys, this doesn't concern you," Black said as he kept following the charmander.

"No. You stop now, and tell me what's going on. I can't just let you wander off with some stranger like this!" I yelled at Black. I was now very concerned for Black.

"Then shut up, keep up, and stay out of my way." Black's words were cold. I could tell that something bad was about to go down.

"Flare, we should go back now. This guy is trouble, if Kaz wants to follow him to mew knows where then he can do that himself." Kana whispered into my ear with a worried voice.

"I can't do that Kana. If something bad happens, I'm accountable because I was supposed to watch Black if we left the condo." I whispered back into Kana's ear quietly. We continued following the charmander through the city. He was slowly taking us down to the bad part of town. I was not liking where this was going, and I was now getting quite nervous myself. Black continued to follow the charmander, with each of his steps carrying rage.

"Don't worry. We are almost there umbreon," The charmander said with a very deceiving tone to his voice.

We then entered into a construction site that the employees where currently not working on. There were two unfinished buildings right next to each other, some old equipment left behind such as trucks and bulldozers, a third half constructed building that had at least twenty to thirty floors which I'm guessing was supposed to be one of those big commercial buildings, some cat walks along the sides of the buildings along with some large cranes on top of the buildings as well, random cement blocks here and there and a lot of cargo crates. I then realized that there was no one anywhere close to us. We were completely alone with the charmander.

"We are here," The charmander said not even bothering to look at us.

"Welcome Ryder!" an unknown individual yelled from with the building. Then a Quilava walked out of the building and onto the catwalk that ran along the side of the unfinished building.

"Where is Vincent!" Black yelled ferociously.

The quilava then began chuckling. "Vincent's not here buddy! Instead he sent me to bring you back to him. Too bad you brought your friends I didn't really want to have to kill anyone. But witnesses are witnesses." The Quilava said in a deranged voice with a huge smile on his face.

"Well then I hope you guys have one hell of a lot of insurance for when I'm done with you!" Black was now instigating a fight that Kana and I wanted absolutely no part in.

"You are not hurting anyone umbreon." The quilava's voice went from deranged to very serious.

He then began inhaling a deep breath and unleashed a massive flame thrower that covered half the construction site. We all jumped out of the way hiding behind whatever we could. Kana and I hid behind a cargo crate while Black hid behind a massive cement block.

"Charmander, you take care of the fennekin and the jolteon, I'll take care of the umbreon."

The charmander walked in front of us and got into a position that showed he was ready to fight. The quilava jumped off the catwalk and started walking towards Black.

"This is really bad," I whispered to Kana who probably looked just as nervous as I did.

"Why do you want Black!?" I yelled at the charmander demanding an answer.

"I don't know. All I know is that we have to capture that umbreon with no witnesses. I'm truly sorry you guys got mixed into this." I could now see that the charmander did not want to be here at all.

We then all saw another massive flamethrower come our way as we all jumped to the nearest piece of cover.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I was now hiding behind some cargo crates to avoid the blazing hell that the quilava sent towards me. I never even knew that flamethrowers on that level could be produced.

"Come into the light, umbreon, and accept your fate. This is for the better of our world." Now the quilava was speaking nonsense.

"Save the world? You are crazy!" I yelled as I began charging towards him. I then began to concentrate all my energy until I formed a shadow ball in my mouth and I launched it towards him. He jumped out of the way, and my shadow ball ripped straight through some cargo crates. I usually never used my shadow ball since it could seriously hurt someone if used carelessly.

"Soon you will experience the flames of hell, umbreon!" The quilava yelled as he began charging another flamethrower. I ran towards him faster than I thought I could move and slammed my body into his chest causing him to fire his flamethrower up into the air. He then jumped back a few steps and got some distance between us.

I noticed the sun setting out of the corner of my eye. I would just have to hold out a little longer until the moon would be out. If that happened I could really show this quilava who he was messing with.

"Charmander we have to finish this up before the sun sets or we could be in real trouble!" The quilava yelled at the charmander who was now battling Flare and Kana.

"Damn right you will be in trouble," I growled under my breath.

The quilava then launched a series of embers at me, the speed he launched the embers at me could easily be on par with an automatic rifle. I dodged every ember with only inches between me and the balls of fire. I then saw my chance. I began charging another shadow ball but I held it in my mouth for the right moment.

"We're not finished umbreon. I've thought of a wonderful present for you!" The quilava had a completely insane tone to his voice. He then began spitting lava everywhere. The problem with the lava is that it actually stuck on the ground and gave me less room to move around.

His body then ignited on fire and he started running towards me while laughing like this was a game to him. I responded the only logical way I could think of: running away. I quickly noticed he was trying to corner me into the lava pools he had created, but right as he was catching up to me I spun around and fired my shadow ball at him. He jumped to the side but it grazed his left hip and drew blood. He touched the blood with his hands and observed it.

The quilava then looked me dead in the eyes. Now he was angry and that's just how I wanted him.

"Umbreon this is my last offer for you to surrender before I take you by force." He said in a dark and menacing voice.

"I am not going to roll over and die for you"

He then just looked at me and smirked. "Very well you will now experience true Hell!" he yelled as the flames on his back got even bigger.

I took a step back knowing he was now getting serious. He then charged at me with lightning speed and his claws ignited on fire and he then lunged towards me in an attempt to tackle me to the ground. I ducked below him and then got back into my defensive position.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

The Charmander continued shooting embers towards us as Kana and I evaded them with little effort. This guy was not strong. I could already tell his only purpose was to help get Black to come here.

"Kana I'm going to go help Black, can you handle this guy?"

"Yeah I think I can manage," She replied with confidence in her voice now that she knew her opponent wasn't a great fighter. I then began to make my way towards Black. I decided to cut through the building so I could try and flank that quilava. I ran through the unfinished building until I was past the quilava. I peeked out of the building and observed the battle that was taking place. I could see the quilava and Black talking about something I couldn't hear. I could see hatred built up in Blacks eyes. I had never seen him this angry before. He looked like he would really kill this guy if he was given the chance.

I began running towards the quilava's back in an attempt to attack him off guard. My fire attacks wouldn't do much against the quilava so I decided I would go with a physical attack. I then lunged towards him in an attempt to tackle him, but he then spun around and grabbed me by my head and used my momentum to smash me into the ground and pinned me down.

"You're too slow fennekin." Then he looked up a Black. "I wonder if I killed you here if it would upset that umbreon more," he said with a sick twisted voice. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, I began to panic while Black stood their growling, infuriated by the situation.

"Let him go!" Black snarled.

"Why would I do that? Because of your friend I am now in control of this situation. If I wanted to I could snap his neck right here, wouldn't that be a lot of fun?" His voice was absolutely demented. At this point, I was starting to accept that my life was in the hands of a lunatic.

"Hmm no decision, I'll choose for you. I want to see how mad I can get you. Show me your true hatred umbreon!" He then began laughing hysterically.

Then, I felt him start slowly twisting my neck. His maniacal laughter intensified watching Black go insane from the situation. The tension continued to build up at he kept twisting. His interest in Black rage, led him to not even looking at me while he did this, which only made me all the more worried.

"No, stop please!" Black yelled worried for my life.

"What, are you scared? Why should I let him live, what will I get out of it?"

Black froze in fear not even knowing what to do. "Please, just let him go this has nothing to do with him!"

The sun had completely set and the moon would be coming out very shortly.

* * *

**Charmanders Point of View**

I was now getting frustrated by the jolteon's lightning speed. I couldn't land a single hit on her. I did notice I was tiring her out though because her moves were getting significantly slower and her breathing heavier.

"Please, it doesn't have to be like this. Please, just let us go." She said fearful that someone was going to get hurt. I felt really disgusted in myself for having to do this to pokemon who didn't really seem like they were that bad of pokemon. But I knew I had to do this for my trainer.

I then launched a smoke screen right at her feet and clouded the entire area around her. I could hear her coughing violently as she tried to get fresh air in her lungs. I then charged up a good sized ember that could easily kill someone with the right hit. I then launched it into the smokescreen. I saw a series explosions within the smokescreen as it made contact with the entire area. The smoke began to clear up and I then saw the jolteon lying on the ground. I walked up to her and looked down at her. She was covered in singe marks but still conscious. She was too injured to even move. Blood was slowly dripping out of her mouth as she looked up at me in terror.

I stared at her terror filled eyes. They were eyes that were innocent, theses eyes were gentle and didn't want to cause anybody harm.

"Please don't," She managed to choke out with a very weak voice. Her eyes were beginning to dilate, and I could see she was getting more scared by the second. I raised my paw ready to finish the job and murder an innocent pokemon. I held the claw above her chest where her heart was.

"Please, at least let my friends go, please." Tears then began to flow down her eyes as she accepted her imminent death.

"Celebi, what the hell am I doing." I whispered under my breath. I then started dragging the jolteon to a safer location away from the fight between the umbreon and quilava. I placed her behind some construction equipment where she should be safe from any danger.

"Stay here. Everything is going to be fine, I promise." I whispered into her ear. I then began heading towards the fight that was going on between the umbreon and Marek.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Black and the quilava were now staring each other dead in the eyes waiting for someone to make a move. The quilava was still holding me hostage and putting intense pressure on my neck. I could now see the moon peeking out over the horizon. I could make it out tonight was a full moon that would give Black a lot of energy to keep fighting.

"The only thing I want to know is why the hell Mandus would want you." The quilava said looking bored of the fight.

"Who is Mandus?" Black asked in an angry yet confused voice.

"Mandus is many things. He is the one who sent us after you umbreon."

"Why does he want me?" Black asked. I was kind of shocked upon learning that Black didn't even know why they wanted to abduct him. I kinda assumed he was hiding this from us but I guess he was just as oblivious as us.

"Mandus told me that there is something special about you that only very few pokemon have, although you appear to be another stupid pokemon to me." The quilava stated getting bored of the conversation.

"Let me put it like this umbreon. Mandus is the closest thing in this world to a god."

Black and I both froze from his statement.

"We have always heard tales of the legendaries such a Celebi, Mew, Arceus and so on. But Mandus is real and will change this world soon. My question is why the hell does he want you? You're weak and pathetic and you can't even protect yourself let alone your friends."

"A god? I was wrong about you quilava. At first I thought you were just being manipulated by Vincent. But now I know you are out of your fucking mind!" The quilava was so shocked by Blacks outburst he loosened his grip around my neck. I then forced myself out from below him and got back to my feet and got in a defensive position as Black tackled the quilava with all of his might.

The blue rings on Blacks body were now beginning to pulse with power from the full moon. I could see a smirk now beginning to show on Black's face.

"Merrick we should retreat, the moon is out!" I heard the charmander yell as I saw him running towards us.

"Wait if he's here, then that means... Kana!" I turned back to where we were fighting the charmander to see she wasn't there at all..

Black eyes narrowed as he realized what I was getting at.

"You bastards! I am going to kill every last one of you!" Black yelled at the top of his lungs.

Black then jumped back a few steps and launched a giant shadow ball towards the charmander. The charmander barely made it out of the way as he dove to the side of the shadow ball in terror.

I just sat there in shock upon realizing Kana was possibly dead. "Kana" I whispered to myself.

"Flare leave this to me and get out of here. Under the power of the full moon, I should be able to take these two out easily."

I just stood there completely in shock. Nothing from the outside world mattered because someone I knew my whole life was dead and I left her there to die alone.

"Black." I said with a shaky voice.

"What?" Black responded.

"This is all your fault."

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

**Author Note: **Thanks to the pokemon Melody and genricgamer207


	11. Full Moon

**Chapter 11: Full Moon**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"This is all your fault." Flare said to me in a depressed voice.

"How is this my fault?" I snarled back. I was in no way responsible for everything that happened. They followed me of their own free will when I told them to go back home.

"Because if haven't followed you, Kana may still be alive. This is all your fault. and now I've lost one of my closest friends because of you!" Flare yelled at me with intense fury. I have never seen Flare angry and it was very sad seeing someone like him this way.

"You followed me willingly when I told you to go back." I said in an attempt to defend myself. I did feel really guilty but this was something very personal I had to do, and he was just here for the ride.

"And you think I would have just let you wander off with some suspicious pokemon?" Flare continued to verbally accuse me of being responsible for Kana's death.

"Hey you two stop arguing! The jolteon is still alive, but she is just seriously injured. If she doesn't get help soon she will die." The charmander yelled from a distance.

"She's alive?" Flare froze with his jaw dropped.

"Yes, but she needs medical attention now." The charmander was now eager to help us.

"Charmander what the hell is this? You're on my side remember?" The quilava stated in a pissed off tone of voice.

"To hell with you, I'm no murderer." The charmander snapped on the quilava.

"You will regret betraying us charmander." The quilava said in a dark voice.

"Come with me fennekin. I'll take you to her, and we can get her to a poke center!" The charmander yelled. Flare didn't even hesitate to follow him even though I thought it could have been a trap.

"Where are you going traitor!" The quilava yelled as he began charging another flamethrower. I then saw that he was wide open and I charged up a quick shadow ball and launched it at him before he could release his flamethrower. He quickly realized that I was now attacking him again and he ducked below the shadow ball and it went into the construction building tearing up some of its support struts.

"Your fights with me pal. We have some unfinished business." I growled towards the psychopathic Quilava. I was not letting him harm anyone if I could help it.

"Fine then. I'll capture you now, and I will then hunt down every last one of your friends and eradicate them from this world." The quilava was now in the mood to fight me again. He then began walking towards me and then started running towards me and his claws ignited on fire. He then swiped his claws at me repeatedly. Time slowed down in my eyes, and I carefully maneuvered around each attack from his fiery claws. He then sent a really strong right hook punch towards me that I ducked under. I then launched myself off the ground and head butted him right in the jaw. He fell back onto the ground and held his jaw from the pain. I knew it hurt since I heard a satisfying crunch in his jaw when I hit it.

"You bitch!" He yelled in pure anger from the pain I caused him. He then pulled himself back up to his two feet and then got in a defensive position once again and began to smirk.

"Now I'm going to get serious umbreon. I'm sick of your feeble attempt of stopping the inevitable" The quilava said with a psychotic smile on his face.

"That has to be at least the fifth time you said you were now getting serious pal," I was right though he has repeatedly said he was getting serious and I was getting annoyed with him.

He then started spitting lava everywhere. I dodged the lava by the skin of my teeth. The whole construction site now had patches of lava everywhere and was now lit up. I won't lie this battle was getting pretty cinematic for reality. I also felt bad for the construction workers, this would be a huge surprise when they start work tomorrow morning. The quilava then began charging his flamethrower again and unleashed a hell storm of fire in my direction. Despite my efforts to dodge, the flames still barely singed my side. I cringed from the pain but I tried my hardest not to show it.

"How do the flames feel?" The quilava said in a taunting voice.

Now it was time for me to give it everything or I was going to lose this battle and be captured, if this guy even still planned on letting me live. I then began observing my surroundings and noticed a water tower about ten meters away from the quilava. I then began charging a shadow ball in my mouth again.

"No you don't!" The quilava said as he began charging another flamethrower. I launched my shadow ball straight at the water tower as the quilava released his flame thrower seconds after me. It then made a giant hole in the water tower and the water came flooding down and neutralized his flame thrower right before I was incinerated. The water flooded everything and now we were standing in a giant puddle of water.

The flames on the quilava back where now hardly even lit and flickered weakly on his back.

"How about I show you something cool before I kick your ass" I taunted with a growl in my voice.

The full moon was shining down upon me giving me power that was miraculous, a power that most wouldn't even think possible. One thing I had never told anyone was that I was not a normal umbreon. I was actually far from it.

The quilava sat there waiting for me to make my move. His flames had now regained their power and he was ready to fight. I began to concentrate my mind on the massive puddle of what around me. Particles of water now began to float around me.

"What the hell?" The quilava stated very confused at the sight he was seeing.

Then the floating water particles all came together and began to form into the shape of a spear and it began to turn into ice shortly after. I then used my mind to propel the ice spear at the Quilava. He didn't even think twice about jumping out of the way. I then manipulated the water I was standing on and sent a massive wave of water towards him that smashed into him really aggressively. He stood there in shock by the turn of events, the flames on his back where weak again but quickly went back to normal.

"What the hell is this bullshit?" The quilava yelled confused in fear.

He then began charging up another flamethrower. I braced myself for it. He then blew the flamethrower towards me. I jumped to the right side of the flames and then I began freezing the entire puddle of water. He was still sitting in the puddle of water so his feet were frozen to the ground.

"The Hell is this bullshit! What kind of trick is this?" The quilava was actually now starting to get nervous upon realizing that he couldn't defeat me anymore.

"I don't know who the hell this Mandus person is, but I do have a good idea why he wants me." I stated with a snarl in my voice.

"The hell is this crap? None of this makes sense!" The quilava's confusion was now turned into anger.

"Well if you must know I suffer from an evolutionary disorder that is extremely rare. It's a one in million chance that a pokemon is defected with it."

"What are you talking about?" The quilava said in confusion.

I sat there for a second thinking of a dumbed down version to tell the quilava since he didn't look like the smartest person on the planet. "Okay when an Eevee evolves its body dedicates to the certain attributes of the eevee evolution it turns into right?" I already knew the answer I just had to make sure he wasn't a complete moron before I explained this to him.

"Yeah I'm not a dumbass!" he yelled at me offended by my question.

"Well when an eevee evolves it evolves into a flareon, leafeon, sylveon, jolteon, glaceon, vaporeon, espeon or in my case and umbreon. Now when I evolved something went wrong."

The quilava stared at me waiting for me to continue as I thought of a good way to put it since it was somewhat complicated. "Okay so basically when I evolved something went wrong and I wasn't just stuck in the umbreon class. I am actually able to use abilities other eevee evolutions can use, for example the water I used on you. Although since my body isn't designed to produce those elements. I do have to find my own source of power instead of naturally just shooting fire out of my mouth like you can."

"Then why are you using this on me now out of all times?" He said annoyed with my previous actions.

"For one, I can only use this power during the full moon since it gives my body enough of a boost to actually use the abilities. Second, I didn't use it until now because I didn't want anyone knowing of my defect. But it's just me and you now so I'm not worried."

The quilava was now beginning to look very confused on our conversation and I began to question why I even explained it to him. "How come I've never heard of this? You're bullshitting me aren't you!" He now began yelling at me in denial.

"You haven't heard of it for a couple reasons. Let's say it like this, other eevee evolutions can get this evolutionary disorder but they won't even know it because they don't have something like the moon to give them power. Yes, things like the sun and water will give other eevee evolution power but none of it compares to the boost an umbreon gets from the moon. The moon is a superior source of power compared to others. The other reason you haven't heard of it is simply because umbreon's are slowly going extinct so of course it's becoming rarer of an evolutionary disease."

"I don't even understand half of this bullshit!" The quilava yelled with confusion all over his face.

"Why did I even bother explaining that to you?" I said giving up on my idiotic opponent.

The quilava then looked me in the eyes and then tried planning out his next move. I was going to just wait for him to make an attack since there was nothing he could really do to harm me since I could just use the puddle of water around me to neutralize it, at the moment I had a type advantage on him. He then opened his mouth wide and shot out a massive smokescreen at me. I couldn't see anything and on top of that I couldn't breathe. I then decided to run out of the smokescreen. Once I was out I noticed really quickly that the quilava had fled the battle. The ice where he was frozen was now melted and my enemy was now missing.

"Coward." I growled under my breath. I couldn't believe he got away. I was even more pissed since I just explained all that crap to him.

I then realized I needed to find Flare and Kana. I knew they would probably be by the nearest pokemon center. Luckily for me, we actually happened to pass one on the way towards the construction site. So, I then began running full speed towards the pokecenter assuming that was the right one.

I finally made it to the pokemon center. I quickly realized I was in the right one because Alex and Flare were sitting in the waiting area with worried looks on their faces. The charmander that had originally harmed Kana was sitting in the darkest corner of the room awkwardly. He shot a glance at me for a second and then looked away.

"Flare, is Kana okay?" I asked fearing the worse.

"No she's not. She is in critical care and it's your damn fault because you had to drag us into that situation!" Flare snarled at me with a hostile tone of voice. I have never seen him this angry before so I decided I was going to choose my words wisely to not further upset him.

"Flare, I'm sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt." I tried to reason with the angry fennekin. I truly did feel bad for getting Kana hurt and wished it had never happened.

"Well good job Black. You practically got her killed. Thanks, you did such a great job." His words were now actually beginning to offend me and I was never good at letting people just sit there and yell at me.

"I told you guys not to come but you did! I didn't want anyone to get hurt, but you know what that's just what happens sometimes!" I lost my patience I was not in the mood for this after all that has happened today. Everyone in the room was now awkwardly staring at Flare and I argue but I didn't give a damn.

"My Mew, Gray was right. You are nothing but a problem for everyone." His words were very cold and actually touched a nerve in my heart. I couldn't believe he went that far and that actually really was going too far.

"You know what? Fuck you and all your complete bull shit! You have absolutely no idea what I have been through in the past two years of my life. You want me gone so bad? Fine! I'll leave you alone forever and never speak to you again. Would that make you happy?" I was as angry as angry gets at this point and I was about ready to actually kill my supposed friend.

"Black there was no justifiable reason for what you did! Couldn't you have just walked away from him? Flare continued to verbally assault me when he has no idea what any of that stuff was about.

No, I couldn't have walked away from that!" I snarled at Flare as I began gritting my teeth together in frustration.

"Oh, and why the hell not? Because you are an idiot that only thinks of himself?"

"You know nothing, Flare! So shut up! You have no idea what those pokemon have done to my life!" I was done being treated like shit by my friend, so I began to walk away from him and towards the charmander in the corner of the room. He was startled when I walked up towards him.

"You know where Vincent is. Now bring me to him and no bullshit this time!" The charmander froze at my demands.

"Uh… Okay, I will bring you to him. But I need you to understand that I was forced to do that, and I wanted no part in what just happened. I'm truly sorry, honest." The charmander actually did sound really sorry but I only had one thing on my mind right now and that was far from his apologies.

"I don't care, just take me to him."

We then both ran out the door and began heading towards Vincent's real location. I just pray for that charmander's sake this is the real deal, or he is going to miss his legs when I'm done with him.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I sat their worrying about Kana praying that she would be okay. I also thought about my argument with Black, was it really worth getting that mad about? He did hurt Kana but he did seem to know this Vincent pokemon. I continued to get frustrated with those thoughts and I attempted to rid my head of them.

We waited for about two hours before the nurse finally called Alex "Mr. Alex Hayter you may now see your pokemon. Just be gentle with her. She is still in bad shape." The lady at the front desk said from across the room. Alex quickly got up and started walking quickly towards Kana's room. I followed behind him, afraid of what I was about to see. We finally found her room and entered.

There in a pokecenter bed was a jolteon covered in bandages and hooked up on a heart monitor and other machines. The bandages covered most of her torso and some of her face as well.

I stood there in shock. I couldn't bear to see her in this state. I couldn't bear to see someone so innocent suffer for someone else's actions. My rage for Black started to return as I looked at my injured friend. I just wish this was all a dream but I knew it wasn't

Alex was also just as shocked as me. Although he chose to walk up to her and get a closer look. He looked mentally destroyed from the site he saw. I could see tears beginning to roll down his eyes. Kana has always been someone in both of our lives for a very long time. She was always cheerful and always wanted everyone around her to be happy. She didn't deserve this. Not her out of all pokemon. It should be me in that bed now, not her.

"Flare." I heard her weak voice call out to me.

"Kana. you're awake. How do you feel?" I asked anxiously dying to know how she was.

"I've had better days." That was a huge understatement.

"Kana, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I should have never left you alone to fight that charmander. I'm so sorry." I was now beginning to cry from the guilt of realizing that his was not Blacks fault it was mine for leaving her to fight alone with that charmander.

"It's not your fault" There was then a long silence in between her sentences. "It was no ones."

"How can you say that, I left you to fight that charmander all alone when I should have been there to help you." I could no longer hold in my tears and a few slowly escaped my eyes.

"Flare you shouldn't beat yourself up. I know you're just looking for a way to justify me getting injured but it's not your fault, and even if it was I would never ever hold it against you for even a second." She had a weak smile on her face but it was enough to boost my spirits and put a smile on my face. Even when she was in her worst condition she could still make everyone around her happy.

"Flare, where is Black? Why isn't he here?" Kana asked with a worried voice.

I paused in silence as I remembered how I provoked Black to never speak to any of us again. "I... I blamed Black for everything, and I made him go away." I now felt like absolute garbage for treating Black the way I did.

"You need to find him." She then began taking a few deep breaths to help herself speak. "And set things right. You can't blame this on him, this wasn't his fault and he needs to know that."

"You're right, but he left hours ago, and I don't know where he went." I now realized how bad I screwed up. I may have seriously just lost one of my friends because I couldn't react appropriately to this situation.

"Well what are you doing here then? You need to find him before it is too late. I'd help if I was feeling a little better but for now you just have my support." Kana's voice was now growing quiet and I could tell she was falling asleep.

"I'll find him Kana. I'll be back with him as soon as I can so until then sit tight." I then began leaving the pokemon center ready to set things right with Black. The hard part would be finding him in this massive city.

I left Kana and Alex in the pokecenter as I went to find Black. He could be anywhere. I decided my first step would probably be to go find Gray and convince him to help even though he would probably find this situation gold.

* * *

**End of Chapter.**

* * *

**Author Note: ** Thanks to genricgamer207 and The pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.


	12. Fear

**Chapter 12: Fear**

* * *

I regained consciousness in the pokecenter. I was lying on a comfy bed. The room was the same as every other pokemon center room except for the equipment attached to my body. The heart beat monitor attached to my body repeatedly made a beeping noise which sounded really unsettling in my ears, but at least it meant I was still alive. It was now storming outside, and I could hear rain pounding against the window and ceiling of the room I was in.

In the corner of the room I could see Alex sitting with a nervous look on his face. I tried to reposition myself but my body ached pretty badly from the pain. Then the door opened up and Alex's dad walked in.

"Dad." Alex said in a gloomy voice.

"Is Kana okay?" He said as he walked over towards me. He then began observing my wounds and petted me gently to try to soothe my pain. It made me feel a lot better about the situation and I felt like I was safe from harm.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," he said gently as he stroked my fur.

He then turned around and faced Alex. "Alex, how did this happen?" His voice went from calm and gentle to hostile in just a few seconds. I was kind of shocked to see him take this tone of voice towards Alex.

"I don't know. Honestly." I could see Alex was now trying his hardest not to cry in front of his dad.

"You should have been watching her, not letting her roam around the streets alone!" He was extremely angry and I hated seeing him angry at Alex for something he couldn't help.

"I'm sorry." Alex said as a few tears came out his eyes.

"Don't be sorry to me, be sorry to her." There was now an awkward silence in the room. I hated seeing people argue, and I didn't want anyone to blame themselves for what happened. I just wanted everyone to move on.

Alex finally decided to break the silence, "Dad?" Alex said as if he wanted to ask a question.

Alex's dad then gave out an annoyed sigh. "What?"

"Black is missing, and no one knows where he is. Flare was the one who brought Kana in. I tried looking for him, but I couldn't find him, and no one said they've seen him." More tears were forming around Alex's face now.

"Well that's perfect." There was another awkward silence in the room now. Alex's dad then looked at his watch for a short moment and then sighed. "Well, I have to go back to work. I hope you find him." Alex's dad said as if he didn't really care.

Alex looked at his dad with tears going down his eyes. "Can't you help me look?"

"I have things to do at work. You caught him, and you lost him. That's your responsibility. Not mine." Alex's dad was now getting up to leave. I couldn't believe he choose to just neglect his son.

"Seriously, do you only care about your job?" Alex yelled across the room in anger.

"Well, I need to put a roof above our heads. Besides, Kana is my pokemon, not yours. Try responsibility out, Alex. It may come in handy later on. Now, I'll see you once I get back from work." His dad then walked out the room without even looking Alex in the eyes. Alex then sat there in a horrible mood. I hated seeing people fight, especially them. Alex's father could be hard on him sometimes but I knew he loved him deep down inside.

"Kana will you be okay if I leave to go look for Black?" I just gave a weak nod towards him. He then quickly grabbed his coat and bag and ran out the door. I really wish I could help them out but I would only get in the way in my current state.

I was now sitting in the room completely alone. I couldn't fall asleep due everything that was going on. Then out of nowhere the lights went out and the room was completely black. The lights in the hallway where also out so that meant the power went out. I was now beginning to get afraid since I really didn't like being in the dark, especially alone. Then the emergency power kicked in and some emergency lights lit the room up a little bit. I was now a little nervous since I had no idea what was going on. I sat in my room quietly all I could here was the rain from the storm hitting against the window of my room. A few minutes passed by and the door to my room opened. Then I froze in absolute terror. The quilava from earlier then walked into my room and shut the door behind him. The flames from his back lit the room up a little more and added to my fear.

"Hello kiddo. Did you miss me?" The quilava said with a demented voice. I tried to yell out for help but he quickly came up to me and held my mouth shut. I sat there and tried to resist but I failed since I was so weak.

"Shhhh, I'm going to let you go now, but if you do anything to attract attention I will kill you here. Are we clear?" I nodded in agreement and he released his hands off of me. I couldn't believe he was now coming after me.

"Why are you here?" I tried to sound strong but my voice was trembling from fear.

"I'm here to tie up some loose ends, but I figured we would have a little chat before I finished things up here." His words sent shivers down my spine. I knew he would do it, and the worst part is that I know he would probably even enjoy killing me.

"I don't care what you do to me, but please leave my friends alone." And I meant it. I didn't care what he did to me as long as my friends were safe, and that my death was as painless as possible.

"Sorry honey, but they're on my to-do list as well. I'm just starting with the weakest link. My question is how do you want to be found dead? Suicide, accident, or maybe a gruesome murder." I could tell he was getting sick joy from choosing how I was going to die.

"But before that, I have a few questions I always wanted to ask someone like you" The quilava asked. I could only imagine what horrible mind games he was going to play with me next.

"What do you want?" I said trembling in fear of how he planned on tormenting me.

"Is it true you are Dr. Hayter's pokemon?" I was really confused on why he would care about something as dumb as that at a moment like this.

"Yeah, but how is that relevant?" I now began to fear that he would possibly make them victims along with me.

"How do you live with him knowing the things he does every day?" The quilava was really confusing me now on our conversation.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

He then burst out laughing uncontrollably. "Are you serious? That's gold." He managed to say while laughing.

"Are you completely oblivious to the work he does even though you live with him?"

"He works on the study of pokemon and helps to find a better understanding of them, he helps pokemon. What is so funny about that?" I was beginning to get annoyed by him laughing in my face repeatedly, especially since I was about to be killed, I didn't want to be humiliated before I was murdered.

"Oh, he works with pokemon alright but in no way does he help them." He then continued to laugh in my face.

"What do you mean? He is a good person, and I know it!" I snapped at him in an attempt to defend Mr. Hayter's honor.

"No, he isn't. I've seen him work before, and he is no saint, kid." He said in a taunting voice.

"What do you know of him? He is a good person, and does great things with his life." The quilava absolutely lost it in laughter. I just sat there taking it because I didn't want to speed up my soon to come death.

"You are so oblivious. You don't even know anything about him. Oh then we are about to have a good laugh here in a second as I tell you more about your little saint. He then began licking his claws as if he was licking blood off of them.

"Believe me kid, life isn't always what it seems. You have no idea." His voice went to a more serious tone.

Then someone began knocking on the door and the quilava then ran into the closet. He then held his claw over his lips in an attempt to keep me silent. He then simulated cutting his throat open to show that he would kill me if I talked.

The doctor finally walked into the room after she finally realized that I wasn't going to respond.

"Hello dearie. I'm going to relocate you to a room with other pokemon who aren't on life support so the pokemon who are in need of electrical equipment can have them. She then walked up to me and unplugged the heart monitor and then began pushing my bed out of the room and into the hallway.

"That was a close one," I whispered under my breath. What the quilava said was now stuck in my head. Mr. Hayter would never hurt anyone. He is a good person and I know it. Even though I believed it, the conversation was still stuck in my head. I just prayed that I was safe from the quilava until someone came back to keep an eye on me.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"How long until we are there?" I asked the charmander impatiently as the rain from the storm drenched me in water.

"Just a few blocks and we will be there."

We then ran a few blocks and then we saw a giant abandoned storage facility with a barbed wire fence around it. The place obviously hadn't been used in years and it was in horrible shape. There were a few cargo crates outside along with a few forklift that looked run down.

"This is where Vincent is, no games this time?" I said making sure he wasn't going to screw me over again.

"I promise. We will need to be careful though he may not be the only one in there. Also there is pokemon being held hostage in there and we will be helping them."

"Yeah sure" I said not only caring about finding Vincent. Right now I just wanted to get in there and find Vincent.

"We need to stick together in there. I don't know Vincent well but he is smart and I'm sure he has a backup plan for something like this."

"Yeah I would expect nothing less from him." I said. I knew this was going to be dangerous and it would not be out of reality to assume someone may get injured if not worse.

We then began searching the perimeter for an entrance.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I ran into the condo complex and quickly ran towards Alex's condo. I was afraid that I was going to be too late and someone was going to die and I would be responsible. I finally located Alex's condo and ran up to it and jumped up and unlocked the door and pushed it open. The power was out in the condo so it was pitch black inside.

"Gray come quick it's an emergency!" I yelled across the dark house.

Gray literally came running from the front living room anxiously to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" He said anxiously.

"A lot, but Blacks gone missing and we need to find him before he gets himself killed." Gray's face went from complete worry to dumbfound.

"You got me worried for that? Let him sit out in the rain he will learn his lesson for wandering off." Gray said with his usual snide voice.

"Shut up Gray! This is serious, someone tried to kill us today and now Black is out trying to find them for some reason and I don't want him to die!" I yelled, I was not in the mood for his crap tonight.

"Why should I help him? You already know I hate him and I would like nothing more than to see him gone for good." He said with a smug look on his face.

"Gray, seriously. Please help me find him. I'm afraid he will literally die tonight if we don't stop him and you are good at tracking people."

"What do I get if I help you?" At that point I completely snapped from his selfishness.

"Forget it. You are a selfish prick that is a piece of crap and you can't just be the better person for once and just do the right thing. This affects more people than just you!" I then began running outside in the cold rain. I couldn't believe how selfish he was even when I was begging him.

"Wait!" I heard Gray yell from the condo as I saw him running after me. I stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Fine, I'll help but I can't track him properly in this rain so we will have to aimlessly look for him. But I will need you to tell me everything you know so I can get a good idea on where we should look for him.

I then told Gray everything that happened from the attack to Kana getting injured.

Gray took a second to comprehend the situation. "These people sound pretty organized and they also seem like they know what they are doing. So obviously they are hiding out somewhere in some kind of base or something. They are probably in an abandoned building or some kind of scrap yard or something along those lines. We will have to search all of them. But if Black already knows where to go then we will most likely be too late." Gray said. He has a good background on tracking pokemon and it actually happens to be something he is talented at.

We then began running through the rain to where we believed some of the area's Black may be at.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

We decided to make the tactical decision on waiting for the rain to let up a little before we began our onslaught into Vincent's headquarters. I waited the longest thirty minutes of my life until I finally decided I wasn't waiting any longer. I then got up and began digging a hole right next to the barbed wire fence so I could just crawl below it.

"What are you doing? We agreed to let the rain ease up more" The charmander said worried about my actions.

"This storm is going nowhere. Vincent may not even still be here and we're just waiting for the weather to get better."

The mud I was digging through was a lot easier to dig through than your average dry dirt so the process went by a lot faster than I thought. Because of the cloudy weather I sadly lost my energy boost from the moon so I would have no advantage against Vincent or any friends he had with him.

The hole was finally deep enough for me to get through so I wiggled myself below the fence. It scratched my upper back a little as I went through so it was a tight fit. The charmander then tried squeezing through but he got stuck half way. It would of actually been funny if I wasn't in such a bad mood already.

He awkwardly stared at me for a second. "A little help please?" I awkwardly stared at him for a few seconds.

"Fatty" I said jokingly. "What do you want me to do? I have no thumbs so I can't pull you through."

He gave out a deep sigh and kept forcing his way through until he finally did manage to get through. He then got to his feet and began wiping the mud off himself.

"Why do you hate Vincent? I get it he is a bad pokemon but what do you personally have against him?" I paused for a second as I considered a decent response that I would trust him knowing.

"If we get through this alive I'll tell you."

"Wow, that is a cliché quote pal." He retorted to my answer. I paid little attention to it and I began searching for an entrance.

"Roll around in the mud charmander"

"Why the hell would I do that?" He said as if I was crazy.

"You are a flashy orange and I do not want to draw any unnecessary attention to us. Now do it."

He gave out a whiney sigh and then began rolling around like a complete moron in the mud.

"Good" I said pleased with him following my orders. We then began looking for an entrance. We stayed in the shadows and began moving slowly along the cargo crates. The rain was beginning to really make me cold and I wanted to hurry up and get this over with. We continued slowly moving along the side until we saw a big opening between us and the next section of cargo crates. I then got as low as I could on all four of my legs and slowly moved across the big opening. Once I got to the other side I then looked at the charmander and waited for him to cross. He just walked across and neglected the fact I was trying to stay hidden. I just stared at him with angry eyes. I couldn't believe how stupid he was for doing that.

"What did I do now?" He said as if he did nothing wrong.

"Stay low and do everything possible to not attract attention. Next you get your ass on the ground and crawl." I said in a very annoyed voice.

He just let out a whiney moan and we then kept going. Eventually after following the crates I noticed a door on the side of the building. I then slowly made my way their being careful not to draw attention to me. The charmander followed my lead hardly trying any harder to be stealthy.

"Wait a second. Why the hell was I leading the way? You know this place and I don't" I yelled in a loud whisper, he just sat there for a second realizing that I had a good point.

"Yeah umm whoops, I didn't think about that." I just rolled my eyes at him and walked up to the door. I then quickly realized the door knob was circular so I couldn't open the door with my paws.

"charmander can you open this door?" I asked.

"I think I can if I could reach it." I then looked around and noticed a small cardboard box. I then pushed it in front of the door for the charmander so he could open the door.

"There. Now would you kindly open it quietly if possible?" I said in a sarcastic voice.

He jumped on the box and began to try and open the door. He struggled for a good minute trying to actually open it. Probably wasn't easy since the knob was bigger than his hands and it was wet from the rain. He then finally got it opened and he slowly cracked the door open and moved the cardboard box.

"After you comrade" He said while bowing. I just rolled my eyes and cautiously entered the black abyss in the warehouse knowing that I may never come out alive.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Gray and I were now starting to get tired from running around so much. We have checked so many dumpy crap holes and all we found where drug dealers and hoboes.

"We are running out of time and places to check." I said to Gray. He sat there and thought for a few seconds on our next move.

"We should keep looking." I was actually surprised that he was dedicated to helping me so much. I guess this meant I owed him one. We continued our search for Black. The next spot we were checking was an old junk yard. I just hope we would find him before it was too late.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Thanks to The pokemon Melody and genericgamer207 for editing.


	13. Reunion

**Chapter 13: Reunion**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It has been two years since Vincent took everything from me, it has been two years since my life has been nothing but a hollow existence. Tonight is the night I get to set things right, the night I get closure with my family, the night Vincent pays for what he did.

The charmander and I both made our way into the warehouse. This warehouse was nothing but a dark void with unknown dangers lurking within it. The only light that was present in this dark abyss was the flame on the charmanders tail. It managed to dimly light the ground near us, but it would hardly compare to a flashlight or an actual light, but it'd have to do.

The two of us walked slowly through the dark abyss, being cautious for any signs of Vincent or any other threats that might emerge from within the darkness. A loud roaring engine off in the distance tore through the silence of the night, and row by row the lights in this warehouse lit up. The charmander and I both stood in place as we looked in every direction possible, but there was no sign of Vincent. As I looked around I got a good layout of the area, it was mostly rows of cargo crates, I'd estimate about twelve or so. The lights that illuminated this facility were dim, and about one in four were burned out, some were even flickering with their last bit of their life.

After a while the charmander and I stopped nervously looking around and we continued to progress through the warehouse. We both began walking down aisle of cargo crates where we would only have two directions to run if we were in danger, forward and back. As we walked down the aisle, I gave a few quick glares at the cargo crates, they were covered in a coat of dust, and appeared to be worn out. This was different compared to how humans usually tried to keep things neat, or at least valuable things like these.

"I wonder if they are still here?" The charmander whispered.

"I doubt that generator turned on by coincidence?" I replied keeping my eyes up ahead. As the charmander and I continued to slowly inch our way out of the aisle, I couldn't help but wonder what was kept in these crates. I mean, why would this place just get abandoned so suddenly? After a bit of walking, the charmander and I soon reached the end of the aisle, and we ended up in middle of the warehouse in a big opening between all of the cargo crates. I gave a quick scan of the area, but their was still no sign of Vincent.

"I see you have finally arrived, Ryder," a familiar voice that sent tremors down my spine called out. The fur on my body stood on end as I quickly spun around. Time felt as if it stopped for a brief moment as I took in the sight of my older brother. Nothing about him changed, from his white fur to his reddish eyes, to that condescending look he always wore.

"Vincent," I said in a low voice as I dug my claws into the concrete ground. The two of us stared at each other in silence, until a houndour with a fresh gash on his eye approached Vincent and stood by his side. My eyes widened as I recognized this one eyed houndour, he was the one who attacked my a few days ago, but I couldn't fathom why they were working on the same side.

"Flynn, would you kindly take our charmander friend away from here, I would like some privacy with my brother." The houndour gave a nod before he jumped off the cargo crate and peered at the charmander.

"Come charmander, leave them two be," the houndour spoke.

The charmander remained silent for a moment as he stood still, "No," he responded, "Sorry, but I don't want to be your chew toy, fido."

"Charmander, this isn't your business at the moment, do you really think you are any safer here than somewhere else? Vincent and I could just easily team up on you and have you dead in under ten seconds," the houndour remarked.

The charmander remained hesitant for a moment, then his fist tightened, "Fine, but if you try anything, don't think I'll just cower as you kill me."

"Fair enough, but I don't wish to fight you," the houndour said as he began to lead the way.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked the charmander as he walked past me.

"We'll find out soon, just don't be afraid to come help once you finish up here," the charmander replied as he followed the houndour from a safe distance.

After the two left, Vincent and I just peered into each others eyes. The only noise that filled the room was the sound of rain beating on the metal ceiling.

"So how long has it been, two years now?" Vincent broke the silence. There was so many things I wanted to say right now, but I couldn't think of one that would best fit this moment, so in the end I just shot him a spiteful glare that was full of years of built up resentment towards him.

"Not too talkative these days, are you?" Vincent spoke, but I continued to be mute. For the past two years I have done nothing but simulate this night in my head, what I was going to say, how I was going to make him suffer for what he did, but now that I was actually here, it felt different.

"You should be overjoyed to see your brother after two long years."

"You are the last person I would ever call family." I quickly responded with resentment.

"Well, I guess that would be expected from most. I am a bit surprised myself though, I anticipated you to be more impulsive at this point. It's really a shame Merrick failed to apprehend you, it would have made things a lot simpler on my side. But then again, I can't say I'm not curious to see how much you have changed over the past two years."

My ears only interpreted those words as an invitation to fight him, and I would be more than happy to reduce him to a messy corpse. I began charging the energy within my body, I then opened my mouth wide as a shadow ball tore through the air towards Vincent. The espeon just watched with a bored expression. The red gem on his forehead emitted a red light, and before my shadow ball reached him it faded away in an instant. My jaw hung agape as I stared at my unscathed brother, but he looked a lot less surprised than myself.

"W-What just happened?" I questioned Vincent.

"Ah Ryder, still imbecilic as always. I just simply used my mind to separate the materials in your shadow ball, it's really such an unstable energy, which makes it so much easier to dismantle it into nothing," Vincent said as if he was some know it all prick. Vincent was smarter than most pokemon, even humans, but I would never openly admit that to him.

"I don't give a damn about your psychic bullshit, just get down here and fight me with some honor," I snapped at him. Vincent let out a sigh, before he jumped down onto ground level with me.

"Satisfied now?" Vincent asked. Without a moment of hesitation I darted towards him, I swung my claws towards his face, but he was quick to use his paw to redirect the course of my attack. I stumbled around as I regained my balance, but Vincent tackled into me and sent me rolling along the ground.

"You're a bit careless, Ryder. Your attacks have an infinite amount of openings, you'll have to do much better than that if you want to compete with me on equal levels," the traitor brother said as he began walking circles around me as if he was a shark stalking its prey trapped in the ocean. "Ryder, you won't win. Rethink your tactics. With attacks like that you won't harm me the slightest bit, I could have killed you already."

That comment made me snap, I quickly jumped back up and ran towards Vincent with my teeth ready to rip his throat open. Right as I was closing in on Vincent the gem on his forehead shined and I felt a strong force push me back. I slide back away from Vincent from the psychic attack, but I managed to keep my footing. I quickly retaliated with a shadow ball, Vincent's eyes widened in surprise from the quick counter attack as the shadow ball exploded into his chest, and dark matter and crimson red flew everywhere. Vincent flew back until he hit a cargo crate, and I quickly ran towards him.

I looked down at my brother as a pool of blood began to form from the flesh that the shadow ball tore up, it appeared that his chest was ripped to pieces and I may have even damaged his bones as well. Vincent's body twitched as the blood dyed his fur red. My stomach began to turn from this sight, it made me so happy to see this, but blood was one of those things that made me feel uncomfortable. After all this time it was as simple as that, just hitting the cocky espeon with a shadow ball.

"Hmmm, that was a good try, but you missed," a voice called out from behind me. My head instantly cocked back to see Vincent standing atop of a cargo crate, his face wearing that same bored expression as if I wasn't even a challenge for him. I was quick to look back to the corpse I just saw, but to my surprise there was nothing there.

"What?!" I shouted out in confusion.

"I already told you that those impulsive attacks won't work," Vincent told me.

"I killed you though," I snapped at him. There was no way in Hell that Vincent survived that attack, let alone recovered back to perfect health in a few seconds.

"Your perception on reality is wrong, you simply killed an illusion. I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself for making such a convincing illusion, or whether I should be disapointed in you for not knowing the difference between a fake and your real brother."

"Illusions? I'm an umbreon, so your psychic stuff shouldn't even affect me!" I yelled at him.

"I have always been a talented psychic, if I may say so myself. If a psychic is truly talented with their abilities nothing is truly impossible. Us psychic's can accomplish anything if we truly put our minds to it, and that includes beating you," Vincent said with pride. "But I think we talked enough for now. I think we've had enough time to catch up, and I think it is about time I introduce you to Mandus."

'There was that damn name again, who the hell is this Mandus person?'

Vincent let out a sigh before he jumped off the cargo crate, and landed on the ground. Vincent began to make his way towards me, and I got into a defensive position as I began to growl at him.

"What are you looking over there for? I'm right here," Vincent called out from behind me. I quickly turned around and Vincent somehow mysteriously got behind me. I glanced behind myself to see that the Vincent I saw a moment ago was gone. As I turned back I shot a shadow ball towards Vincent, but this time I ran behind my shadow ball to somewhat conceal my attack. As the shadow ball neared Vincent it faded away, and as it faded I attempted to rake his face with my claws. Vincent sidestepped my attack with ease.

"That was a little better," Vincent said with a small smile as he darted towards me. I quickly swiped my claws towards him, but Vincent swiftly blocked my attack with his own paws. Before I could even react, the gem on his head pulsed with energy and a psychic wave shoved me onto the ground. I let out a pained cry as my brain and temples convulsed with agonizing pain.

"Move or you're dead," Vincent instructed me as I looked up to see him concentrating his energy. I quickly rolled out of the way as a psychic beam tore up the ground, it didn't take long for me to get up on my feet and get to a safe distance. My head was still rife with pain, but, for the most part, I could just shake it off.

At this point I knew my chances were low on winning this fight. I quickly scanned the room, but I found that their was nothing that could help me in this battle. Before I could even strategize a move, Vincent's gem flashed and my head began pulsing with more pain. I began to feel woozy as I tried to stay on my feet, but soon my muscles lost control and I fell over on the ground writhing in pain as I placed my paws over my head while I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the intense ringing in my head.

"Black!" A voice managed to pierce through the overwhelming ringing in my head. I managed to barely open one of my eyes. To my surprise I saw Flare dashing towards me. Vincent cocked his head back, and a flash emitted from Vincent's head, and Flare slammed into a crate. He let out a groan of pain as he laid on the ground.

"How rude of you to interrupt our reunion, I'll deal with you when I'm done with Ryder," Vincent said as he shook his head. Seeing my opening, I quickly sprang to my feet and I charged at Vincent.

"Lay a hand on him and I'll rip your throat out!" I shouted at Vincent as my blood began to boil. I sprinted towards Vincent, and the espeon's gem began to shine before another psychic beam show towards me. I quickly evaded to the left and I shot a shadow ball towards Vincent. Instead of dismantling my attack, Vincent directed his psychic beam towards my shadow ball, and the two attack collided. The two attack exploded as the pink and black energies masked each other. I continued running towards Vincent, and I ran through the debris from the attacks. I popped through the debris and Vincent's eyes widened as I smashed my forehead into Vincent's jaw. The espeon flung back and rolled onto the ground, but managed to use the momentum to carry himself back onto all fours. Vincent flexed his jaw out a few times until one of his joints popped.

"Huh, tell me, how does it feel to feel real pain instead of hiding behind your petty illusions?" I questioned my brother with a toothy grin.

"I've felt worse," Vincent responded with tranquility as he closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. His eyes popped open and Vincent charged at me. A fiery flash illuminated the room, and a spray of embers singed Vincents left side. Vincent quickly withdrew himself to a safe distance. Flare ran towards Vincent as his body set ablaze and he charged towards Vincent. I joined in as well and followed Flare's lead in this assault. Vincent's gem flashed and a pinkish wave flew towards us. Flare jumped over the wave, while I moved around it. Flare then threw his body towards Vincent, but the espeon dodged to the left. I then came in and swung my claw as hard as I could downward towards his face. Vincent jolted back in time to avoid facial injuries as he rose his arm and slammed it down onto my head and forced me jaw first to slam into the ground as he pressed all of his body weight onto my head.

As I tried to get Vincent off of me, Flare jumped towards Vincent. The espeon quickly ducked below him and as Flare flew past us I felt a wave of heat. Flare quickly spun back towards Vincent for another attack, but Vincent sent a psychic wave towards Flare, and it collided with the fennekin. I felt a surge of anxiety run through me, and I quickly began to force myself up, even if Vincent was pinning me down.

Vincent released his paw off of me, but then struck me down with a psychic wave. My head rang in endless pain as everything became a big blur. I felt Vincent kick me, and I rolled onto my back. Vincent stood over me as he pinned me down with his body weight. Vincent rose his paw above me and began striking me in the face. The ringing in my head intensified as Vincent whaled on the left side of my face non stop. Everything began to fade to black as I lost feeling in my face, and everything in my body became numb. I no longer felt the pain, I was hardly even conscious at this point. Just as I was about to blackout, Vincent stopped, and looked up. A fireball seared towards Vincent. Vincent quickly countered the attack with another psychic wave and the two attacks cancelled each other out in an explosion so powerful that it made the room shake a bit. Vincents weight upon me lessened, and I saw a perfect opening. I quickly jolted forward and clamped my fangs down on Vincents arm. Vincent let out a gasp as my teeth ripped into the muscles on his arm, and I could feel them crunching against his bones. Vincent tried to pull away, but I kept my teeth clamped down on him like a bear trap.

Blood began to pour into my mouth. I could taste the metallic taste of blood, and it sent shivers down my spine. I felt as if I was going to puke, and I could feel myself growing woozy from the disgusting fluid. My grip on his arm began to loosen, and Vincent was quick to dig his fangs into my side. I let out a howl of pain as Vincent jumped off of me and got to a safe distance.

Vincent stood on three of his legs, as he cautiously kept weight off his injured arm. Flare ran to my side as he defensively stood between Vincent and me.

"Are you alright Black?" Flare questioned me with concern. I gave a weak nod to him, but truthfully I wasn't. All this physical trauma was taking its toll, and it didn't help that I didn't get any sleep the night before, everything was adding up and I was nearing my physical limit.

"I don't know who you are espeon," a cold voice called out from above, "nor do I know what you want from us, but I'm not going to allow you to harm those who are innocent." I looked up towards one of the cargo crates to spot Gray peering down at Vincent with a cold glare that lacked any concept of fear.

"You're just postponing the inevitable, absol," Vincent bitterly stated as he looked up at Gray. Gray leaped off the cargo crate with a blue energy charging from his maw. Many needles of hail rained down on Vincent, and impaled the espeon. Vincent flinched every time he was impaled, and soon his body was full of needles that had streams of blood exiting his wounds. Vincent trembled for a moment as his eyes grew wide, before he fell over onto the ground twitching.

A shadow appeared behind Gray, and closed in on him, "Behind you," Vincent said in a cold voice as he threw Gray into a crate with his psychic abilities. Gray let out a groan as he slowly climbed his way back up onto his feet.

"I'm done playing games with you and your friends Ryder, because you can't accept your fate your friends are going to have to suffer because of you," Vincent told me.

"I hit him, how?" Gray said in confusion.

"He uses illusion's and deceives his opponents" I said in a weak raspy voice while I was breathing hard from the pain I was in.

Without warning Vincent quickly ran towards us. Flare inhaled a deep breath and exhaled a powerful flamethrower. Vincent stopped in his tracks as the flamethrower began to incinerate him. The espeon's fur burned away along with his flesh that was reduced to cinder. Once Flare stopped his flamethrower, we all stared at the burnt espeon that was still managing to stand. After a moment he fell over and didn't move a muscle.

"Is he dead?" Gray said in confusion, but almost as if on queue, another Vincent walked out into the open, unscathed, excluding his wounded arm.

"Other than a few lucky hits from Ryder, I'm perfectly fine, thank you," Vincent said as he continued to walk into the opening, "You can't kill me, that won't become reality, not against opponents as weak you as your party."

"Vincent, Vincent, Vincent, I thought you would have been long done with these amateurs," a voice called out, and the one and only psychotic quilava appeared on the scene. He glared at all of us with his psychotic glance.

"Well, it was three against one after all, but I guess I did get a bit careless," Vincent said casually.

"Ahh Vincent, why don't you let me have a little fun, I have a score to settle with that umbreon. Plus, you also look a little roughed up, and I've been looking for a good challenge where I can burn stuff to cinder," the quilava sadistically said as he licked imaginary blood off of his claws.

"No-no, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I can use my mind to block out most of the physical pain, and afterall, Ryder is my brother," Vincent reminded the quilava.

The quilava let out a whiney moan as if he was a child, "Fine, can I at least kill the fennekin and absol?"

Vincent took a second to process his question "They aren't anything to me, so do as you please. Just keep the violence to a minimum, we will have to clean up our tracks later." A grin grew on the quilava's face as his razor sharp teeth became visible, this smile showed his blood lust and how psychotic he was.

"Why don't we take this to a more secluded place, after all I wouldn't want your umbreon friend to be distracted by your cries of agony," the quilava said as his grin grew wider,"On second thought, I don't even think I can wait that long!" The quilava howled as the flames on his back burned with psychotic fury and he opened his mouth and a flamethrower came towards us. Flare was the quickest to move, Gray's immediate response was to bite down on my neck and throw me to safety. Gray moved to the side, but got singed by the flames, but overall he was breathing. I tried to move off the ground, but I found myself still to weak to move.

"Get up Black," Gray ordered, "This is life or death, and you're not lying around while we protect you all night."

Gray was right, I needed to help, or Arceus knows what'll happen. I rolled over onto my belly and I began to pry myself off the ground. It was a long and slow process, but I managed to get back up. I swayed back and forth as I stood, I still wasn't in good shape from my injuries.

"Gray, he's barely standing, I don't think he can continue this," Flare said, worried for my health. Gray then looked at him with a death glare.

"He's the one who got us into this, so he's not going to sit around while we're risking our lives for him," Gray snapped back. He was right, I did get us into this, but I don't even think I can walk in a straight line, let alone fight two pokemon that outmatch us.

With the little strength I had left I managed to start walking towards Vincent. Every step was a constant battle to not fall over and give in to the pain, but I persevered past the pain. My ears pricked up as I heard the psychotic quilava laugh, I then looked over to see him dashing towards Gray and Flare. As he ran towards them, his front two forepaws ignited on fire, and he attempted to attack Flare and Gray. Both Flare and Gray moved away as they dodged a series of attacks from the quilava.

I prayed that them two would be able to handle him, but I'd have to trust them. I turned back towards Vincent and I began making my way towards him.

"You can't beat me, not in your condition," Vincent reminded me.

"Shut up, I still for some energy left in me," I argued in a very faint voice as I kept inching my way towards him.

"Just roll over and pass out already, maybe it'll be possible for your friends to live," Vincent said as he launched a psychic wave towards me. I felt an intense pain in my head as Vincent began to fry my brain.

"Ryder, just accept that this is over. You can barely stand, I doubt you'll be able to stop me or my partner." I grimaced from the idea of giving up. I would never give in to Vincent, I planned on fighting until I was a corpse on the ground. I groaned in pain as I fought off the migraine in my head and I forced myself up one last time.

"You just can't stay down, can you?" Vincent stated in frustration as the gem on his forehead began to emit its reddish light. I screamed in agonizing pain as I was hit with another attack. Everything was becoming fuzzy so fast, and everything became dark even faster. I felt myself lose touch with reality, and I lost consciousness.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Thanks to genericgamer207 and The pokemon Melody for editing.


	14. Decisions

**Chapter 14: Decisions**

* * *

**Point of View Charmander**

Rain poured down from the sky as I nervously kept my eyes deadpanned on the one eyed houndour that was glaring at me. The two of us were in a spot that was a bit secluded, cargo crates surrounded us from every angle and hid us. My feet squished around as I stood on the muddy ground, while my tail flame constantly hissed from the pouring rain that was drenching it. Being out in this weather made me feel weak, it's too bad we couldn't have kept this inside.

"So… I don't suppose we can't just both walk away and call it a night?" I nervously asked as I kept a safe distance from the houndour. I would have run away by now if it was an option, but outrunning a four legged canine sounded impossible.

"I'm afraid not, charmander. Vincent has other plans for you, and I'm here to make sure you understand it," the houndour told me as he kept his one good eye deadpanned on me.

"Me?" I said in surprise, "Listen, I guarantee there is better pokemon out there for this stuff than me," I said in a shaky voice.

"Let me rephrase that, you're our plan B if things don't go Vincent's way in there. Think of it as a way to convince us to keep your trainer alive," He bluntly told me as if this wasn't a terrible thing to put me through. To this point my trainer was kinda forgotten about, I was more worried about my life, but I swear I'll kill them all if they so much as touch him.

"What do you want from me?" I asked sternly as I tried to seem strong.

The houndour remained silent for a moment before he spoke, "We want you to spy on that umbreon, Ryder. We want you to learn everything about him, how he thinks, how he fights, what he loves and hates, and lastly, you will assist us in capturing him," the houndour said, "If you do this, you and your trainer can leave unharmed, under oath that you won't speak a word of this to anyone."

I remained silent as I tried to take in that request. I didn't want to be involved in any of this, yet I am whether I like it or not. My trainer meant a lot to me, I couldn't let him die, even if it means that the umbreon will get hurt.

"Fine," I bitterly spat out, "But if you do anything to harm my trainer, I'll be sure you'll all regret it."

"Don't worry, Crimson Dawn always keeps its word," the houndour stated.

"So, how exactly am I supposed to report this info if I can't even find you guy's?" I questioned.

"Heh, don't worry about that, all of my colleagues are experts in hunting down pokemon, finding you shouldn't be too daunting."

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

Through all the chaos, the quilava and I both ended up on a one on one battle atop of the rows of cargo crates. The fire type stood on the row of cargo crates in front of the one I was on.

The quilava sneered at me before he inhaled a deep breath. My eyes widened as I realized what was going on. Without hesitation, I quickly dove off the cargo crate as a wave flames incinerated everything atop of the cargo crates. Once on the ground, I looked up to see the hellstorm finally dying down. At the top of the cargo crate I could see the steel starting to melt a bit. I sighed a breath of relief, if I was a moment slower, I'd be dead.

I heard a snicker from above me, I looked up again to see the quilava with a big grin on his face. The quilava inhaled a breath as he readied a flamethrower. I frantically looked left and right, but it was impossible for me to make it out of this row before he incinerated me beyond recognition. Right as the quilava opened his mouth, Flare came out of nowhere and tackled the quilava off the cargo crate. Seeing my opening, I opened my mouth and show out a hail attack. A storm of needles impaled the quilava, and knocked him in the opposite direction. The quilba skidded along the ground until he came to a dead stop.

"Ow that hurt, asshole" I heard him groan as he forced himself back up. "Oh, you think you're all badass now, huh. Well guess what? I'm going to incinerate you," the quilava spoke with fury as the flames on his back intensified to the point that they were blue. I backed away from the quilava as I felt an intense heat wave. All the ice needles that stuck out of his body melted in an instant.

The quilava began charging up an attack as the flames on his back lowered a bit, due to him using his flame abilities. The quilava shot out a fireball towards me. My reflex kicked in, and I quickly ducked below the fireball. The fireball missed, and flew until it exploded against the wall of this facility, and left a gigantic hole.

Flare quickly took his chance, the fennekin shot out a torrent of flames towards the quilava. The quilava just smirked as he stood in place, and the flames engulfed him. After a moment, Flare let up on his attack. Smoke filled the area that the quilava stood in.

"You call yourself a fire type? That was pathetic, and you should never use fire attacks again," the quilava said as he began to let out a fake yawn.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not a psychotic freak!" Flare retorted with anger.

The quilava looked up at Flare with an unsettling smile that would scare monsters, "Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment," the quilava said.

"You're crazy," Flare spoke as he stared at the quilava with disbelief in what he was witnessing.

"Crazy… Crazy doesn't even fucking describe it!" The quilava yelled at the top of his lungs, before he sprayed an ember attack at Flare. The fennekin quickly evaded the attack, and the ember attack collided with the lights about us and took a few of them out.

I saw that the quilava was distracted, and I took this chance to attack. I charged towards the quilava and swiped my claws at him. The quilava ducked below my swipe and tackled me to the ground. The quilava pinned me down with his right paw as he began charging up an attack. Flare suddenly jumped off the cargo crate, and landed directly on top of the quilava. The two tousled to the ground. Flare and I both clawed and bit the quilava in an attempt to be the first one back up. After a bit of fighting, the quilava managed to break free from us and he tried standing back up, before I bit down on his hind leg and caused him to fall back down. As the quilava tried recovering from his injury, I began charging a ice beam. The quilava got up just in time to block the attack with his forepaw. The quilava looked at his frozen paw in surprise as he held it out.

"Give it up, no one else needs to get hurt," Flare pleaded as the quilava shot us both a death glare.

"Merrick, I captured Ryder!" Flare and I both froze up for a moment, before we glanced at each other. My gaze returned back to the quilava just in time to see him shoot a smoke screen at us. The entire area quickly became masked in a thick smoke as I began to cough. Through the smoke, I managed to see the quilava running away

"Flare, after him," I managed to speak as I had a cough fit.

Flare and I both dashed in the direction of the quilava, until we came into an opening in the middle of the warehouse. Flare's face showed his fear as he saw that albino espeon standing over Black's unconscious body. Flare tried running towards Black, but I quickly stuck my arm in front of him to prevent him from doing something stupid. Honestly, I expected this to happen to the umbreon, but in no way did I feel responsible, this was all his damn fault.

"Leave him alone!" Flare yelled at them.

The albino espeon and the quilava both swapped glances before their gaze focused on Flare, "I'm afraid we can't do that," the espeon spoke, "Ryder means a lot to us."

"Listen, I got a proposal," The espeon said, and managed to get my interest.

"And what would that be?" I spoke in a dull voice that masked all my emotions.

"Just walk away and we'll leave you alone, no one will have to get hurt anymore," The espeon offered. I looked at the umbreon for a moment before I looked back up at our enemy. Truthfully, this was probably our only chance at winning, these two were out of our league, and I couldn't risk letting either of us dying here today.

"I'm not letting you take Black away!" Flare protested in anger.

The espeon flinched at what Flare said, "Is that what Ryder goes by now?" the espeon questioned. Flare nodded in response. "Why do you care about him so much? You know nothing of him. Who he is, what he's done and you don't even know his real name either, do you?" the espeon said..

"His real name is Kaz" Flare responded

"No" The espeon quickly replied. "That is not his real name. That is a name he stole from someone we both cherished. His real name is Ryder, not Kaz, and not Black. You know nothing of him and I implore you to just accept my one and only offer." I grinded my teeth together from hearing what the espeon had to say. Not only was that umbreon putting us in danger, he was also lying to us, how could Flare even begin to trust this person?

"I'm not backstabbing a friend like this," Flare snapped at the espeon.

"Flare," I said to get the fennekin's attention, " I'm not throwing away my life for that umbreon," I said with a stern voice. Flare's gaze snapped towards me as he looked at me in total shock.

"Flare, this umbreon is a liar, we are not risking our lives to just end up dead. We are not going to win this battle, I told you from the start that that umbreon would be nothing but a problem," I spoke harshly. It didn't feel right to let Flare down like this, but as I said, I'm not dying for that umbreon. The only reason I even came this far was because of Flare.

"Gray! How could you say that! Black is one of us, we can't just let these psychopaths abduct him!" Flare opposed.

"Flare, this is life or death right now! You've known this umbreon for a few days, how is he worth dying for?!" I yelled so loud that the room fell silent and echoes could be heard from my fury, even the rain seemed to stop for a brief moment.

"Fine," Flare said with an attitude, " I'll save him myself," Flare stated. Flare's vision directed back towards the espeon and quilava. Feeling that I only had one way to stop Flare from doing something stupid, I stood behind the fennekin and I slammed my paw into the back of his skull. Flare stood silent for a brief moment, before he collapsed onto the ground, not even knowing what hit him.

"Sorry" I whispered to him. My gaze looked towards the quilava and espeon to see that they both looked shocked from my actions.

"Sorry about that, he doesn't know better. We will be accepting your offer and we will be leaving peacefully and we will keep quiet about all of this in exchange for our lives and that includes everyone who was involved in this today, excluding the umbreon of course." I said in an attempt to make the agreement as clear as possible.

"I'm glad we could resolve our conflict," the espeon responded with a small smile forming on his face.

"Just one question though," I spoke up toward the two. The espeon looked at me as he waited for my question. "Why is this umbreon so important?, I don't get it."

"I'm afraid I can't say too much on that, but just know that Ryder will be the the key to changing this world," the espeon responded.

"I see," I responded with a bit of disappointment. I was kind of sad that these pokemon were a bunch of psychopaths, as Flare warned me. Regardless, this is that umbreon's problem now.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I stretched out my body as I sunk into the cozy grass that felt like a welcoming mattress for me. The sun was at its peak and the rays were warming up my body. A soft summer breeze blew through the air as well, and prevented me from getting uncomfortably hot. Everything here was so cozy, even if it was the middle of day.

"Ryder, do you plan on sleeping all day again?" a familiar voice questioned me from behind. My ears perked up from the sound of that voice, it didn't take more than a split second for me to turn towards the voice and sit up.

"Kaz," I said with nostalgia. The older jolteon smiled towards as the wind blew through his spunky fur.

"How-"

"How's everything going, it's been a while?" Kaz said in his usual cheery voice.

"Bad," I grumbled.

"Why's that, because you're always in a grouchy mood?, Oor because Vincent is giving you some trouble right now?" I felt a vein bulge on my head from the insult as I contemplated on hitting him, but with some honesty, I missed him to much to argue with him.

"Yeah," I bluntly answered.

"And why else is everything going bad?" Kaz asked me with a smile.

Memories of everything bad that happened to me flooded into my mind. Everything just felt like too much, I had no idea what I was supposed to do in this situation. "Because, everyone around me is getting hurt and it's my fault. I got them into this mess and now they're all going to die because of me and I couldn't even stay conscious to help fight!" I yelled out as tears escaped my eyes.

The jolteon then sat next to me and patted my back,"Everything is going to be okay, Ryder" he said in a comforting voice. "Why not just wake up and fight them, I mean things can only get better if you keep going."

"Yeah well, even if I was awake, I'd still get my ass kicked. I'm not strong enough to beat him and I never will be," I spoke with what I thought was the truth.

"Stop fighting for your personal vendetta, fight for what you have left, fight for your friends," Kaz told me. I wasn't sure if I'd go as far as to call Flare a friend, but there was no doubt that he was the closest thing I had to a real friend.

"You're right," I responded to Kaz.

"Now is that all that's on your mind?" kaz asked me. I responded with a nod. Truthfully, this talk helped my mental state a lot, I could feel it. I was never really any good at sharing feelings, but I did need someone to talk to. After my little talk with him, I felt a lot more composed, and I could feel myself going back to reality.

I could feel the cold floor against my skin as I lied on the ground. My ears slightly perked up as I heard a heated conversation going on beside me, but I kept my eyes closed so I could appear unconscious.

"Gray! How could you say that! Black is one of us, we can't just let these psychopaths abduct him!" I heard Flare snap at Gray with fury. I was kinda lost on what they were talking about, but from the little that was said, I didn't like it one bit.

"Flare, this is life or death right now! You've known this umbreon for a few days, how is he worth dying for?!" I heard Gray yell back at Flare with just as much anger. Afterwards the room fell silent for a moment, and all that could be heard was the rain beating against the ceiling.

A few seconds passed by before someone finally spoke again responded, "Fine," Flare said bitterly with a pause,"I'll save him myself," Flare spoke. A moment after Flare's words, I heard a thump, and it sounded like something hit the ground. Silence filled the air, until I heard Gray whisper something.

"Sorry about that, he doesn't know better. We will be accepting your offer and we will be leaving peacefully and we will keep quiet about all of this in exchange for our lives and that includes everyone who was involved in this today, excluding the umbreon of course." Gray said to someone. I couldn't quite tell what was going on, but Gray was starting to really piss me off.

"I'm glad we could resolve our conflict," I heard Vincent reply with satisfaction. That's when my blood began to boil and connected the dots and understood what was going on. That bastard was selling me out.

"Just one question though," Gray asked my asshole brother, "Why is this umbreon so important? I don't get it." Gray questioned..

There was a few seconds of silence before Gray's question was answered. "I'm afraid I can't say too much on that, but just know that Ryder will be the the key to changing this world."

"I see." Gray said with a tone that made him sound disappointed.

Afterwards, I heard the sound of someone moving towards me. A tremble ran through my spine as I felt a paw or hand touch me. My eyes opened wide as I instinctively bit down on whoevers hand was touching me. The quilava that tried touching me let out a pained yell as he backed away. The taste of blood from his hand was stuck in my mouth and I quickly spit as much of it out of my mouth as I could.

"Gray," I spoke lowly as I got up and stared at my so called teammate, "You just tried to sell me out," I spoke with resentment towards that fucking traitor. I was already furious, but the moment I noticed Flare lying unconscious on the ground, I felt my rage grow.

"I didn't want neither of us to die here tonight, it was us or you, and I know where my priorities are," Gray replied back as he stared me in the eyes with a hateful look.

"And you worried about me backstabbing everyone" I told Gray.

"Either way, I'm not fighting on the losing side, " Gray responded. It took me a second, but I shudder ran down my spine as I realized he planned on going against me, if necessary.

"You're a fucking bastard, you know that?"

"It's three against one, you don't even stand a chance against one of us. So, for once in your life do something right, and get the Hell out of our lives," Gray spoke with spite.

All at once, they all closed in on me. Gray was right, I wouldn't win this fight. So I did the logical thing, I ran like Hell. Gray was the fastest of the three, and he was right on my tail. The quilava was next, but he was slowly losing us, while Vincent struggled to keep up with in injured forepaw.

As I ran for my life, I spun around and I shot a shadow ball towards Gray. Gray quickly dodged to the side, and then out of nowhere he sped up and slashed his claws at me. I evaded the attack, and responded with a headbutt. Gray jerked back as he let out a grunt as he gritted his teeth in an attempt to conceal his pain.

And just in time to make things worse, the quilava caught up, along with Vincent. The three glared at me as I growled at the three and showed my fangs in an intimidating manner. This was it for me, I was out of luck. I postponed this as much as I could, but I was at the end of my line, I wasn't going to escape this.

I continued to growl at the three as they all began to slowly move in towards me. Then out of nowhere, the sound of a police siren could be heard. Vincent and the quilava swapped a quick glance, before they directed their attention back at me.

"Well, it looks like you lucked out, Ryder," Vincent said as he shook his head in disappointment..

"Wait, what?!" Gray said in surprise.

Vincent let out a sigh, before he looked at Gray, "The police are coming, all of our efforts will mean nothing if we get caught. We're leaving, I suggest you do the same. But don't worry, we will be back sooner or later," Vincent said, before he gave a nod at the quilava and they both started making a break for it.

Despite Gray being an asshole, we both set aside the backstabbing thing and we focused on getting out of here. Gray didn't waste a second on grabbing Flare. Gray bit down on Flare's back fur, and flung the fennekin onto his back.

"Let's go," Gray ordered me.

Gray and I ran out the back entrance, until we made our way towards the fence. I blasted the wired fence with my shadow ball, and it tore the obstruction to pieces. We passed through the new opening, and made our way back into the city. Gray and I ran for a few minutes without a break, but after a bit we came to a stop. It looked like we were going to get away without getting arrested.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**Author Note: **Thanks to The Pokemon Melody for editing.


	15. Melancholy

**Chapter 15: melancholy**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

My eyes slowly opened as bright lights blinded my blurry vision and I felt a strong sting in my eyes as I tried to force my eyes to open. I began shaking my head as I pried myself up. My eyes widened as I recalled the pokemon that attacked us last night, and I was quickly wide awake.

I frantically looked left and right and I quickly recognized my location to be the pokecenter. Although, I wasn't in a patients room, I was passed out on a bench in the lobby of the pokecenter. The pokecenter was completely vacant, which left me alone with an awkward silence, although it beat the chaos from last night. But this silence also left me with a question: where is Black and Gray?

As I pondered the events from last night a bit, I couldn't quite recall what happened. For all I know Black could be kidnapped by those psychopaths. It didn't take me long to dash out of the pokemon, and begin making my way -*down the streets in search of someone who knew what happened. It wasn't until I picked up the sound of two people arguing that I decided to stop for a moment. I followed the sound of arguing until it led to an alley. I peeked my head in the alley, and I spotted Gray and Black both glaring at each other as if they were about to tear each other's throats out. Before I could be spotted, I swiftly hid behind a dumpster as I carefully listened to what the two were saying.

"You fucking tried selling me out, how is that justifiable!" Black snapped at Gray, but the absol kept a tranquil expression on his face, compared to Black who had a vein bulging on his head.

"I told you, I did what I did to save Flare and myself. I could honestly care less about you, especially when it comes to protecting those around me," Gray spoke venomously.

"Seriously, what the Hell do you have against me? I haven't done shit to you, so what the Hell is your problem? I have done nothing but try and get along with you. You are racist towards me, you backstabbed me and you even left a permanent scar on me!" Black shouted with resentment. I wasn't sure what Black meant by 'backstab' but I could see that this heated discussion was going to lead to something worse.

"Because you almost got us killed last night, and now we have these psychopaths out to get us! Now I'm going to have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life and worry about having my throat slit in my sleep or worse. And I'm not the only one who has to live with this too, Kana and Flare are affected by this as well, so thanks a lot," Gray replied.

Black's face went from enraged, so one that was rueful, as he looked towards the ground, "I know it's my fault," Black admitted, "I never wanted anyone to get hurt because of me. I thought I could just live a normal life and move on, but my past keeps catching up to me," Black said as he began to ponder something. "Gray, you don't have to worry about me anymore, because I'm leaving. If I leave you should all be safe for a while. Tell everyone I said I'm sorry that I ruined their lives" Black said as he walked past Gray and headed towards the opposite exit from me. Honestly, I couldn't believe Black was leaving, I didn't quite blame him completely for all of this, I know it wasn't in his control.

After Black left, Gray gave a smirk before he began walking in my direction. My heart rate picked up as Gray got closer to me. Gray began to pass up my hiding spot, before he stopped and turned towards me with a shocked look.

"How long have you been hiding there?" Gray questioned me.

"Long enough," I said stated in a dull tone. "I'm going to speak with Black," I said as I made my way in the direction that Black left in.

"Don't," Gray blurted out. "He left on his own free will. Besides he will get us killed with people like that after him."

"I don't care, he's my friend," I said responded.

"Friend?" Gray said with astonishment, "Flare wake the hell up! That umbreon lied to us and put all of our lives in danger. His name isn't even Kaz. What else do you think that umbreon is keeping from us?" Gray said with fury.

"Gray you are completely right." I admitted. "But I'm not abandoning him. You don't know anything about him and neither do I, but I would also say you got a lot of personal stuff you don't trust people with either. Now I'm going to find him, and you can help if you want or sit there and be bitter," I said as began walking in the direction Black headed towards.

"Fine then, leave. Just don't expect me and him to be buddies when this is all done and over with. I resent him and I don't have a single intention on getting along with him," Gray added in as I continued to walk away from him. I didn't even bother to look back at him. It would have been nice to at least see Gray trying to be nice.

Once I exited the alley, I began to wonder where Black could have ran off to. I just hoped that me looking for him like this wouldn't become a routine. After a bit of searching, I ended up somewhere random on the streets of Lumiose. The good thing was that the sun was now coming up so the streets were slowly lighting up from the sun's rays. After a while, the sky became a fiery orange. The water that flooded the streets and the fiery orange sky and the sun's rays reflected off the puddles and made everything look like a painting. A few humans and pokemon were now making their way outside, some were on their way to work, others were just simply enjoying the great weather.

I then began walking down the street and I noticed a nidoran sitting on the street looking absolutely tired. I walked towards the nidoran and prayed to Mew that he may have seen Black.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but by chance have you seen a shiny umbreon who probably looked like he was in a bad mood?" I asked the nidoran.

The nidoran let out a yawn before he decided to answer me, "hmmm, yeah I think I saw your shiny pal," the nidoran answered in a lazy voice.

"where did he go? this is very important!" I desperately interrogated the nidoran.

"Whoa-whoa, calm down dude, you are talking way too fast. Also I wouldn't know I'm not the neighborhood stalker, sorry" He said in a snobbish voice.

"Well, is there a stalker that would know?" I asked jokingly, but if there was one I'd take the opportunity for answers. The nidoran just put his palm against his face and shook his head in disapproval.

Since I wasn't going to get answers, I parted ways with the nidoran. I continued walking around until I was on the outskirts of the city. I knew Black liked quiet places so I figured if he was still in the city, he would probably be around here somewhere.

Then almost as if it was fate, I saw Black lying in the grass. I quickly dashed towards him, it meant so much to me that I was actually going to see him again. I came to a dead stop once I reached him, and I found myself quickly disappointed at the sound of Black gently breathing in a deep sleep. He lied their resting his head on his two arms and was peacefully breathing in a steady rhythm.

Despite my excitement, my eyes managed to look off into the distance, and I realized how nice of a spot this was. Off in the distance were multiple hills, and in the middle of all these hills was a lake. Throughout the hilly area, there were multiple trees that stood tall. The lake's water was as still as glass, and the fiery orange sky reflected off the water, and created a spectacle that was like a painting.

After I took in the scene, my eyes shifted back towards Black, "Hey Black?" I spoke softly, since I wasn't trying to startle him after such a rough night.

"Hey Black, wake up," I said a little louder. Black's eyes began to shift back and forth under his eyelids, until his eyes opened and revealed his crimson eyes. Black looked at me for a brief moment, but then his eyes lazily stared off towards the lake.

"Why are you here, didn't Gray tell you the news… I'm leaving, I figured he'd be dancing in joy by now," Black spoke in a hollow voice that made him sound really sad and lonely, almost as if he was in pain from the choice he made.

"Black, I think you should reconsider your choice. I think you should stay with us, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone again," I spoke truthfully. Black gritted his teeth and he dug his claws into the dirt as he stood up and looked at me with a serious glare.

"How can you say that? If I stay with you, you'll all get hurt, don't you know that?"

"I'm aware Black, but you're my friend and I don't think you should be dealing with this alone," I said, in an attempt to sound optimistic.

"No Flare, just please stop… I don't want anyone getting hurt for me. This is my problem and no one else's" Black snapped at me.

"Black, I don't want to see you die though," I pleaded.

"Why do you care so much? Just leave me the hell alone and let me deal with my own problems! I hardly even know you, and I don't see how you can trust me! My name isn't even Kaz, it's Ryder, not fucking Kaz!" Black shouted at me, and his outburst ended with him out of breath.

"Because, you look miserable, and I don't want to see things get worse for a friend." Black responded with a hysterical laugh that made him sound a bit crazy.

"What's so funny?" I asked, not really understanding what was so funny.

"For two years I haven't had one person call me a friend, and I've always tried so hard to keep it that way. I would have been happy living my life in solitude, but then you come out of nowhere, and consider me a friend, when I'm nothing but a complete ass towards you," Black began to say, each word sounding more sad than the last, "Why do you even care… I don't deserve any of this," Black said as a tear escaped his eye.

I stood in silence, not really knowing how to respond to Black's emotional state, until something came to mind, "Black, you may not think so, but I don't think of you as a bad person. I don't know what you went through before all of this, but I know it's hurting you, I can see it every time I look at you. But never say you don't deserve a good life, you're not a bad person," I said in hopes of cheering Black up a bit. The depressed look on Black's face lightened up a bit, and no more tears came from his eyes.

"Thanks," Black said quietly, almost as if he was too shy to say it.

"No problem," I said with a cheerful smile, before I looked off towards the distance, and soon Black did the same. For a while we both remained silent,it was a bit awkward, but I know Black was just cooling off.

"Hey Black, I just noticed something," I said with slight amazement.

"What?" Black said with a bit of interest.

"This is where we first met, remember, where Alex and I caught you," I said with amazement. I mean honestly, what were the chances of ending up here again?

But then Black ruined the moment with his next comment, "Yeah, I know. I come here all the time, it's a nice spot I always come to, it's a nice spot to relax, compared to the city," Black said.

"Oh" I said as if I was a complete idiot, of course the answer was that simple, I should have guessed that in the first place.

"Black I have one more question?"

"huh?"

"I hate to bring this up, but that espeon said something that caught my attention. He said you stole the name Kaz, what exactly did he mean but that." I knew this was probably taking it too far, but this is one thing I wanted to know about Black, it was worth the risk of getting my head bit off.

Black's face went from relaxed, to a rather tense look that made him look troubled, "K-Kaz… Kaz is my brother," Black quietly answered as he looked towards the ground.

"Oh, I've never heard you speak of your other brother before," I said as I continued to pry on his personal life.

"The conversation has just never come up, that's all, plus I don't like to talk about it," Black said in a sad voice. I could tell something about this topic was sensitive for him.

"Well, I'm sure your brother is an interesting pokemon," I said in an attempt to continue the conversation on his family life.

"Was a good pokemon," Black corrected me. Puzzle pieces began to connect in my head as I realized why this topic was always off limits.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I quickly replied, "I didn't mean to bring up something like that."

"No… not just him though, my entire family is dead. All but me and my brother Vincent," Black managed to get out.

"My family was killed two years ago, along with a lot of people in the area. It was a mass genocide of innocent pokemon. I am one of the few survivors of that night."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Thank to The pokemon Melody for editing!


	16. Parting

**Well new chapter finally. Sorry it took me a little longer than usual for updating but that is because i have been busy lately with school testing and playing some new games that came out recently. Anyways I will just let you all find out what this chapter is about. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: parting**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I couldn't believe I told Flare of all pokemon in this world about my secrets. It's not that I have anything against him, I just hardly knew him and I diffidently didn't trust him a lot yet. Flare was just sitting there looking shocked by the secret I had just revealed to him. I instantly regretted opening my mouth.

"Your whole family is dead" Flare said in a sad voice sounding really sympathetic towards me. Sadly for him I didn't want his sympathy at the moment.

"Yeah, I have no idea why I told you that though" I said confused by my own actions. Flare then had a look of confusion as he tried to understand what I meant.

"Flare I wouldn't get personally invested in my story. It's just now worth your time" I said with annoyance to how he was reacting to what I said.

"Why's that?" he said in his curious voice.

"Because regardless of whether you considering me a friend or not I'm not staying" I said, Flare just looked disappointed from my decision.

"Why can't you stay and come with us" He said now getting annoyed by my persistence of leaving.

"Because Flare I'm not going to be responsible for pokemon dying because of me. Plus I don't even know if I consider you a friend" My words were very cold and I knew that before I even said it. I didn't really consider Flare a friend but I didn't dislike him either so if Flare hating me would protect everyone then I'll let it be that way to save them. Flare just sat there looking extremely sad. I was now regretting my method of parting ways.

"Fine" He said in a sad but angry voice. I could see the depressed look in his eyes.

"Sorry Flare I know everyone on your team is good pokemon, excluding Gray of course but I can't risk all of your lives over my problems. It's not that I don't like you it's just that I really don't want friends right now and I'm afraid if I get friends and grow connections those around me will die and leave me hollow again. I don't know if I can stand losing everything again so it's best for me to have nothing at all." I really hope he would understand me now because I always hated long goodbyes especially since I decided to go with the asshole route and sever our connection once and for all.

Flare took a deep sigh and looked at me "Will you at least say goodbye to everyone" Flare asked me in a depressed voice. I didn't really see the harm in doing that since it would be in a safe area. The only problem is that he is making this goodbye very long for me and the longer this goodbye lasted the more I wanted to stay, I just wanted to get it over with fast and move on with my pitiful life.

"Yeah I guess I can do that" I said trying my hardest to sound nice. I guess I was now going to go with the good final impression route since being an asshole is no longer an option for me. We then began making our way towards the pokemon center where Kana was being kept along with everyone else.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

I was now recovered quite a bit and I could now freely move thanks to the pokecenter's medical technology. I was still mildly burned but thanks to some medicines the doctors where able to get the burns to go down, the best part is I wouldn't have scars. I was now waiting for Alex to check out of the pokecenter. Alex looked really depressed and I wouldn't blame him since he didn't know Flare and Gray found Black. I would tell him myself but there was sadly a language barrier between pokemon and humans, so that option was ruled out.

I watched him slowly fill out papers in a very mopey attitude which was a little sad to watch. At least he was in for a big surprise later today when Black finally decides to come back with Flare. I looked outside and I could see Gray pacing around looking pretty angry. I decided I would go see what was up with him so I walked towards the exit of the pokecenter and pushed the doors open with my body and walked towards him.

"You look like you are in a good mood this lovely afternoon" I said jokingly with a smile on my face.

"The hell you smiling at, didn't you just get hospitalized because of that Mew forsaken umbreon" He said in his usual grouchy mood.

"Yeah and I'm just happy everyone survived. It would be flat out wrong to hold it against him" I said in an attempt to justify my mood.

"So you are okay with him being with us knowing those pokemon will be back one of these days to finish the job" He said in a very serious voice.

"Well what would you recommend doing and please give me the nonracist version"

"I say we make him stay the hell away from all of us" Gray said. I took a second to think his idea over and I honestly would have to say I'd agree with him. If Black did stay with us we would all be in grave danger every moment of our lives.

I gave out a deep sigh and looked Gray in the eyes "You are right… If he does stay with us it would not be unrealistic to consider that we could all die in the near future" I said saddened that it had to be this way. Gray just let out a smirk and I felt sickened that I was feeding his racist tendencies what it wanted.

"Good, but he actually already left us for that reason though" Gray said in an awkward voice.

"Then why are you trying to get me to agree with you if he already left" I said annoyed that he would make me make a decision like that for no reason.

"No it's not like that Kana, Flare left to try and get him to come back. I'm talking to you because if he does convince that umbreon then we will have to be the ones to say no to him" Gray was right yet again. The sad part is I knew he was right for the wrong reasons. He mostly wanted to get rid of Black because he hated him and this was just his perfect chance. I just wish Gray at least had a decent reason for hating him.

"I don't know why Flare always has to try and do the right thing and act like nothing bad can ever happen" Gray said in a very agitated voice.

"Because that's just how he is. Flare would do anything to help anyone. I'm not surprised at all by this" I said in an attempt to justify Flares actions. Then off in the distance we could see Flare and Black walking towards us. My heart rate increased a bit at the incoming discussion we were about to have with Black.

"I thought I told you to get lost!" Gray yelled in a vicious growl towards Black.

Black looked unfazed by the comment and wore a look of depression. "I am leaving, but Flare wanted me to say goodbye to everybody that's all" He said in a depressed voice that made me feel bad for him.

Black then looked at me "Kana I'm sorry for what happened to you. I never wanted anyone to get hurt and I'm sorry that I put you in that situation. There is no reason you should have taken the heat of my action's… I didn't mean it like that I promise" Black said in an embarrassed voice. Black now looked really embarrassed, I just simply laughed at the accidental pun he made.

"It's fine Black I'm mostly recovered now so no real harm done" I said in a kind voice trying to make him feel better about his guilt.

Black then looked Gray dead in the eye's his crimson eyes lit up with a determined look. "Gray" Black said as if he was about to try and say goodbye to him "You're an ass and you need mental help" Black said in a really snide voice that was obviously supposed to upset Gray. Gray just gave him a really nasty look and turned his head away from him refusing to make eye contact with him. Then Alex came running out of the building anxiously.

"Black" Alex yelled loud enough for the whole city to hear. Alex then picked him up and gave him a big hug. Black looked very… disturbed by Alex's actions. Alex then set Black down who looked very disturbed from the big hug he received.

"Please for the love of Mew never do that again or I will make you experience true pain" Black said in an intimidating voice. Alex now looked happy again and it made me a little sad that Black had to leave us.

"Black do you know how worried I was, I was out all night in the rain looking for you, all night" He said with an exaggerated voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Black said in an annoyed voice while rolling his eyes.

"Well I guess this is goodbye for now" Black said. Alex was now lecturing Flare about wondering off as well so Black took his chance and began departing from us while Alex was distracted.

"Hey Black where do you think you are going!" Alex yelled in an angry voice as he hit Black in the back of the head with a pokeball.

"Mother fu…" was all we heard Black say before he was sucked into the pokeball. Everyone but Alex sat there with our jaws dropped from Alex ruining our parting with Black. I couldn't believe that happened and now Alex was holding a pokemon that was being hunted down by vicious killers and he didn't even know it.

"Did that really just happen" Flare said in denial of what he just witnessed.

"I believe that did just did happen" I said in just as much confusion as him.

"Alright what you all say we head home and pack up for our trip. We are already behind schedule because of this dilemma" Alex said with a big smile on his face. We all just followed his lead back to his dad's condo.

By the time we finally arrived at the condo it was around noon. We were waiting outside the front door waiting for Alex to open it so he and his team could prepare to leave for the second gym. I on the other hand would be crammed up in a small condo all day bored out of my mind. Alex opened the door and we walked into the messy condo.

Alex didn't waste even a split second and instantly began packing equipment to get back to his journey. Gray and Flare where just watching him frantically pack up, while I just lied on the couch bored out of my mind already.

"Alex!" I heard Mr Hayter yell from his bedroom. I was honestly surprised that he was even home at this hour. He mostly worked until very late at night and came home exhausted. Alex put what he was doing on hold and walked towards his dad's room. Mr Hayter then walked out of the room looking extremely tired. I could see bags growing under his eyes from the lack of sleep he has been getting lately.

"Yeah dad" Alex asked Mr Hayter curious on what he wanted from him.

"Are you leaving today as planned or are you going to wait a day after all that trouble you went through looking for your pokemon and did you even find him?" Mr hayter said in an exhausted voice.

"Yes Dad I'm leaving today and yeah I found my pokemon thankfully" Alex said. I was happy to see they were not still arguing after that heated conversation they had last night in the pokecenter.

"That's good to here I guess" Mr Hayter said followed by a yawn. "Anyways I'm leaving on a business trip and I will be gone for a few months"

"You are, where to?" Alex said.

"Due to protocol I am not allowed to tell you sorry" Mr Hayter said in a lazy voice. Then I remembered what the quilava told me in the pokecenter. I now began wondering what kind of work Mr Hayter did and why the quilava actually knew who he was in the first place. I quickly snapped myself out of those thoughts and tried to act like I never heard those words in the first place.

"Anyways Alex the reason I am actually home is because I needed to ask you a small favor" Mr Hayter's voice was now very stern towards Alex.

"What do you need from me?"

"I'm going to be gone a while and I'm not allowed to bring Kana so I need you to take her with you." I couldn't believe what he was saying. I couldn't believe I was finally going to get out of this cramped up condo and actually get to enjoy the real world. I could now feel excitement flowing through my body.

"Well sure I can take her but didn't you just yell at me for being responsible for her getting hurt" Alex said in a slightly confused voice.

"Yeah and you did screw up their big time. But I know you're a smart kid and I know you learn from your mistakes so I am going to trust you not to get her killed or something along those lines"

"Sure I'd love to take her with" Alex said with a big smile on his face.

Flare then walked over towards me with a smile on his face. "I guess you are joining up with us now huh" He said in a cheerful voice.

"Yeah I know I can't wait to go now" I said in an excited voice. I didn't really know what to expect outside Luminose city but I was highly anticipating quite an adventurous journey.

"Alex" Mr Hayter said with a serious voice "I don't care if you train her for gym battle and honestly I don't think it would be bad for her to learn so she knows how to defend herself properly, but you can't injure her or push her to hard. Just remember she isn't used to that kind of life so be sure to go easy on her" Mr Hayter said in serious voice.

I now felt a little nervous since Alex would be training me to fight. Other than the fight with that charmander I have never been in a fight before once in my life, for a matter of fact when I was fighting the charmander I was mostly just dodging and keeping as much distance between us as possible, I didn't even hit him once. So the thought of learning to fight was a little scary and made me feel a little sick.

"I will try my best to not put her in any form of danger, I promise" Alex said in a confident voice.

Mr Hayter just looked at him as if he was annoying him "Do don't try Alex" He said in a serious voice.

"I will" Alex said in an annoyed voice while rolling his eyes.

"Well good luck Alex and I will see you as soon as I am done on my trip hopefully." Mr Hayter said with a hardly visible smile on his face. "Good bye to you to Kana" He waved towards me as he walked out the door and began on his business trip.

Alex then began packing for our journey. He was throwing a huge variety of stuff into his backpack. I was actually kind of curious on how he was going to carry all of that stuff, but I knew he would manage. I sat on the couch for the next thirty minutes impatiently waiting for him to finally finish up. Then I finally heard him zip up his book bag and I looked over at him and saw him slinging it on his back.

"Alright are you guys ready to head out and conquer the second gym!" Alex said excitedly. Me and Flare excitedly ran towards him and Gray just sluggishly walked over not even caring about our journey.

Flare gave Gray a strange look and said "Aren't you a little excited to finally leave and get going to the second gym" Flare asked Gray.

"Yeah I am totally thrilled" He said in a very sarcastic voice. Flare just shrugged off his negative attitude and shifted his glance towards me.

"Are you excited to begin a new life" Flare asked me.

The way he said new life sounded like a strange way to put it but it was a new beginning for me in a sense of speaking. "Yes, but I am also very nervous because I don't know what to expect" I said in a nervous voice.

Flare looked at me for a second and just smiled at me. "Don't worry there is nothing to worry about. With a team like this no one can stop us" Flare said in a confident voice.

"That's not what happened last night" Gray said in a very snide voice.

"Yeah well they fought dirty and we weren't exactly all fighting together" Flare retorted. Gray just rolled his eyes at Flare.

"Alright let's head out guys" Alex said as he opened the door and began walking outside. He waited for us all to get outside before he shut the door and locked up his dad's condo.

"I bet ten bucks that this condo will be broken into within a month without anyone watching it" Flare said jokingly. I chuckled a little at the joke because it was probably true.

I was now beginning my epic journey and I could hardly wait to see what will come later down the road. I just hoped to Mew that those pokemon from before wouldn't come after us any time soon.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Anyways how do you think Kana will do now that she is on Alex's team. Do you think she will be any good at fighting. Also do you think once Black is out of the pokeball he will try and leave again. All will be revealed one of these days!


	17. Hollow

**Well here is chapter 17. This chapter has some good info in it and will help set up for the next segment of the story. Don't forget to review if you are enjoying the story it really helps out. Also if I am doing anything wrong with grammar or maybe something doesn't seem right in the story please tell me so I know to improve it. Thanks and enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Hollow**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

We were now finally leaving the ever so crappy Luminose city and setting out for the second gym. I was not excited in the least bit about leaving. I would honestly rather just do something more academic with my time then traveling across Kalos challenging morons who sit in a gym all day. Regardless I was stuck with my team for now and I'd just have to put up with it for now.

We were now on route five and heading towards Cyllage city. The only good thing about that city is that it will have a beach. I'm assuming it will be relaxing spot to nap all day assuming that it's not over populated with obnoxious children or Alex isn't trying to force me to do some redundant training exercises all day.

Luminose city was now just leaving our eye sight and we were heading down a dirt path on route five. Nothing really to say about the area around us other than that there is grass everywhere and the sun is blazing hot today and there is not a single sign of shade in site. The grass outside of the path we were on was over grown quite a bit. I knew deep down that that asshole umbreon was lucky because he was in his pokeball and at least it was a decent temperature inside those things and on top of that he doesn't even have to walk.

For some odd reason everyone was just talking and enjoying the supposedly good weather. Everyone was in a good mood and I was just flat out annoyed. They were oblivious to the fact that we were carrying a pokemon that was highly wanted by dangerous pokemon and they would kill us without a second thought to get to him. I didn't really care about the umbreon, but I was curious why he was wanted by them so bad. My thought's where then interrupted by Flare laughing at something Kana said. I was really wishing they would at least let me have some peace and quiet. I could feel my anger slowly emerging then I realized something. If I just wanted to know about that umbreon I could just ask Flare since them two are best friends or something stupid like that.

"Hey Flare" I said interrupting his conversation with Kana. He shifted his glance back at me in surprise that I was even bothering to talk to him.

"What's up Gray?" Flare said in a cheerful voice.

"You and that umbreon are friends right" I asked trying my hardest to not sound like I cared about the umbreon remotely. Last thing I wanted was for Flare thinking there was a chance of us becoming friends.

"Kind of, I'm not really sure to be honest. He is weird about that stuff" Flare said sounding a little confused on his own answer.

"The hell do you mean you are not sure" I said annoyed by his idiotic answer.

"No it's complicated honestly. Like I can't even explain his method of thinking" Flare said in a confused tone of voice.

"Gahhh forget it. What I'm trying to really ask you is why the hell those psychopaths were trying to capture him and kill all of us."

"Is that a sign of you caring about him Gray" Kana said jokingly. I just looked at her with my death glare "Do you think that is a joke Kana" I said in an angry voice trying to get my point across to her. Her and Flare both looked at each other and attempted to hold in their laughs. Sadly for them they couldn't hold in there laughing and they officially pissed me off.

"You think this a joke you two. I'll kill him once he is out of that pokeball to prove a point!" I yelled with my entire wrath. Everybody stopped walking and stared at me. Even Alex stopped and looked at me in surprise to my outburst.

"Gray can't you just have fun for once in your life" Flare said trying to change my perception on their humor. Sadly for them I was in no mood for games right now and I really wanted to get back at him for annoying me.

"You know what this is my fault" I said. Flare and Kana both looked shocked that I was apologizing.

"My fault for trying to have a conversation with you morons" I said in a pissy tone. Their faces went from shocked to frowns of disappointment. Flare just sighed and Kana nodded her head at me in disapproval. I really don't know why I was the only sane pokemon here. After things calmed down a bit we all began walking again and Flare and Kana picked back up on their previous conversation. I followed a few steps behind them to avoid having to talk to them for the rest of the walk if possible.

I felt so disconnected from this world. I always felt like I had a different method of thinking than others. I'm not saying I'm special or anything but that's just how I felt. Someone would see something and I would see something completely different than them. I know by now though that the only logical answer to my problem is that everyone in this world is a bunch of complete morons and I am one of the few sane organism's left alive on this planet.

The sun was now taking its toll on me and I could slowly feel my brain frying under the scorching heat. Sadly absol's are known for having heavy coats of fur. So imagine wearing your winter jacket on a hot summer day. On top of the scorching heat I was now getting hungry and my feat where soar from the repetitive walking we have been doing. It was probably now past lunch and I haven't even eaten since breakfast.

"Guys what do you say we stop and take a break for lunch" Alex said finally deciding to show me some mercy. Everybody nodded in agreement. I lied down right where I was while Alex took off his bag and began getting out some food for everyone. Flare and Kana where just talking about dumb stuff that wasn't even noteworthy. Alex finally managed to get out some fruits and pokepuffs for us and he had a sandwich which he had prepped back at the condo for himself. He distributed enough food to keep us going until our next meal. The food was mediocre, I've had much better food before but something is better than nothing sometimes, even if it was complete shit.

After I was done eating I decided that I was going to try and pick up my conversation from earlier with Flare and pray to Celebi that he would actually take me seriously this time.

"Flare I need to know something important" I said with a serious voice. I tried my best to make it sound like I was in no mood for his jokes.

"Yeah" Flare said with his head tilted to the side a little.

"Why where those pokemon after that umbreon, I want to know and no crap this time" I said with a serious voice.

He paused for a second trying to figure out an answer "You probably know more than me. You knocked me out after all. All I know is that they wanted to abduct him. That's all I know" He said finally deciding to take me seriously. He did have a point though I did technically take their side for a few minutes in an attempt to get that umbreon the hell away from us.

"I just wanted to hear what you knew that's all" I said as I lost interest in our conversation. I then lied down and tried falling asleep before we got moving again.

Then Kana and Flare started talking again. "Who were those pokemon anyways" Kana asked.

"I'm not sure but one of them was…" Flare for some reason choose not to finish his sentence.

"Who" Kana asked curiously.

"Don't mention this in front of Black no matter what but one of the pokemon was actually a family member of his. Vincent I believe was his name. When me and Black where talking earlier today he mentioned him being his brother I think" Flare said. I was actually a little surprised that the espeon from earlier was that umbreon's brother. All the more reason to hate him I guess. I continued to eavesdrop on the conversation while pretending to be asleep.

There was a brief silence between the two now. "Wow…" Kana said in surprise. "Why would he be trying to kidnap his own brother" She said completely baffled by the shocking news.

"I have no clue. I tried talking to him about it but he started becoming really emotional as we got deeper into the conversation so I decided to not pry too much" Flare said with a guilty voice.

"Well what else did he tell you before you two stopped talking" Kana said trying to learn more.

There was a pause and Flare didn't respond for a few seconds. "I can't talk about that. Black really does not want anyone knowing about his personal business and I can kind of understand why." Flare said trying to end the conversation on Black.

"Why doesn't he want anyone knowing?" Kana asked.

"Kana I can't tell you. It's not my place to tell you. I'll tell you this though it's a depressing conversation for him and he just wants to try and forget about things because he is mentally wounded" Flare said in an attempt to stop her from asking. I honestly doubted that the crybaby umbreon had anything real to cry about. He probably ran away from his family crying because life wasn't going his way. That's just how umbreon's are, selfish pricks that destroy lives.

* * *

**Point of View Charmander**

Well lucky me I lost complete track of that umbreon and I have no clue where to even look for him. Now I was officially screwed and that houndour may as well have killed me last night. I was aimlessly wondering the city streets trying to locate the damn umbreon.

After thirty or so minutes of wondering the streets I gave up for now and sat next to a wall and leaned against it. I then began pondering where he could be at the moment. I knew he was an umbreon with blue rings and he also had three names he goes by. Ryder, Kaz and Black I also knew he was traveling with a pokemon trainer. Then a theory clicked in my head. I was in no way an expert on trainers but I knew that his team was not that skilled at fighting. So the logical answer is that they are a newer team. So the next question is whether they beat the first gym or not. This meant I had two logical paths to follow to find them. I could go towards the second gym or go towards the first gym.

I had no idea which one they were on. I doubted they were past the fourth gym due to their team size and their fighting skills.

"I'm going to need to do more research on this" I muttered to myself. I then decided my next best move would be to head towards the pokecenter and see if there was anyone who remembered them. I then began walking towards the pokecenter that the jolteon I injured was in. I really hoped she wasn't injured too seriously. I never did like hurting anyone but I guess that didn't matter since I was about to destroy a pokemons life for my own selfish reasons. Or was it selfish? It was to save someone close to me so will my actions be justified? I decided it was best not to think of that and just deal with things as they come by.

After an hour of nonstop walking I finally reached the pokecenter that the jolteon was in. I entered the pokecenter and observed everyone in their looking for a somewhat familiar face. I looked at everyone who was waiting on the benches. There wasn't even any pokemon with the people waiting, Just my luck right? Then I noticed an azumarill that was wearing a nurse hat. That meant that she worked hear and may be of some help to me. I walked towards the azumarill really quickly to interrogate her.

"Excuse me mam can you help me out really quick" I asked trying to be polite as possible.

"Sure I guess I can" Her voice indicated that she was a female azumarill.

"Great, I had a friend who was here last night but I have no clue where she went maybe you could tell me where she went" I asked while forcing a smile on my face.

"Ummm you are going to have to help me out sweety I need to know more info than that" she said in an attempt to be as formal as possible. I then realized from the tone of her voice that she didn't really care about helping me.

"She was a jolteon and she was in here last night for a severe burn injury" I said. I still forced a smile since I didn't really want to make the azumarill any less motivated to do her job.

She let out a big sigh of annoyance "I need a name sweety" She said in an annoyed voice.

I then panicked. I had no clue what her name was and it was unlikely that I would guess it right. Then a memory of that fennekin accusing the umbreon of her death popped into my head, he said her name then.

"Kana" I said with a grin on my face that I was able to think on my feet that fast.

She just looked like I was destroying her day and her attitude was now beginning to make me feel uncomfortable. She let out a sigh and then began walking towards the front desk. She had quite an attitude and she will be lucky if I don't snap on her.

"Hey where are you going" I shouted at her.

"Sweety I'm just looking her up on the computer, calm down and take a seat I will be with you in a moment." I was really getting sick of hear calling me sweety and I was fed up with her lazy attitude. I literally waited thirty minutes until I lost my patience and decided to question her for what was taking so long. I walked up to the desk where she was using the computer.

"Hey how long is this going to take it's been thirty minutes for Mew's sake" I said with some anger in my voice.

"Oh I lost track of what I was doing" She said while not even bothering to make eye contact with me. I looked over the desk and she was just sitting there watching a video's on the internet.

"Mam please, this is extremely important okay. I really need you to help me please" I said trying to get her off her ass and do something.

She then exited out of her internet page and opened up a list of recent patients in the pokecenter.

"What was his name again sweet" She said in a lazy voice. I was now realizing that this staff member was absolutely useless and couldn't even remember basic things that I told her.

"Her name is Kana" I said in an annoyed voice. She then typed a few things into the computer in a annoyed fashion.

"Yeah sweety she checked out earlier today" She said in a lazy voice.

"I know that I just wanted to know some basic things. Can you please help me please can you do that for like two minutes?" I said in an annoyed voice.

She sighed "What do you need to know" She said.

"Who is her trainer, he should have been the one who checked her out of the pokecenter" I said trying to sound polite again.

"It says here that the person who checked her out was Alex Hayter or something like that"

"Okay now can you please look him up and see his pokemon training career online." Luckily the gym leaders did keep track of that stuff on the internet, so if this lazy ass nurse will help me I may be able to find her and if I find her then I find the umbreon. The azumarill then began typing in some stuff onto the computer.

"His career in pokemon training is one pokemon badge from the bug gym" She said lazily. Then it finally clicked in my head. I finally got this damn azumarill to help me and I finally learned what I needed to know to follow their trail, although this azumarill really tested my patience and ruined my day even more than before.

"Thanks." I said politely. "Oh and by the way you need to get off your ass and burn off some fat fatty" I said as I began walking quickly towards the exit. She wasn't really fat but I decided to at least piss her off a little for her lack of services because she was absolutely useless.

"Are you calling me fat" She yelled at the top of her lungs across the pokecenter. The room fell silent and everyone stared at her awkwardly from her outburst.

"Oh shit" I whispered to myself as I began sprinting at full speed out of the pokecenter at full speed not even daring to look back. Luckily for me she was all talk and she was nowhere in sight.

Now I knew where to go. I was going to go to the second gym and hope to catch that umbreon there. The only hard part was going to be getting their groups trust after what I did to them. Luckily I did have a plan on how things were going to go, and sadly for them my plan's rarely fail when I am the one in control of it.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I was finally released from the Mew forsaken pokeball prison and let back out into the real world. Now I was pissed at this point. I have been stuck in that thing all day without food or water and on top of that I planned on leaving this group by now so our goodbye was completely ruined by Alex. I was now standing on a dirt trail in middle of a grass plain. The sun was now setting and soon the night would be here. I then noticed everyone staring at me. I then felt anger fill up my body, anger from Alex trapping me and now I would have to say goodbye once again.

"The hell is your problem asshole. Do you know what it is like being trapped in their all day with no food or water" I yelled at Alex even though he couldn't even understand me.

He obviously sensed my anger towards him. "Sorry Black I kind of forgot about you while you were in their" Alex said sympathetically. My anger reached new limits from how stupid he was. "Well Black it was also partially punishment for you wondering off on your own all night and worrying the heck out of me. I thought you were dead. Just don't wonder off like that and I won't have to put you in timeout again" Alex said in a strict voice.

"Time out! Do I look like a little kid to you" I said in an even more pissed off voice. Alex just looked a little confused at why I was still angry, probably didn't help that he couldn't understand me.

"Ah to hell with you" I said in an annoyed voice. Everyone just awkwardly stared at me the whole time. I just sat there waiting for my chance to leave. Alex was now building a fire for the night but I decided I was going to wait until he was asleep to ditch my team. I then saw Flare approaching me out of the corner of my eye.

"I thought you were leaving." Flare asked.

"I am leaving once Alex is asleep so he can't stop me again. After that I will be no one's problem and you will all be safe from my problems."

"Where are you going to go" Flare asked me in a saddened voice. It did make me feel bad that it had to be this way. I was just more surprised that I was still with them. I expected to be gone around morning not night.

"I don't really have a plan on where I am going but don't worry about it" I said.

"Will I ever see you again" Flare asked me.

"No this is goodbye forever Flare. I don't know what will become of me after tonight but I doubt it will end happily for me" I said. I didn't want to worry him but I wasn't going to lie to him either.

"Then why not stay" Flare asked again.

"Flare that's enough" I said with a serious voice. Flare sat there with a saddened look on his face.

I didn't speak to anyone for the next few hours. I just sat in my spot patiently waiting for Alex to drift off into sleep. Off in the distance I could see Gray giving me a death glare with his eyes although I didn't really care.

The moon was now out and the blue rings on my body glowed with light. Even though the moon always put me in a good mood it just wasn't pulling me out of my crappy mood this time. This is what I meant when I said getting friends would only hurt me. Now I remember what it's like to have friends and now I am losing them forever.

Finally Alex passed out in his sleeping bag and he was dead asleep and it was finally time for me to leave. I got up and stretched and began walking down the path. I headed the same way we were already traveling down but I knew I was going to be way ahead of them and I wasn't going to stop for the second gym and on top of that I'm sure he would spend awhile trying to find me. I slowly left the light of our campfire and went into the black abyss of the night.

"Goodbye" I heard Flare say from behind me with a depressed voice. I looked back to see him looking at me with dilated eyes. I was surprised that he was actually close to crying because of me.

"Goodbye Flare and take care of yourself" I said as I kept walking away. I was now in the dark abyss of the night. I felt a new kind of loneliness. Everything was so quiet and dark and I felt alone. I was use to this though so why does it feel so different now. I continued to walk unsure of where I was going. I felt so hollow inside and I had nothing again.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well now Black has separated from the group he was in and now he is alone again. How do you guys think things will go now. Will Black go back to his group and even if he did would they let him back in. Also the Charmander does have a name I just haven't gotten around to finding a good spot to reveal his name, so don't worry his name will be revealed soon. Also do you think the Charmander will find Black especially since he left his team. Well some interesting things will be going down soon that will have to do with emotions and some interesting stuff with the main plot. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and as always thanks for reading.


	18. Desolated

**Chapter 18: Desolated**

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

It was now dawn and Alex was freaking out because Black was now missing again. Sadly for Alex he would not find Black this time and he will never know the true reason he left us. There was a lite sprinkle of rain coming from the gloomy clouds in the sky and the rain cooled down the overall temperature around us. I looked off into the distance and noticed Flare sitting in the grass looking devastated from losing his friend. I decided to walk towards him and see if I could cheer him up a little.

"Hey how are you holding up" I asked in a calm yet cheerful voice.

"Wonderful" Flare said bluntly. Obviously he was being sarcastic with me, which is actually strange for him since he never uses sarcasm.

"I know it sucks that he couldn't stay with us. I really wish things could of worked out for him and besides we may run into one of these day's and things may have cleared up for him and maybe he can join back up with us" I said trying to cheer up Flare.

"Were not going to see him again Kana" Flare said.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because he promised me that we would never see each other again and I think he knows how things are going to go for him" Flare said in a depressed voice.

"You don't know that. He will be fine I'm sure he will find a way to fix his problems, I'm sure of it" I said even though deep down inside I knew that Black would probably be dead by the end of the month. Flare just sat there not even looking at me as the rain slowly drizzled onto his face and drenched him in the cold substance.

"The weather today sure does feel right" Flare mumbled to himself.

**Point of View Black**

I slowly awoke in an alley. The first thing I noticed was that I was drenched in water and I was freezing from it. I looked up and quickly noticed that it was raining and the sky was very gloomy and that the weather would probably be like this all day. I got up onto my feet and stretched my body out a bit and cracked my back a little in the progress. I quickly noticed my neck was a little sore from the awkward position I was sleeping in. I then shook off the water that drenched my black fur and headed out of the alley.

Once I exited the alley I quickly remembered where I was. I was in some small country town outside of Luminose city that goes by the name of Camphrier, most of the building where small little houses that looked a little worn down but they didn't look to horrible, most of them where made of gray bricks. As much as I loved being in small towns with a bunch of humans, I decided it was time for me to start heading out.

I then began following the main route that led outside of the town. Along the main route was a descent sized lake that followed the route as far as the eye could see. I was now outside the town and I was alone once again. After a few minutes of walking I stopped and decided to get a drink of water out of the lake. I walked over towards it observed it carefully to make sure it was a safe source of drinking water. It looked almost crystal clear so I should be safe, at least it wouldn't be the worst water I've drank in my life. I took a couple big gulps of the water until I felt fairly hydrated. I then looked out into the distance and observed the scenery of the lake, I could easily see the other side and it had a big tree line following the river as far as I could see. The rain was drizzling atop the lake and causing small wakes across the whole lake.

I then looked down and observed my reflection. All I really noticed was my crimson eyes or as many would say my bloody red eyes. I really hated it when people related the color of my eyes to blood, the main reason being that I slightly had hemophobia, which is a fear of blood. I wasn't scared of a little blood I was only afraid when there was a lot of blood. The weird thing is that I fell normal around my own blood, which tends to make my fear of blood a little odd in my opinion. I do try my hardest to make sure no one knows I actually have this fear because I don't want to show any signs of weakness in front of anyone.

I then decided it was time to stop gazing upon my reflection and get a move on and make some good distance between me and my old team. I continued walking along the route as I reflected on the past few days I've spent with my team and how I was actually dumb enough to believe I could live a happy life even for a little bit.

"You should really stop beating yourself up" I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. I then quickly turned around to see a familiar male jolteon standing behind me.

"You" I said in surprise to what I was seeing.

"What aren't you happy to see me" he said sounding a little disappointed in my response of seeing him.

"No" I said in an annoyed voice.

"And why's that?"

"Because me seeing you is proof that I am insane and I need mental help" I said in a pissy voice. I did want someone to talk to but I wasn't so desperate that I was going to talk to a hallucination of my dead brother.

"Well you are rude as ever" he said sounding offended by my comments. I just simply kept walking along the path trying to ignore him. He quickly caught up to me and walked alongside me keeping an equal pace to mine even when I purposely sped up.

"So you are going to ignore me" the jolteon said in an annoyed voice.

"Uh huh"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not good enough for you to talk too" He said in a fake sad voice.

"Oh Mew just save it and at least let me pretend I am at least a little sane" I said finally losing my patience with the hallucination.

"Just because you lost all of your friend's doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. I'm just here to cheer you up a little on this gloomy day"

"Shut up before I drawn myself in that lake" I said. He just nervously laughed at what he probably assumed to be a joke. There was an awkward silence between us for the next few minutes and all I could think of was how much he was pissing me off just by being near me.

"So what's your plan now? Just wonder the world until the end of time" He asked.

"Yeah until the end of fucking time buddy now go away" I said trying to get him to realize he was unwanted here.

"Well I think you can do better than that. I remember you use to be so creative when we were younger and now you say that's your great plan" He said belittling my method of thinking.

"Yeah if you don't like it then go away" I said with a growl in my voice.

"If you follow that plan you are just going to be reduced to nothing but a shell of your former self and eventually get yourself killed or captured by those pokemon Ryder."

"Yeah well I'm already dead and second off my name is no longer Ryder" I said annoyed with him trying to act like he knew everything.

"Well Kaz isn't your name either its mine and yet you used it for quite some time as your own name and now you go by Black don't you? But you are probably going to change your name again aren't you, what name are you going to choose next to start your new life again" he said in a slightly angered voice.

"I don't know and I don't care."

"Ryder do you even know why you stole my name" he asked me in a voice that indicated he already knew the answer.

"I don't know I guess I just liked it and I needed a new name to hide my identity from Vincent." I said in an annoyed voice.

"I think you stole it to hide your identity and you stole my name out of guilt" He said.

"Shut the hell up" I snarled in a vicious voice that made the jolteon go quiet.

"Stop talking like you fucking know me okay. You are some warped form of my conscience so leave me the hell alone and stop haunting me" I shouted. My dead brother still sat there in silence.

"If I am your conscience then obviously I know you because that would make me a part of you. And I am very much alive in your memories. So maybe it would be best for you if you stop trying to forget everything and accept everything that's happened and move on with your life" The jolteon said.

"How the hell am I supposed to move on if I constantly have some screwed up group of pokemon which includes my brother constantly trying to capture me and do Mew knows what to me" I was now very annoyed with his method of thinking and I could not fathom how my conscience is so annoying and oblivious to my own problems.

"Just leave" I muttered. I had my head turned away from him and I was refusing to make eye contact with that damn hallucination.

"You know you should really hear me out more often I actually know a thing or two on how to help you out, but if that's how you want to be then so be it" I heard him say in a disappointed voice. I then turned to look at him and he was now finally gone. I looked around everywhere to make sure he wasn't just hiding or something odd like that.

"Finally" I said to myself followed by a sigh of relief. I really wish I would stop having hallucinations of my dead brother it was rather… annoying.

I continued walking along the route while being soaked by the rain and hoped that I would come across some shelter from the rain soon.

**Point of View Flare**

Alex was still anxiously looking for Black while everyone else pretended to look for him even though we all knew we weren't going to find him.

"Black" Alex yelled as loud as he could. It was obvious he was nowhere and I could tell Alex was now beginning to accept that. After all there is only so many places a black umbreon with blue rings can hide in a big open plain of grass.

"He's gone" I heard Alex say in a devastated voice. I could tell he was heartbroken about this ordeal and I was as well. No one besides Gray really wanted Black to leave. Alex just sat there in the rain in silence looking down at the ground.

"This must really be hard on him" I heard Kana say from behind me. I turned around and saw her standing right next to me just as soaked from the rain as I was. Despite the fact that jolteon's kind of have spiky fur patterns her fur was now even spikeier from the rain and it would have been hysterical if I wasn't in such a bad mood.

"Yeah I know he won't even ever know why he truly left us" I said to Kana.

"I'm just glad we are no longer in danger because of that freak" Gray said from off in the distance as he walked towards us.

"Gray just stop it" Kana said in a serious voice.

"Why it's true. We are now safe and he will no longer plague us with misfortune and we may be able to live decent lives without him destroying our lives" Gray said with a grin on his face.

"Gray I swear to all the legendaries if you don't stop…" Then Gray interrupted Kana "You will do what hurt me, Kana you couldn't even defend yourself against a weak little charmander and on top of that you got hospitalized by one hit from a fire ball. So stop talking like you are threatening and learn your place house pet" Gray said with a cold voice. I was now shocked by how he was treating Kana. Kana looked very defeated by that insult and I was not going to let him just treat everyone like crap.

"What is your problem Gray? Now that Black is gone you have to find a new victim to treat like crap. I'm telling you now this is going to stop and you are going to treat your teammates with respect" I said in serious voice trying to talk some sense into him.

"What you think I need to bully people to get by? I just don't want her talking out of line that's all and why the hell is she defending that umbreon in the first place. She agreed with me that we needed to get rid of him." Gray said.

"That's not true is it Kana" I looked at her face and from her expression I could tell Gray was not lying. I couldn't believe that Kana also agreed on getting rid of him and I now felt kind of betrayed by one of my closest friends because she didn't even talk to me about that once.

"Kana why" I asked in a saddened voice.

She just looked at me with a very sad gaze "Flare I have nothing against Black but if he stayed with us we could all end up dead and he even knew that" She said.

"But Black was one of us" I retorted.

"He is not one of us Flare. What kind of teammate gets his team killed, he left us so he could go die in some crap hole like he deserves" Gray said with a spiteful voice. Then Kana tackled gray as hard as she could and sent him to the ground and covered him in mud.

"The hell Kana" Gray shouted. Then Gray stood up as tall as he could and his shadow overlapped Kana as he looked down at her as if he was about to kill her. Kana looked up at him in fear and shrunk down in size.

"You are going to regret that" Gray said with a spiteful voice.

"What Gray you going to do what you did to Black to her now" I shouted in anger at Gray as I got ready to defend Kana.

"What's going on over there" Alex shouted towards us as he observed the imminent fight about to occur.

Gray then rolled his eyes at us and began walking away. "Do that again Kana and I'll put you back in the pokecenter" he said as he stomped away. Kana just stood there in shock that Gray almost attacked her.

"Why did you do that" I asked Kana. I was concerned for her but that was a really dumb move on her half.

"Because I just couldn't stand listening to him talk like that. I did agree on getting rid of Black for our safety but I knew Gray just wanted to get rid of him for the wrong reasons" Kana said with a trembling voice.

"Well just be thankful that Alex noticed the fight and stopped it because I don't know if I would have been able to protect you from him." Kana just stood there shaken up from almost getting hurt for a few minutes before she spoke another word.

"Flare" Kana asked finally breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah" I replied.

"You mentioned that Gray did something to Black. What did he do to him" She asked curiously.

"Well you may have noticed the snake like scar on Black's chest."

"Gray did that! Why would he do something like that" Kana said in a scared voice upon realizing what I was getting at.

"Because Gray was being racist towards Black and he retaliated physically and Gray didn't respond to well to that. Kind of like what you did back there a few minutes ago."

"I always wondered how he got that scar but I never would have guessed he got it from him" Kana said in a shocked voice.

"Yeah Gray needs some serious help and he is probably more dangerous having around then those psychopaths after Black" I said.

"Well Gray will get what he has coming one day I can promise that" Kana said with a small smile on her face.

We then both started walking towards Alex so we could go back to pretending to help find Black. Off in the distance the sun was finally starting to shine through the rainy clouds and finally shined some light on our crappy day.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **I would like to state an apology on this chapter. I accidentally said Black had a homophobia when I meant to say Hemophobia... Huge huge huge type and I'm sorry if I offended anyone who read this chapter in the past. That's a rather embarrassing type.


	19. Hesh

Well here is the next chapter. I don't really have a lot to say on the chapter other than that it just has some good character building and that it will introduce a new character. whether that character is important or not I won't tell you because I like tormenting people like that, just kidding. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far and thanks to those who tell me everything that needs improvements on the story I really do appreciate it and it does help out a lot. Anyways enjoy the chapter.

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**Chapter 19: Hesh**

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**Point of View Black **

The rain was finally stopping and now I could possible dry off. The sun's rays shined down and slowly warmed up my cold body. The sun's rays brought the world around me back to life. I continued walking down the route I have been following all day. It was now late afternoon and I knew I was bound to find civilization soon enough.

After about another hour of walking down a muddy path I couldn't help but notice the giant mountain blocking the routes main path. I observed the mountain more closely and noticed that the path I've been following went straight through the mountain. It was kind of a neat design I thought. The path also went around the mountain as well. The mountain had very little vegetation compared to the area around me and it was mostly just rocks on the mountain. I followed the path and came up to the entrance of the mountain. It was pitch black in the mountain and I didn't like the look of it. Next to the entrance of the cave was a flashy yellow sign with one of those weird human symbols on it. The symbol looked like a dot with a line on top of it. Sadly I was illiterate and I couldn't read it so I just didn't pay any attention to it.

I cautiously entered the cave and made my way through the dark abyss ahead of me. I may have been use to dark areas since I was a nocturnal pokemon, but this was dark even for me. I concentrated a little bit and made the blue rings on my body emit their natural blue light. I usually didn't use the rings on my body unless it was an emergency or I was exposed to the moons lunar lights, but this was an exception. There is no way in hell I was going to walk around this mountain. I slowly walked through the cave watching every step carefully. The blue rings on my body made the cave faintly glow blue around me and made it much easier to see. Everything in this cave was dead silent except for the occasional sound of water falling of the ceiling of the cave and hitting the ground here and there.

I then heard a creepy laugh from above me. I looked up but I saw nothing but darkness. "Look at what I found" a scratchy deep voice said from above me. I got into a defensive position and prepared myself for an imminent attack.

"Whoever is there show yourself or shut your mouth up" I said in an intimidating voice. I just heard chuckling coming from every direction around me and that's when I realized I might be in trouble. The laughing continued on and got louder and louder and more obnoxious with every second that passed by. I then began to feel nervous since I didn't know what I was up against.

"Behind you" I heard a faint scratchy voice whisper into my ear. I quickly turned around but there was nothing there. I gave a small sigh of relief and then looked towards where the exit was.

"Grahhhhh!" a duskull screamed at the top of his lungs in my face. Every nerve in my body jumped and I felt my adrenaline pump up as I lost my balance and fell down. I was now breathing really heavily from the jump scare the duskull gave me as he just laughed obnoxiously. The duskull looked like any other duskull. He had a skull mask on or I hoped it was a mask and his body was kind of like a black smoke with a pointed head and had two arms.

"The hell is your problem" I growled at the duskull.

"Sorry I couldn't resist it. You should have seen your face though it was priceless" the duskull said in an obnoxious voice as he laughed uncontrollable at me. I felt extreme annoyance from him laughing at me and for him wasting so much of my time, but I decided I was going to keep my temper under control and not instigate a fight with this creep.

"Well now that you had your laugh I'm leaving" I said as I continued my way towards the exit.

"Where do you think you are going little umbreon" the duskull said as he popped up in my face again and caused me to jump back a little from my natural reflexes.

"Getting the hell away from you that's where I'm going" I said with an insulting voice. The duskull then for some reason began laughing hysterically as if I told a hilarious joke or something.

"You want to tell me what's so funny?" I asked in annoyance.

"You aren't leaving this cave alive umbreon" he said as he began hysterically laughing. My face then went from annoyed to flat out serious.

"Is that a threat" I said in a serious voice. Then a lot more duskull's started coming out of the darkness. There was now at least twenty duskull's in this cave surrounding me and I was honestly now scared. I observed my surrounding and there was nowhere to go and I was comepletely surrounded and had nowhere to go.

"Sweet mother of Mew" I said out loud nervously. The horde of duskull's then all began circling around me at a high speed. I could tell they were doing this to confuse me and it was actually slightly working. I began charging up a shadow ball and I then launched it towards the big horde of duskull's circling around me. I saw a big explosion of dark matter hit the horde and I saw a few of them fall and hit the ground followed by a satisfying thump noise. I took down three of them in one blow but it hardly made their numbers look any smaller. Then a few duskull's left their horde and began gliding towards me. I quickly jumped out of the way but then they all began charging me at once, once I made my move. There was nowhere for me to hide and there was no way I could stop them all in time. I was then tackled by every duskull. Getting hit by one of them was hardly even noticeable but when you get hit by twenty of them it hurts like hell. After getting hit by all the duskull they all began circling around me again and I was barely standing after getting bombarded by so many of them at once.

I slowly began to think all of my options through carefully so I could make a logical choice that wouldn't get me killed. After a few seconds of thinking I came up with the brilliant idea of running for dear life. I charged up a shadow ball and began running towards the horde of duskull's and blasted a big hole in their defense. I quickly ran through and began running at max speed towards the exit. I could just make out the light far off in the distance where the exit was.

Then one of the duskull's caught up to me and tackled me from my right side and sent me to the ground. Sadly for me I hit my head on a rock and I was now slightly dazed, but then my luck got better and the rest of the horde of duskull's all tackled me at once. I felt myself almost black out for a second and I knew I was about to lose this battle and Mew know's what they'd do with me. The duskull's all surrounded me and made it so I had no escape from them. They all began laughing like it was funny watching me suffer. I just lied their defenseless and prayed that this would be over fast.

Then I saw a small flash of light and half of the duskull's floating around me where electrocuted by what appeared to be lightning and they quickly fell to the ground. I then saw another bolt of lightning fly towards the remainder of duskulls. All but one successfully flew away from the attack. The one duskull that didn't move in time was struck by lightning and fell to the ground and passed out or possible died, I could honestly care less at this point. Then off in the distance I saw a pikachu running towards me. I was actually surprised that someone was here just in time to save me.

"Don't worry I'm here to help you" the pikachu said to me as he finally reached me. The remainder of duskull just cautiously floated around us keeping a safe distance from the pikachu.

"Are you able to stand up" the Pikachu asked me in a serious voice while keeping his eyes on the horde of duskull. I attempted to get up but I fell down almost instantly. I didn't really have the energy to stand after getting assaulted that badly. The Pikachu noticed my struggle and grabbed onto my back and started dragging me. It did hurt since he got most of his grip on me from my fur but I wasn't about to complain that he was saving my life.

"You are heavier than you look" he groaned as he exerted all of his strength as he pulled me. He continued to slowly drag me towards the exit slowly. Then one of the duskull's charged towards him. He sent out a lightning bolt and zapped the living hell out of the duskull and the bugger fell straight to the ground.

"Don't worry you are going to be alright" he said in an attempted to make me feel better about the situation. The pikachu then let me go for a second so he could take a break from pulling me. I would imagine that it was hard since I was probably at least four times his weight. I then decided to try and get up again. I slowly got up with my wobbly legs and stood there for a few seconds just trying to keep my balance.

"You sure you can walk" The pikachu asked me. I just gave a weak nod and we slowly walked at my pace towards the exit while keeping a close eye on all the duskull's around us. They were still following us even though they were afraid of the Pikachu that saved me. Finally after a few minutes of me slowly walking towards the exit I finally made it. Once I was outside my eyes where strained for a few second as they adapted to the sunlight outside. Luckily for us the duskull's wouldn't follow us outside since it was day and duskull's don't come out during the day so we were now safe. We were now on the side of the mountain and there was no plant life up here and it was mostly rocks. There was a path that led down the mountain and led down to a small little town on the side of the mountain. There was also a nice gentle breeze blowing through the sky.

"Are you okay" the Pikachu asked me in a concerned voice.

"Yeah thanks to you" I said. I was originally in a horrible mood earlier today but since I was saved by him I'd try and at least act like I was in a good mood.

"That's good, but why in the hell did you go into that cave?" the Pikachu asked me.

"How was I supposed to know there was a bunch of killer duskull's in there" I said in a defensive voice.

"umm the warning sign outside the cave entrance duh" the Pikachu said in an annoyed voice.

I then remembered that strange human sign outside the cave entrance and I quickly realized what it probably meant. "Oh so that's what that strange human sign meant" I said in an awkward voice.

"How the hell did you not know that, it's just a yellow sign with an exclamation mark on it how did you not know that" the Pikachu said in an annoyed voice. If he didn't just save me I would have so made a snide comment towards him.

"Well I'm illiterate for one and two I'm a wild pokemon and besides I know now so it's fine" I said while trying to not get angry at him criticizing my lack of literacy.

"Well I guess no real harm was done just be careful in the future okay."

"Sure I can try that" I said.

Then a thought just popped into my head "Hey what where you doing in that cave then if it's dangerous" I asked him.

He looked at me for a second before responding "I was looking for some pokemon that have gone missing recently" He said in a serious voice.

"Missing pokemon?" I said, hinting that I wanted to hear more.

"Yeah a lot of pokemon have been going missing around this area lately and no one knows what happened to them" the pikachu said.

"Why" I asked curiously wanting to hear more.

"No one knows why. I'm just trying to find them before something bad happens to them." The pikachu said.

"How many have been taken" I asked wanting to learn more about these abductions.

"Six as far as we know, but there could be a lot more that we don't know about" the pikachu said.

I actually kind of felt bad for those pokemon since I was literally in the same situation as them. Except I've been running from my abductors. "Hey you did help me out back there big time so maybe I can lend you a hand looking for those missing pokemon" I said, hoping that maybe I could help out at least a little.

"You want to help? You don't even know me or those pokemon" The pikachu said in a confused voice.

"You didn't know me when you saved me and I wouldn't mind helping out a little since you saved me. Besides I got nothing better to do with my life." Sadly I was telling the truth, I didn't really have a lot to live for at the moment so I figured I could at least do something beneficial with my life while I still have it and this sounded like a good way to keep my mind occupied since all I could think about was the friends I had.

"That would be awesome thank you" the pikachu said in a happy voice.

"No prob" I said with a smile.

"My name is Hesh by the way" the pikachu said with a smile on his face.

I then realized I was going to have to tell him my name and I wasn't even sure what name to go by at this point. "My name is Black" I blurted out saying the first name that came to mind.

"Black? That sounds like a name a trainer would give to their pokemon" Hesh said to me with a smirk on his face. "Do you have a trainer" he asked.

"No me and my trainer were separated awhile back" I said trying to stay off this topic at all cost.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that" Hesh said sounding pretty sympathetic.

"Why don't we head down to town and get some food and we can head out to look for the missing pokemon" Hesh proposed. I was not going to argue with that I was starved. I just hoped to Mew that the food he spoke of was free.

"Sure that sounds like a plan" I said with a smirk. Hesh then started leading me down the path towards the town that was on the side of the mountain. The path was pretty rough and was hardly even safe. There was rocks and over it and the incline would change often so it was easy for me to lose my balance even on four legs. Hesh on the other hand moved down the path like it was nothing while I slowly inched my way down praying to Mew I didn't slip and break every bone in my body.

After fifteen slow minutes of slowly inching my way down the mountain we finally reached the town. There were probably around five houses built in this town and a few other building such as a pokemon center, a lab building and a market. I could see why this town was so small I mean they built it on the side of a mountain I would imagine it would be hard to get funding to expand this town. My question is what the hell would they do if there was a land slide on that mountain, this town would be destroyed. There was basically one path down the entire village and all the building's and houses were following the path until there was no room on this spot of the mountain.

"Welcome to Ambrette town" Hesh said to me.

"Thanks" I said trying not to sound rude. All I really cared about at the moment though was food or those missing pokemon I could care less about this town. At the moment I was trying my hardest not to mope around and sound depressed like I truly felt inside. I really wish I could just head back and return to my old pokemon team and not have to start over again. On top of that I wasn't even sure if it was safe for me to be in the open like this with dangerous pokemon after me.

"Well what do you say we grab some grub" Hesh said as he signaled me to follow him. I followed him down the main street of the town. Eventually we were behind one of the pokecenter that was right next to the cliff so we had a nice view of the ocean from where we were. Behind the pokecenter was box that was covered by a tarp. Hesh walked up to the box and took off the tarp and revealed a lot of pokepuffs.

"My Mew that is a shit ton of pokepuffs" I said in amazement of what I was seeing.

"Yeah it's my stash" Hesh said proudly. "Just don't come back here later and jip me" Hesh said.

"Well I can't really steal the crate I have no thumbs to carry it with" I said jokingly as he handed me a bunch of pokepuffs"

"So I'm guessing you are a wild pokemon" I asked even though the answer was obvious.

"Eh I wouldn't call myself wild, I do technically live here. I just don't live with any specific humans." Hesh said as he stuffed his face with food.

"So you are kind of like a hobo" I said jokingly.

"Umm yeah sure" Hesh said awkwardly.

Then Hesh looked at me oddly for a second "Where were you before. Like what did you do with your life and all that" Hesh asked in an attempt to learn more about me.

I ate some of the pokepuffs as I thought of a good answer to tell him "No were noteworthy. At the moment I'm just mostly wondering so I have nothing to really do with my life at the moment" I said trying not to get into the details of my background.

"What about you" I asked trying to redirect the conversation.

"Well, I've lived here most of my life so I'm no one interesting honestly. I've always wanted to go see more of the world but I've never really had a decent chance to leave though since I have friends here and all" Hesh said educating me on his background story.

"Ah well I've seen quite a bit of Kalos. Not all but quite a bit of it. I actually grew up outside of snowbelle city, which is on the other side of Kalos" I said.

"You lived near snowbelle, isn't that place like extremely cold" Hesh asked me.

"The winters are pretty cold but when spring would come it is one of the most beautiful places ever." I said as I reflected back at my old home.

We pretty much had small talk throughout the rest of our meal for the next fifteen minutes or so. Once we were done we decided to get started on out search for the missing pokemon.

"Where are we going to start our search" I asked curiously.

"I don't know there are a lot of places we can check. I was going to just mostly check around the mountain for today and then check the more hard to get places tomorrow" Hesh said.

"Okay that sounds fair" I said as we began our search for the missing pokemon. I just really hoped that I wasn't going to regret volunteering myself to help find these pokemon.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **Well that concludes yet another chapter. So this chapter just focuses on Black. You all may of noticed that he seems to have cheered up a bit but that is mostly because he is just hiding his emotions and he is trying to put on a semi happy face for Hesh since he did save his life. So don't think I forgot about that. So I bet you are all wondering what is up with the pokemon abductions. Well I will say that it will lead up to some interesting things that are relevant to the overall story. Also what do you all think of Hesh so far? It may be to early to get a opinion on him but I think he will be a cool character. Things may have calmed down a lot compared to the chapter 15 area when Black and his team was fighting Vincent and his group but things will be getting spiced up soon enough. Thanks for reading and I am happy to hear what most of you think about the story and I am always happy to listen to any idea's you guy's may have for the story.


	20. Reanimation

**Well this chapter is pretty interesting. A new character will be introduced again and I like the idea of this new character and he will be different from all the other characters in this story. Anyways I'm not going to waste to much of your time so enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter 20: Reanimation**

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**Point of View anonymous**

I slowly felt myself waking up in an unknown location. I felt as if I was asleep forever. I opened my eyes slowly but my vision was to blurry to even make out anything. Once my vision adjusted a little more I noticed humans wearing white lab coats walking around. I was in some kind of laboratory room lying on a bed. There were machines hooked up to me and putting liquids into my body. I tried moving around a little but I quickly realized I was restrained by multiple straps. One of the human scientists then began observing me and took out a clipboard and began writing on it. I had no idea who these people where but they were all about to die for this.

"Ah you are finally awake R twenty-one" I heard someone call out from behind me. I slowly struggled to shift my gaze to my left side and I saw a kadabra standing right next to me.

"I don't know who you are but what the hell is going on here" I demanded a logical answer in a weak voice. The kadabra just continued to observe me carefully as he evaluated me.

"Well we will still need to run some test on you, but my first question is do you remember your name" The kadabra asked me completely ignoring my question. I thought about it for a second and I struggled to remember my name. It was like trying to remember a dream that I had already forgotten.

A few minutes passed before the kadabra decided to interrupt my deep thought "Your name is Stark and you may experience a little amnesia for a few days before you can remember everything clearly" the kadabra said.

"Where am I" I asked again. The kadabra then decided to finally make eye contact with me.

"You are in a hidden location that is safe. Now do you remember what happened before you were here" the kadabra asked me. I thought for a few seconds and then I remembered my last memory.

"I remember I was caught for doing something and the police were after me. I remember running down the streets of Luminose city and all I remember is hearing a gun fire and I was shot and I then tried escaping but I remember bleeding a lot and passing out in middle of the street" I said as I recalled my last memory.

"Good you are remembering your memories faster than expected. Then the project was a success" The kadabra said.

"Project, what are you talking about and shouldn't I have bled out and died back their" I snarled in a weak voice. The kadabra just looked at me unfazed by my anger.

"And you did Stark" The kadabra said bluntly. Now I was confused and I had no idea what was going on or how I was alive.

"You are a reanimation of your former self. Or in other terminology you are an artificial pokemon based off your old self that died" The kadabra said. I took a second to think through what he just told me. I knew there was not even a chance of me living that bullet wound since it hit a vital organ and I remembered bleeding out in middle of the streets.

"Your crazy" I said bluntly not even sure what he was talking about.

"Let me show you something Stark" The kadabra said as he grabbed a mirror off the floor and held it up towards me. In the mirror I saw myself. Everything was normal about me. I was a pure white umbreon with black rings on my body. I didn't even have a scar from my bullet wound. Then I noticed something different about my body, my eyes where a navy blue not their original blood red color.

"What did you do to my eyes" I said in a serious tone.

"Your eyes are the only external thing on your body we've altered. Internally we made everything about you better. You are faster, stronger and your overall health is better" The kadabra said. The kadabra then undid the straps on my body and let me free. I slowly got up with my weak body and I jumped off the bed I was on. I was now contemplating on whether I wanted to kill every last person in this room or not.

"How do I know you are not just deceiving me" I said.

"I can show you all of the documents and videos that were made showing your creation" he said with a serious tone. I can tell from the look of his eyes he wasn't kidding about showing me evidence. I wasn't quite sold yet on me being an artificial being based off my former self but I was going to hear him out before I killed him. Although if he was telling the truth I knew that was going to be very weird.

"Okay so if I am a reanimation then why did you bring me back to life if I died, why would you need someone like me and how the hell would you even bring me back to life" I said demanding a reasonable explanation.

"Well you aren't exactly the old you. We simply extracted some of your DNA from your corpse and we basically created an altered clone of your old self, then I put all of the memories from the old you into your new body using my psychic abilities. I can get more detailed but I'll spare you from a headache. The reason we brought you back to life is because we knew of your abilities to get almost anything done. You have been described by some as the devil even. We brought you back because someone we know needed your skills and we thought you could benefit both of our groups."

"Who" I asked quickly. The kadabra looked at me seriously. "The person who wants your help goes by the name Mandus but his organization is known as the crimson dawn. I believe you've done work for them in the past years ago" The kadabra said.

"Yeah they sound familiar. Just one more question" I said.

"What?"

"Who are you people then" I asked seriously.

He gave out a small chuckle and looked at me "We are team Genesis" the kadabra said in a serious voice.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

It was now around early evening and the sun would be setting in a few hours. Alex finally gave up on looking for Black and decided that Black just ran away permanently. Alex led us all down route five. Along the route was a big lake that followed the route all the way up to a big mountain far off in the distance. Alex continued leading us down the route in a mopey attitude. Everyone felt pretty bad for him since he was taking this the hardest, besides Flare of course.

After about an hour of walking we finally made it to the mountain. We followed the path up to it and we all quickly noticed that the path went straight through a cave that went through the mountain. The path also split off and went around the left side of the mountain. Alex sat there for a second and began considering which was the right path to take. He then noticed the warning sign right next to the caves entrance and observed it for a second.

"Well guys I guess we are walking around since there is a caution sign here and I don't want the cave collapsing on us or something like that" Alex said in a dull voice. Everybody just nodded and followed his lead. The path we took just followed the side of the mountain. There was a giant drop to the left of the path so there was hardly any room outside of the path.

"This could be awhile" I heard Flare say from behind me.

"Yeah no kidding" I replied. Me and Flare have both cooled off from our argument with Gray earlier but Flare was still depressed about the whole Black situation. As we all continued down the path around the mountain the path went higher and higher up the mountain until we were up really high. From here we could see the town called Camphrier off in the far distance, the view was gorgeous. The sky on top of all that was nice and clear and no sign of bad weather as far as the eye could see.

"Hey Flare how long will this take us to get to the next town" I asked curious when we will be back in civilization.

Flare thought for a few seconds "Since we are going around the mountain we may have to stop up here tonight or we will get their very late at night, but I'm just guessing" He said.

"We won't be there until tomorrow" Gray added to our conversation.

"How would you know" I asked.

"Because I've been through here before long before I met Alex. If we went through that main cave it would have taken us a few minutes but this path will take us the complete opposite direction of where we are going for a while. Then it will redirect us to where we are heading" Gray said followed by a yawn.

"Oh what were you doing out here back then" I asked curiously.

"I was with a friend of mine exploring this area" Gray said.

"That must have been fun back in the day" Flare added to our conversation.

"Back in the day it was fun wondering around exploring places" Gray said as he reflected back on his memories. We all continued walking for a few more hours along the mountain until we found a big clearing on the mountain. There was enough room for us to set up a small camp for the night here and the mountain would shield us from some of the wind.

"Let's set up camp here" Alex said in an exhausted voice. We all nodded to him in agreement and everybody including Alex sat down to rest for a bit. Climbing up on a mountain was pretty exhausted even if we were on a trail that was pretty smooth. My whole entire body ached from all of the walking we did, especially since I was not use to exorcise at all. Not saying I was overweight I was just not that active since I was always locked in a house all day.

Flare and Gray on the other hand looked a little tired but nowhere near compared to me and Alex. "How are you feeling" Flare asked me.

"Wonderful" I said jokingly in a sarcastic voice.

"You will get use to moving around more like this in a few weeks. Until then you may be soar here and their" Flare said. I simply just nodded at Flare to show him I was listening to him. I was too tired to really talk at the moment. Alex then got up and began setting up a camp fire with some wood he was smart enough to bring along. Although I highly doubted the wood would last more than a few hours. I just prayed that it wasn't too cold up on these mountains at night.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Hesh and I have been looking around this Mew forsaken mountain for Mew knows how long. The sun was now going down and my body felt like it was broken. Not only did I get the crap beat out of me today, now I was hiking up a mountain and searching for missing pokemon. All I could think about now was sleep.

"Hesh… how long until we go back" I asked in a tired voice. Hesh looked at me with a disappointed look.

"You giving up already" he asked me.

"Not that I'm giving up, I'm just exhausted and I'm soar. Plus I did get assaulted today" I said trying to sound reasonable.

"Yeah I guess you have a point. Why don't we head back and see if we can find something tomorrow morning" Hesh said.

"Yeah that sounds good to me" I said trying to not sound too excited about finally getting to take a break from our search. Hesh quickly made his way down the mountain and back towards the town while I slowly took baby steps while making my way down the mountain. After about two hours of slowly climbing down I finally made it to town and my whole body was screaming from the pain of climbing all day. Hesh and I made our way back to the area where his stash of food was behind the pokecenter.

"This is where you sleep" I asked. I kind of expected him to sleep somewhere else. Not on the cold ground outside.

"Yeah pretty much" he said.

"Okay" I said kind of shocked that he would sleep behind a building every night. I just fell over and began relaxing after such a hard day. Hesh just grabbed some food out of his stash and began snacking on it. I on the other hand was too tired to even think of food. I was actually nervous about sleeping here though since I was right next to a cliff and I was worried about rolling off the cliff in my sleep.

"How long do you plan on sticking around here" I heard Hesh say while he stuffed his face with food. I processed that thought for a second, I never even really thought about how long I was going to stick around here.

"No clue" I said in a tired voice.

"Well you can stay as long as you want" Hesh said kindly. I don't know if I could tolerate this area for long though and there was no way in hell I was going to climb that mountain on a regular basis. I slowly felt everything go quiet and I drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

The Kadabra lead me down a hall as I followed him. My body felt much more recovered now that some time had passed. He led me into a room at the end of the hallway. I was now in a room with a bunch of equipment such as guns, tactical equipment and other military grade equipment. In the room there was a black scyther leaning against the wall with his bladed arms crossed. He looked at me for a second and then looked away.

The kadabra then looked at me and then pointed at the scyther "This is Kane. He is with the crimson dawn. You and him are going to be hunting someone down here very soon" The kadabra said in a serious voice.

"And if I refuse to help" I asked in a stubborn voice.

"Do as you please Stark, but if you go against us we will just kill you" He said while looking me dead in the eyes. If I truly wanted to I could rip out his throat and that scyther's before they could even think of blinking. But instead I was going to play along with them since they did give me life. Not that I felt any loyalty towards them I just figured I'd do them one favor. I wasn't sure though whether I believed the whole reanimation story yet. I would have to think it through a little and see the evidence the kadabra spoke of.

"I'll help you for now" I said as I walked towards the scythe. "When are we leaving" I asked him anxious just to get this job out of the way. He just looked at me for a second and looked away.

"He isn't the talking type" The kadabra said from behind me. I just walked away from the scythe and headed back towards the kadabra.

"Who are we hunting down."

The kadabra looked me in the eyes with a serious gaze "You are hunting down an umbreon who goes by the name of Black currently."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well I hope you all like Stark so far. So far he is against Black which will make for an interesting view of story. His view will be a lot more different from the enemies point of view than the Charmander's point of view because he is actually on their side and not being manipulated in the way the charmander is. Also I know I haven't mentioned the Charmander in awhile, I will be working on getting him mixed into all of this soon but it is a little tough working with all of these characters lol. One thing I was going to do that I didn't do in this chapter was get into detail about how a clone is made. Because basically all Stark is, is a modified clone of someone who died and then the memories from the original body was implanted into the new Stark. I do hope everyone understoof it from what I said and if you guys think I should get mor detailed about how the clone was made please tell me and I will, I just didn't want to confuse anyone lol. Anyways feel free to tell me what you think of Stark and how you think he will change this story up. Also now we have a name for the group that has been chasing Black, The Crimson Dawn. I also introduced another group called team genesis in this chapter. They will both be playing a key role in this story. Anyways thanks for reading and I would like to thank everyone who review's I appreciate it and it does help motivate me to keep writing on a regular basis so thanks again.


	21. Ghost Town

**Well here's chapter 21. Well I actually like this chapter a lot in my opinion and it will also start setting things back into havoc again. So hopefully everyone has been enjoying things in the story so far. I'd imagine if you read this far you actually enjoy the story so thanks for reading this far I appreciate it. Anyways don't be afraid to review because I really appreciate it when people take the time to tell me what they think of the story. Anyways on to the story!**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Ghost Town**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I found myself standing at the bottom of the hill from where I grew up as a child. I stood at the bottom of the hill contemplating if I wanted to go up their even though I knew how it would end. Snow gently fell from the night sky and slowly covered the world around me. I made up my mind and decided I was going to climb up the hill regardless of the consequences. I slowly walked up the hill fearing what I already knew was there. Once I reached the top I was surprised to see nothing up here. I looked around for the dead leafeon that always haunted my dreams but she was nowhere to be seen. I still felt on guard and I had no idea what to expect seeing as I knew this dream always ended in a tragedy.

"Ryder" I heard a whisper from behind me. Turned around and saw nothing. Then I looked down the hill and saw the leafeon staring at me from the bottom of the hill. She then turned around and began walking towards the city far off in the distance. I began running towards her as fast as I could, but then the snow began picking up until I could only see a few feet ahead of me. The night itself also got much darker and everything became very unsettling and I could now tell my nightmare was truly beginning. As I continued walking through the frigid snow I could feel my entire body becoming numb and every step I took I just wanted to fall down and get off my frozen feet.

After a few minutes of wondering aimlessly through the snow with half frozen paws I saw a light off in the distance. I couldn't make out what was emitting it but I ran towards it in hope that I would find some shelter from the harsh snow. Once I reached the light I quickly realized it was a lamp post. I was now in a town. I observed all of the buildings and I could tell I was in Snowbelle city. I looked around as best as I could through the snow that was falling and there was no one in site. Other than the one lamp post there was no other sign of light anywhere. Then the lamp post began flickering and the light went out and I was left in the darkness of the night alone.

I walked through the streets of the condemned city slowly. I had no clue what to expect and I was shaking in fear of what might happen as this dream progressed. Then the ring's on my body started glowing and emitted a blue light around me which lit the ground around me enough to see. Why my rings where deciding to work now I had no clue but I was just going to go with it for now. I continued to walk through the empty streets but then I noticed a puddle of blood. I looked at the blood and quickly realized that it was a blood trail leading somewhere. The blood made me feel sick to my stomach and I felt extremely light headed to the point where I felt like I was about to pass out. Despite the fact that I was terrified of blood I decided to follow the blood trail.

The blood trail was pretty long and whoever was bleeding had diffidently been injured seriously. The blood trail mostly followed the streets, but then it turned left and led towards an alley between some buildings. I continued to follow the blood into the alley, each step I took I could feel my head becoming more light and I knew if this kept up I was going to black out in my own dream if even possible. The alley was extremely long but it did eventually have turn at the end. Once I reached the turn I turned the corner and I saw something that would traumatize me for life.

Their lying on the floor was a dead jolteon and a dead vaporeon. The jolteon had a giant cut on his throat and there was blood everywhere. As for the vaporeon she had a giant stab wound on her back that appeared to have gone straight through her entire body. The two pokemon that lied in front of me were familiar to me. The jolteon was my brother and the vaporeon was my sister. I felt extremely disturbed and I could feel my stomach turning upside down. Seeing my family killed like this just made me want to vomit. I was light headed before but now I was absolutely sick and I was barely standing and my vision was blurry.

"Ryder" I heard a feminine voice call from behind me. I already knew who was behind me and I already knew what was going to happen next. I slowly turned around with tears rolling down my eyes and saw my leafeon mother standing behind me. She had a similar gash in her neck like my dead brother. I stood their petrified in fear.

"Leave me alone" I said with a shaky voice as she slowly walked towards me. One of the demented things I noticed was how she was struggling to hold up her own head from the wound on her neck. I took a feeble step backwards every time she stepped towards me. I kept my full gaze on her to watch her to make sure she didn't try anything. After about six steps back I then tripped on my dead brother's body and fell in a puddle of blood. I was now covered in their blood and I no longer had the will to move. I just watched in fear as my mother slowly walked towards me. When she was in front of me, she stopped and looked me dead in the eyes for a few brief seconds. Everything seemed to stand still even the snow stopped falling from the dark sky. She then lunged towards me at light speed and pinned me to the ground with her paw. She then slowly brought her mouth towards my neck. She then violently bit down onto my neck and I felt a sharp pain as I fell unconscious from the pain.

* * *

I awoke screaming in absolute terror in middle of the night. I was now terrified from my nightmare. I was now behind the pokemon center where I had originally fell asleep. I looked around and noticed Hesh who looked really startled as he stared me as if I was crazy.

"Are you okay" he asked in a tired voice. I took a few seconds to calm down before answering his question.

"Yeah, I just had a nightmare, that's all…" I said in a shaky voice.

"A nightmare so bad you woke up screaming" Hesh said surprised by why I was screaming so loud in middle of the night.

"It doesn't matter Hesh" I said trying to end the conversation quickly.

"Well okay if you say so. Are you sure your fine?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to take a small walk to calm down a bit" I said as I got up and stretched my shaking body out a bit.

"Okay just be careful" Hesh said as he lied back down and began going back to sleep.

I then began walking away somewhere private where I could just be away from the world around me. I decided to head towards the beach at the bottom of the mountain. When I said I was going on a small walk that really just meant I was going to walk around until dawn.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Kane the scyther and I where now searching for the umbreon Ryder. Luckily for us the kadabra told us his current location. This mission was going to be easy except for the fact that it was going to be hard for me to not accidentally murder the umbreon. The black scyther and I were now almost at the top of a mountain above Ambrette town. From here we could see almost everything from this side of the mountain. We could see Ambrette town itself along with the ocean in the distance and even Cyllage city far off in the distance to our right. I looked down the mountain in an attempt to find the target. The nice thing about those scientists messing with my body was that they actually enhanced some things about me. For example my now blue eyes where much superior to my old eyes and could make out anything from far away.

"Where do you think he is" I asked the silent black scyther. He just looked at me as if I wasn't supposed to talk to him.

"Oh yeah I forgot you don't ever talk" I said with a slight attitude. I then began heading down the mountain to get a better look in some of the area's I couldn't see from here. The only reason we knew he was in this specific area is because we were able to track his trainer's progress on beating the gym leaders and he still hadn't beaten the second gym leader yet.

I quickly ran at light speed down the rocky mountain and sometimes I would jump rock to rock so I could get across some areas easier. The scyther on the other hand decided to stay on the mountain for now and keep a look out from up there for now. I couldn't help but wonder what type of person this umbreon was and why this Crimson Dawn group wanted him so bad and why they would go through the trouble of reanimating me just to capture him. I was still very shocked from discovering that I was a reanimation of my old self. Stuff like that actually really messes with your mind, although at the same time I didn't really care too much since I was alive. The really weird part to me was the fact that I have only technically been alive in a sense of speaking for a few hours. According to the kadabra they made a clone of the real Stark with a blank mind and just let the clone grow until it was a proper age. My body was able to grow faster than an average umbreon thanks to some science stuff he explained to me that I never understood. I just hoped that they were smart enough to reverse some of those effects once my body was the appropriate age.

I eventually climbed down the mountain until I was in Ambrette town. This town was pretty quiet since everyone was asleep at this time of night. Another weird thing about me was that the rings on my body were black so the light they emitted was black so I couldn't even see the light they made, they just kind of glowed and that was it.

I walked down the street looking for the umbreon I was in search of. As far as I could tell there was no sign of life at this time of night so I decided he was not here. I then decided to go even lower on the mountain to find him. I walked towards the cliff of the mountain and gazed off into the distance. From here I could see the beach perfectly. That's when I noticed a faint blue glowing light on the beach. I observed the light a little closer and I quickly discovered that the light was coming from an umbreon on the beach. I then began making my way silently down the mountain towards him.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I was now silently walking along the beach. As I was walking along the beach I was watching the ocean waves go back and forth along the beach. The sound of the ocean waves was very relaxing and made me feel pretty calm. The almost full moon was reflecting off the water of the ocean and made the water sparkle slightly.

I continued walking along the beach for about fifteen minutes until I noticed something odd along the beach. There was a bunch of abandoned houses along the beach that looked pretty worn down. The houses were made of rotting wood and the windows on the houses where smashed out. As I entered the abandoned town I couldn't help but remember my dream from last night. There were roughly around twelve houses following the beach. Some of the house looked like they were really close to collapsing on themselves. I couldn't help but wonder if Hesh knew of this place and if he even checked it out yet for those missing pokemon. I doubted he would have overlooked a place like this but I figured it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

"Hello" I yelled out loud. I waited for a response but all I heard was silence.

"Is anybody their" I yelled out loud. Again all I heard was silence in return. I walked up to one of the abandoned houses and observed it. I then noticed the door was cracked open so I got the brilliant idea to explore inside the old creepy house. Once I entered in the house I quickly noticed how dark it was. Luckily for me the lights on my body lit up the house just enough for me to see. The house was pretty dusty and the wooden floor was rotting and I was actually worried that it was going to collapse from below me. There was average furniture in the house such as a couch, some chairs, book shelf and tables that were all covered in dust. After a few minutes of walking around my front right paw fell through the floor and I fell down as I tried to catch myself as I slowly fell through the floor.

"Dammit" I muttered below my breath as I slowly pulled my paw out of the new hole in the floor.

I decided I was now done exploring this condemned house and that it was time for me to probably head back to Ambrette town. I exited the house and I stopped to look at the ocean for a few minutes before I went back to town. I quickly noted that in about two or three hours the sun would be coming up and the night would be over.

"Good evening Black" I heard an anonymous voice call out from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw an umbreon behind me. Although this umbreon was different from other umbreon's I've seen. This one had pure white fur and he also had black rings on his body instead of the usual gold rings. Although I guess my rings weren't gold either.

"Who are you" I asked in a serious voice.

"Relax for a minute. I'm not just going to attack you out of the blue like that" the white umbreon said as he walked closer to me.

"I'm not playing any games with you. Who the hell are you" I demanded.

He just looked at me with an unfazed expression on his face. "If you most know my name is Stark and I'm here to capture you" He said in a serious voice.

I quickly jumped up and got in a defensive position and prepared to fight another one of Vincent's crazy friends. The white umbreon who called himself Stark on the other hand just stood there as if this was a joke to him.

"This is going to be hard" Stark said.

"You bet your ass it's going to be hell for you" I said in an intimidating voice.

"No I mean it's going to be hard not to kill you" He said bluntly.

"You haven't seen me fight so how about you judge me after I kick your sorry ass" I retorted in an intimidating voice.

The umbreon then started bending his neck and I could hear his neck cracking. "Well it's time to give this new body a try" Stark said. I just stood there completely confused on what the hell he meant by new body. Then Stark literally moved so fast towards me it looked as if he teleported. He then head-butted me right in between the eyes and sent me flying to the ground. I now had a massive migraine from the head-butt I just received from my foe, but I quickly got up and shook off any pain I was feeling.

I then began charging towards him with all of my might. I then sent a quick swipe with my claws towards his face. He just ducked under it and hit me with his body. It didn't hurt to bad, but it did cause me to take a few steps back from him.

"Mew you suck at this" I heard Stark mutter under his breath. I now felt a little offended and I was not going to let this asshole get away with that. I then charged towards him and then swiped my right paw towards his face again. This time I retracted my paw when it was a few inches away from his face and I sent my left paw instead towards his face. He dodged the attack with very little effort though.

"The hell am I even here for" I heard Stark say in an angry voice. "They are seriously wasting my time on a defenseless pokemon like you" Stark said in a pissy voice.

I then took my chance since he was distracted and I charged up a shadow ball and shot it towards him. He didn't even move away from shadow ball and instead he just extended his paw and then my shadow ball was literally absorbed by his paw and looked like it went into his body. Now I was pissed because he was pulling that shit Vincent pulled on me when I used shadow balls on him. Although then I noticed that Stark was a little surprised by my attack. Yet I was more surprised on how he absorbed my shadow ball like that.

"I have to admit Black, I didn't think you were the type" Stark said.

"What do you mean the type" I said in a confused voice.

"The type of pokemon that actually went through with killing someone" he said. My eyes widened at the statement he just made and I felt myself become consumed by anger.

"I've never killed anyone asshole" I shouted so loud that my voice echoed through the quiet night.

"Don't lie to me Black" He said in an angry voice "I'll just finish you off here if your not going to be honest with me" Stark said.

"I've never murdered anyone ever and even if I did how would you know" I said in a very aggressive tone.

"Because you used a shadow ball and not a lot of umbreon's can use that attack"

"So" I retorted.

"So only umbreon's that have actually committed the sin of murder can use dark matter on that level. I would know" Stark said as a dark aura began glowing around his body.

"Killing destroys the heart in ways never thought possible and by doing that an umbreon's can use dark matter at will" Stark said as the dark aura grew stronger around his body.

"Well sorry to tell you but I'm just different I guess" I said as I looked him dead in the eyes.

"Bullshit stop lying to yourself" Stark snarled towards me.

"You stop making false accusations asshole" I shouted as loud as I could at Stark.

"Very well, this conversation is over Black" Stark said in a serious tone and the aura around his body went away. Before I could even blink Stark literally teleported in front of me tackled me so hard that I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. I lied on my back trying to catch my breath and then I saw him standing above me. I tried to get up before he could attack me again but then he put his paw on my throat and pushed on it until I couldn't breathe.

I struggled as much as I could but I couldn't get him off me and I slowly felt the world around me fading into darkness.

"Shhh don't fight it Black" Stark whispered in a calm voice. I then felt everything around me go black and I fell unconscious.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well shit now Black lost that fight and its pretty obvious he is in some serious trouble now. So Stark is accusing Black of being a murderer now because he can use dark matter to make a shadow ball. Do you think Black actually killed someone or could it possible have to do with his special ability, I'll leave that to your creative imagination until the answer comes. Anyways thanks a lot for reading and please take a few seconds to review if you want to be awesome. Thanks


	22. Misery

Hey guys welcome to a new chapter. Anyways before I say anything I would like to apologize about a troll who has been leaving vulgar reviews in the review section. I don't really want to even mention the troll since troll's feed off attention they can't get in real life. And one other thing to the troll, how the fudge is me having sexual intercourse with underage chicks productive what is wrong with you, you pedophile? All I got to say is that you got a lot of growing up to do buddy and this will literally be the only time you will get a response out of me from your Vulgar reviews. Anyways now onto the story lol and I do apologize about that just needed to mention it. Anyways a lot is now starting to begin in the story now that Ryder/Kaz/Black was defeated by Stark. A lot happens this chapter and it is the longest chapter I have made up to this point and I am actually a little proud I got this done in one day although now I'm going to have to find time for myself lol. Anyways find out what happened to Black. Enjoy the chapter and as always thanks so much to those who read I appreciate it.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Misery**

* * *

**Point of View Anonymous**

"Dammit, dammit, dammit" I yelled in frustration as I look anxiously for Black. All I knew is that he said he was going on a walk late at night and I didn't even consider that he could get abducted. I was such an idiot for letting him wonder off alone like that and now he could have possible been kidnapped or worse.

I have been searching for him since dawn and it was now late afternoon and I was now running along the side of the mountain as fast as I could without falling down and killing myself. I looked as hard as I could to find him. If he really did get abducted I was going to feel like absolute shit since this was never even his problem from the start and he volunteered to help just to be nice and now he was missing.

"Blaaaack!" I yelled loud enough for the entire mountain to hear me. All I heard was my voice echoing off in the distance. I then decided to take a quick rest and strategies where he could possibly be. I knew he wasn't in town since I checked everywhere literally. If he was within the area I was in he would have already heard me yelling out for him. My next move would probably be checking the upper mountain and checking around the beach for him.

I decided that I was going to check the upper mountain to see if he was there. I highly doubted it though since he hated climbing up it, but it would at least be worth a shot. I quickly began running up the mountain as fast as I could. Eventually I came along a path on the mountain and I figured I could follow it so it would be easier to move around on the mountain, since it was only getting steeper from here. I quickly bolted down the path while looking around with my eagle eyes. From here I could see almost everything in the area from the Ambrette town to Cyllage city and even the beach. I continued down the path at lightning speed.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We were now almost at Ambrette town and soon we would finally be off this gigantic mountain. Not that I didn't like it up here I mean the view was just awesome but it was cold up here and I wasn't the biggest fan of hikes.

"Are we there yet" Kana asked me jokingly, that was probably the fiftieth time at least she asked me that question and I knew at this point she was just doing it to cure her own boredom problem.

"Yes" I said.

"Really" Kana asked in surprise.

"No" I said crushing her excitement. It was kind of funny seeing how gullible she could be some times and it was one of her traits that made her rather entertaining to be around since it was easy to mess with her and she was a good sport about it most of the time.

After about thirty minutes of walking we saw something rather strange. A Pikachu ran up the path we were on at lightning speed and in his great hurry he accidentally ran into Gray and they both fell on the ground. Kana and I both looked at each other awkwardly because we both knew this only meant Gray was going to throw another tantrum and it was kind of disappointing because he was actually in a good mood for once in his life, which probably had to do with Black no longer being around. Gray and the anonymous pikachu both hurried back up to their feet almost as fast as they fell down. Alex just stared at the pikachu and I could already tell what his simple mind was thinking.

"The hell was that for" Gray snarled in an annoyed voice.

"Oh Mew here we go" I whispered to Kana as we both inched away from the imminent argument slowly.

"Wow a pikachu" Alex said out loud in excitement. "I've always wanted to catch one of you guys."

"Dammit this is why I hate being a pikachu everyone always wants to capture me because I'm so damn sexy" The pikachu said in annoyance as he inched away from Alex who looked as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.

The pikachu then gave out an annoyed sigh "I seriously don't have time for this."

"Gray quick attack quickly" Alex shouted with ambition.

"Dammit there is no winning here because I don't want to lose to you, but if I beat you Alex is just going to capture you and I can't deal with any more annoying pokemon in my life" Gray said as he began contemplating his next move.

Alex then noticed Gray struggling on his decision on whether to fight or not "Okay never mind then… Flare just use ember or something" Alex said in a confused voice.

I then began charging up an ember to defeat the pikachu. "No don't seriously I need to find someone who is in danger fast" the pikachu said in a dire voice. I then stopped charging my ember and let the flame die out in my mouth as smoke left my mouth.

"Danger" I said curiously.

"Yeah now I need to go sorry about running into you pal" the pikachu said as he began running down the path at lightning speed.

"Flare why didn't you do anything" Alex said, I could tell he was even more disappointed since all of his pokemon where defying him at the moment. Alex then let out a stress relief sigh "Oh well I guess we already have a lightning type on our team" Alex said in a more optimistic voice.

We all then continued our way towards Ambrette town where we would be staying for the night.

* * *

**Point of View Black **

I felt myself slowly come back to reality after my little fight with that white umbreon that kicked my ass. I slowly opened my eyes and quickly came to my senses and then realized that I was kidnapped by that psycho. I then noticed I was strapped down so tightly I could hardly even nudge my muscles even a little. I was now on a mobile bed being pushed down a hallway in some dark building with dimmed lights on the ceiling that flickered here and there. The people who were pushing me were humans wearing a mask that was just basically a human face with nothing on It, there was no mouth, no eyes, no nostril holes on their nose. I quickly realized that it was just probably a fabric they were wearing to conceal their identity and that they could probably just see through the fabric they were wearing.

I was now terrified though. I had no idea who these people were or what they wanted from me and their masks didn't make me feel any more comfortable. They quickly hauled the mobile bed I was in down the hall at a really fast paste. I tried screaming for help but I quickly discovered the muzzle they put over my mouth so I couldn't fight back in any way. I was defenseless and I was now officially screwed. At the end of the hallway I could see a set of doors that they were pushing me towards and they pushed the bed I was on through the doors and a bright light blinded me instantly. The room I was in had equipment everywhere that was similar to what you would see in a hospital. There was also a lot of knife on a desk and I could see computers in one of the back corners of the room. One thing that I did notice about this room was how clean it was compared to the rest of the building I saw.

"Move the specimen by the equipment and we can get started" One of the masked men said in a bossy attitude. I was quickly pushed to the middle of the room and one of the scientists looking people grabbed a tool and began bolting the bed I was on down to the ground so it couldn't move.

"Good we can now proceed. Bring in the translator" The bossy scientist demanded. Then out from the door I originally was hauled through came a kadabra. He walked towards me in a calm attitude and looked me in the eyes.

"Good evening you must be Black" he said in a semi friendly voice.

"You may call me Zero, no that is not my real name if you must ask but that is how you will address me" The kadabra said. I just looked him dead in the eyes with a look that I hoped showed how much I wanted to hurt everyone here.

"I am here to be a translator and I will be the closest thing you will have to a friend. I will tell the humans what you say through mind telepathy. If you cooperate during the duration of the test you will not be harmed but only if you cooperate" Zero said in a friendly voice even though it was obviously fake.

"Now I have a proposition for you. I am going to take the restraints off your mouth so you may speak freely. If you try using any attack we will use a drug to knock you unconscious and then when you wake up I'm afraid we will have to punish you. Are we clear" Zero said in a very serious voice. With the little room I had I gave a small nod to show I would agree to his conditions for now. One of the humans then undid the mussel on my mouth and the first thing I did was open and close my jaw a few times to stretch it out a little since it was a little stiff from being forced shut so long.

"Where am I" I asked quickly after I stretched my jaws a little.

Zero just looked at me in an annoyed manner "Okay let's get one thing straight Black. I am the one who is asking questions here, so here is what I am going to tell you. If you cooperate I will reward you with one answer to a question once were done here, assuming that it isn't harmful to me or my colleagues here.

"Fine, then what do you need to know from me" I asked in a cautious tone.

"Oh heavens don't think your special I just need to know a few things. But we will do that later" Zero said in an insulting manner.

"Beginning the procedure" The head scientist said as one of the other scientists quickly grabbed my head and put my mussel back on. Then I felt a sharp pain in my neck. Through the corner of my eye I could see an empty syringe injected into my neck and then began sucking a blood sample out of me. Then what the next scientist did absolutely terrified me to death and made me just want to scream in absolute terror. He picked up an electronic saw and pulled the trigger on it and began making the blades on it spin at a high velocity. He then slowly put it towards me. I closed my eyes and hoped whatever he was going to do was going to be quick and painless as possible.

"Quit screwing around" One of the scientists yelled in a very pissed off voice. Then the scientist just gave an annoyed sigh and put down the saw he was holding and picked up a pair of scissors and clipped off a small section of my hair. Then another scientist came by with a knife and cut a perfect straight line on my side. The cut was only about two inches but I still didn't like what they were doing. Then she grabbed an odd pair of scissor and dug the scissors into my cut a little and cut off a small chunk of flesh off of me. The scientist then grabbed what appeared to be some form of rubbing alcohol and poured it on my wound to disinfect it with any germs it may have gotten. The piece of flesh that was stolen from me really hurt and I really, really wanted to kick every human's ass in this room when I was out of here.

"Alright lets run some test on the samples we got and then we will continue from their depending on the results" The bossy scientist barked in a grouchy tone.

Then one of the scientists grabbed that weird bolting tool again and unbolted the mobile bed I was in off of the floor and then the other scientists began pushing me out of the room and out into the hallway again. They pushed me halfway down the hall until we were by a door with multiple locks on it. One of the scientists grabbed a pair of keys off his belt and began unlocking each and every lock. Once it was opened the scientist pushed me into a very cold and dark room. The room smelled like spoiled cheese and I really didn't like that at all. In the room was multiple figures that appeared to be pokemon but I couldn't quite make them out since it was dark and it appeared they were locked up in cages. Once I was in the room one of the scientists opened up a cage. Then I felt another prick on the back of my neck and I quickly realized they were injecting me with something. I tried to resist but it was futile. Then one of the scientists unstrapped me off the bed and removed the mussel on my mouth. I would have fought but I all of a suddenly felt too weak to do anything and I couldn't resist the scientist. They threw me in a cage and shut the door and locked it. The cage I was in had really thick bars on it that would be impossible for me to break out of even if I wanted to. I sat in my cold cage as my body felt completely numb and immobile.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We were now in Abrette town finally and I was just happy that we could finally take a break from our search. Alex led us towards a hotel in the town that we were going to stay in for a night so we could get a proper night of rest to finish our journey to the second gym tomorrow.

Alex walked into the hotel to buy a room for the night as we all patiently waited outside for him to finish up in there. After about five minutes of waiting he walked out with a key in his hand and we all followed Alex to our hotel room. We walked up some stairs that were outside the hotel which led to the second floor and we walked to our room. Alex then unlocked the door and we walked into the hotel room.

The instant we walked in nobody wasted any time to get comfy here. Gray quickly claimed the couch for himself and Kana darted straight for the giant bed in the corner of the room and jumped on it and made herself comfy.

"Bed" Kana said out loud in relief as she relaxed from days of nonstop walking. I on the other hand was tired but I felt more like doing something around town than just lying around being lazy for the rest of the day.

"Alright listen up guys. I don't care if you walk around town but the deal is that if I have to look all night for one of you again I will think twice about this. Are we all clear" Alex said in a stern voice.

I didn't waste any time and I quickly made my way towards the door to leave. "Are you going to walk around Flare" Alex asked me. As I always did I just nodded to say yes. Alex was polite enough to open the door for me so I wouldn't have to jump up and unlock it with my usual method.

Once I was outside I made my way down the stairs of the hotel and began exploring the unique town we were in. It was not often that you stay in a town located on a mountain. I walked around the town and enjoyed the interesting scenery around me.

"Dammit" I heard a frustrated voice call out in anger. Me being me I decided to see what was going on. I guess Black was right when he said I always intruded on everyone's business. I walked behind a building which happened to be the pokemon center and I saw the same pikachu that ran into Gray earlier. He looked absolutely pissed and on top of that he was pounding his fist on the brick wall of the pokecenter.

"Are you okay" I asked in a nervous voice. The pikachu then snapped out of his frustration and noticed me.

"Oh hey didn't I run into your friend earlier" The pikachu said.

"Yeah that was my friend Gray" I said followed by a small chuckle.

"Oh I'm sorry" He said in an embarrassed tone.

"Oh it's cool. If you don't mind me asking did you ever find that person you were looking for earlier? I think you mentioned it earlier didn't you?" I asked curiously. Their I went again intruding in people's personal business.

The pikachu just frowned at me and I understood what his answer was going to be. "I'm sorry about that. Is there anything I can do to help you" I asked trying to help him out a little.

"No please don't" The pikachu blurted out instantly. I just looked at him awkwardly since most people would have accepted my help.

"Sorry" I said with a frown.

"No I'm sorry it's just that the last pokemon that tried to help me was abducted and you should stay inside when you are alone it's dangerous here at the moment" The pikachu said.

"Why is that" I asked wanting to learn more.

"Pokemon around here have been getting abducted lately and I've been trying to find them and yesterday someone offered to help me but I think he was abducted too now and it's my fault because I didn't help him" The pikachu said in a frustrated voice.

"Wow that's horrible" I said in a sympathetic voice. "Is there anything I can do to help out even a little" I asked trying to let him let me help him. I was curious who his friend was but I decided I didn't want to pry too much. After all it's what Black would have wanted.

The pikachu just stood there and thought for a few seconds. "Just keep pokemon off the street at night and that will be enough" he said as he began walking away from me.

"Where are you going" I yelled towards the pikachu's back.

"I'm going to find those missing pokemon if it's the last damn thing I do" he said in an ambitious voice as he began his search. I would have persisted on helping him but I couldn't leave town without betraying Alex's trust so for now I was just going to do what he asked of me and try and keep pokemon off the streets at night.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

After a few hours of lying on the floor feeling completely numb the medicine wore off and I was finally able to move around a little. I looked at the other pokemon trapped in here with me. I counted them and I noticed there were around five pokemon locked in here with me. There was two eevee's locked in a cage together, a charmander, a squirtle and a rattata. I couldn't help but wonder if they were some of the missing pokemon that were abducted.

"Hey where are we" I asked the pokemon locked in the room with me. One of the two eevee's locked in the same cage responded to me "We don't know" She responded in a dull feminine voice. The other eevee sat in the corner of the cage in a deep depression.

"Well how long are they going to keep us in here" I asked her.

"We don't know, probably until we are all dead or they are done experimenting on us. There was at one point around twelve of us locked in here but now we are all that is left" She said in a depressed voice.

"Were all going to be dead soon" The rattata shouted from his cage in the corner of the room.

"No were not going to die" The eevee shouted at the rattata.

"My name is Crystal and this is my younger sister Ebony" The eevee said as she pointed at her sister lying on the floor in a deep depression. "And the rude rattata in that corner is named Danny" Crystal said as she introduced me to her friends or cellmates.

"My name is Blue, I'd shake your hand but obviously that's not going to happen." The squirtle said from his cage.

"People call me Connor" The charmander said from his individual cell.

I was surprised how open everyone here was being since I'd imagine they'd all be pissy since they are confined in this hell hole, hell I was pissed for being here less than a few hours. "My name is Black" I said deciding not to ice out the pokemon that could help me survive here or even get out.

"Nice to meet you Black" the squirtle said from his cage with a weak smile on his face.

Well I decided not to waste any time and get right to work with these guys "So you guys have an escape plan right" I asked awkwardly.

"No the last pokemon that even spoke of escaping got a bullet put into his head right on the spot by those scientist goons" the charmander know as Connor said in a pissy voice.

Then the door barged open. "Oh shit their going to kill you umbreon for even mentioning that" I heard the obnoxious rattata yell across the room.

Then my jaw dropped as I saw who was walking through the door. It was Stark that asshole umbreon who kicked my ass in the first place. He just calmly walked up to my cage and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Alright Black I don't want any bullshit I'm here to get some questions out of you. The kadabra known as Zero wanted me to ask you. So cooperate and make this easy on yourself" Stark said in a cold voice.

"Fuck you, fuck Zero and fuck everyone here" I said in a rebellious voice.

"Don't screw with me Black or you are going to regret many things really fast" He said in a cold voice.

"Now here is what I'm supposed to tell you. There were some samples of DNA taken from you and they are going to perform tests on you until they can prove you are a legit umbreon with the evolution disorder thing they are looking for" Stark said.

"Now until then I'm here to interrogate you and I am allowed to do anything to you that won't kill you" He said in a voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"Now question one. Do you actually admit you have the evolutionary disorder" Stark asked.

"What kind of dumb question is that, your dumb quilava friend saw me use it so go shove your question up your ass" I said in a pissy voice.

Stark was unfazed by my attitude and just preceded with the interrogation. "Question two How much do you know about us" Stark asked.

I thought for a second about an appropriate answer "I know some of your faces and that's it" I said with an attitude.

"Are you sure that's all you know" He questioned me.

"Don't tell him shit" The charmander Connor yelled from his cage.

"How about you don't say shit and I don't kill you" Stark snapped at Connor. He then just sat down and obeyed Stark's orders.

"Third question where is your friends and how much do they know about us" That question really sent shivers down my spine and I feared why he wanted to know that.

"They have nothing to do with this so leave them out of this" I yelled in an angry voice.

"Black, do not test my patience with you. I have no empathy so don't think for a second I won't mind torturing the answers out of you" Stark said in a serious voice that indicated that I was getting close to crossing the line.

"Where are they" Stark demanded.

"I… I don't know honestly we all went separate ways after we were attacked in Luminose" I said in a fearful voice. What I didn't want him knowing is that I knew where they were going and they weren't far from me to begin with.

"Bull shit Black start talking now" Stark said in a dark tone. His voice was now striking fear in every nerve of my body and my heart rate was increasing because of the pressure of the situation.

"I don't know I'm sorry" I said in a scared voice.

"Well that's too bad for you then isn't it" Stark said. He then held out his paw and it glowed in a dark aura similar to the shadow ball attack I used.

"This is dark matter. I'm using a low concentration so it won't do any serious damage but that doesn't mean it won't hurt. Did you know dark matter can do physical damage to a body but it mostly does damage to the nerves of the body when used in a low concentration. So in other words you are going to be enduring a lot of pain here in a few seconds" Stark said as he looked me dead in the eyes.

"I don't know honestly" I said in fear. Everyone that was locked up was now staring at me fearing for me. Yet none of them would dare even say even a word. Crystal the eevee was now shielding her sister from the horrible scene that was about to happen and I just braced myself for the torture I was about to endure.

He then cut the lock clean off of my cell with his paw that was covered in dark matter. The door to my cell slowly creaked open and I took my chances and lunged towards him to try and fight back. Sadly for me he anticipated that and hit me directly in the face with his dark matter paw. The hit itself wasn't to strong but the dark matter burned my face really bad and my nerves in my face felt like they were on fire it was almost unbearable. I sat on the floor holding my face where I was struck and I slowly got back up to my feet once the pain went down a little.

"I'll give you another chance Black, your only hurting yourself" Stark said in a calm yet serious voice that made me feel uneasy.

I then began charging up a shadow ball but he then hit me again with his dark matter paw right in my throat. I fell on the ground and gasped for air as I tried to breathe through my mouth. As I was struggling to breathe Stark then walked up to me and then hit me in my gut really hard and made it ten times harder to breathe. I continued gasping for air and I could feel myself wanting to just give in and tell him what he wanted to know, but I wasn't about to betray the only people who were nice to me the past two years. The dark matter wasn't leaving any serious marks on me yet the nerves around the areas he hit me burned as if they were on fire.

"Black I'm really getting bored here so can you just talk already or I'm going to have to make this more fun for myself using crueler methods" Stark said as he tormented me. I just lied on the ground gasping for air.

Once I caught my breath stark then opened his mouth again "Well not going to talk still are you" he said in an annoyed voice.

Then both of his paws were covered in dark matter and he jumped in the air and landed on me with both of his front paws and I literally felt like I was about to die from the pain. But he wasn't finished their yet then hit me in the face again and I then began to yell in pain. I originally tried not to show any sign of pain so I wouldn't give him any satisfaction of any kind but now I couldn't stand the pain.

"Well your not going to take much more abuse" Stark said. I now was so relieved that he was showing a sign of stopping.

"But hey they can" Stark said as he began walking towards Crystal and Ebony's cell. He then cut off the lock and the door opened on its own. Crystal stood in front of her sister in a defensive position.

"So you want to volunteer huh?" Stark said to Crystal as her sister coward in fear behind her.

"I don't care about myself just leave my sister alone ass face" Crystal said in an intimidating voice.

"Fair enough" Stark said as he punched her in her face and she hit the ground with a solid thump noise.

"Leave her alone!" Ebony yelled in fear as she ran towards her injured sister to try and help her. Stark then punched her in her hip and sent her flying into the side of the cage and she struggled to even move slightly from the blow she received. Stark then bit down on Crystal's fur on her back and began dragging her towards me in her mouth and threw her right in front of me. I tried getting the strength to stand up but my body wouldn't let me and I hated myself so much for it right now.

"Last chance, tell me where your friends are" Stark said in a serious voice.

"Please I don't know I swear to all the legendaries, I promise I don't know anything please don't" I begged in a fearful voice that obviously showed that I was terrified. Crystal was barely conscious and she was now looking into my eyes in absolute terror for her life. Her life was now in my hands and I had to choose who I wanted to die, her or my friends.

"Well Black" Stark said as he began losing his patience with me.

I then thought of something that I could say that would possibly buy me time "You can't kill her. She's your precious specimen for your testing right? You can't kill her she is valuable to you guy's" I said hoping that I was right.

"Think again" Stark said as he looked me dead in the eyes. I then saw his right paw become engulfed in dark matter that had a higher concentration than what he was using before. He then shoved his paw straight through crystals back and I could see her chest slightly opening from the other side and I saw blood come out of her mouth.

"Noooooo!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Stark then removed his paw out of the now dead eevee's back and she lied on the ground lifeless. Her lifelss eyes were frozen in fear as Blood gushed out of the gaping hole that went straight through her back and out her chest and blood was dripping out of her mouth due to the internal bleeding caused by the lethal wound. Everyone in the room looked terrified and in the background I could hear Ebony crying.

I then began looking at the blood that covered Crystal and I then noticed that I was covered in it as well and I then began feeling sick to my stomach and I could feel myself beginning to blackout but I fought it as hard as I could.

"Zero, send in the scientists" Stark yelled out loud. The scientists with the creepy mask's then stormed the room and quickly grabbed me and threw me in my cell and slammed the door. The scientist then attached three locks onto my cage and also locked Ebony's cage back up and then they left the room. The scientists didn't even bother taking crystal's corpse, nor did they look fazed by her dead body.

"Remember Black there is still four pokemon you can still save alive" Stark said as he exited the room.

I just lied in my cage feeling terrified, sick to my stomach and guilty. The room was still silent besides Ebony's crying in the background. I could feel any hope and sanity I had left leaving me as I could feel myself giving up on even living. At this point I accepted that I was dead and I was now responsible for Crystal's death and I didn't deserve life. I was a monster and I wished I would have just died years ago so no one would have gotten hurt over me.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Wow a lot of shit happened lol. Even though I wrote this I couldn't help but feel bad for what I've done to Black in the story lol. Anyways Black now has to make one of the hardest choices in his life since his friends lives are at risk and he literally has to choose who he wants to live. His friends or the Pokemon being held hostage with him. In real life I know I'd struggle with that because I wouldn't be able to put my friends in danger like that, but at the same time I couldn't just watch people get slaughtered in front of me all because of me, so yeah Black is in his own personal Hell right now with no way out. Now on to Stark, Stark is truly an individual who lack empathy for anyone. I'd really love to hear some opinions on Stark since no one has really said anything about him yet so I can't really tell if I'm doing good with him or or not but I'm sure this chapter may have shown people what type of pokemon/person he is. Also i'd pray to god that you guy's put the pieces together and noticed that the pikachu that Flare was talking to was Hesh, if no one noticed then I guess I just suck at writing lol. Anyways we will have to see how everything rolls out from here as Black goes through hell and Hesh tries to find him and Flare and the rest of the team is oblivious and no one even know's where the hell that charmander from before is, and no I didn't forget about him! Anyways long chapter and with that I had a lot of stuff to say. Please take a few seconds to review and show your support. Thanks for reading and thanks you everyone who has reviewed so far/ (Except that troll, ain't no one thankful for yo reviews)


	23. Circumvent

Okay here is a new chapter. Before I say anything I would like to address a small typo I made last chapter that may have mislead some of you. (I did fix it pretty fast but I'm not sure who all read the chap by then) When crystal died last chap I accidentally used ebony's name and it kind of made it sound like ebony died and not crystal. Many of you prob never even saw the typo or if you did you probably put the pieces together but I just wanted to mention it. Anyways onto the story. A lot is going on as everyone looks for the missing pokemon without even knowing Black is one of them. Things are going pretty grim for Black as he must find a way to survive this whole situation. Anyways enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

* * *

**Chapter 23: Circumvent**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

It was now late at night and I decided I was going to take a night walk and enjoy the nice weather. I was now on the beach at the bottom of the mountain following the beach. The almost full moon reflected on the water and lit the area around me just to see where I was going. After about a half hour of walking I came across a few abandoned houses that followed along the beach.

I decided it was kind of interesting so I decided to get a closer look. I was now in front of one of the beach houses. The house looked pretty worn out and it seemed as if no one has maintained these houses in years. I decided to go inside and see how bad it was inside the crap hole in front of me. I slowly walked through the door of one of the houses and entered in. The house reeked of the smell of dust and it was almost too much for me to handle and I felt like I was about to sneeze. The house had normal furniture like most houses, it had a couch along with a table, some counters in the kitchen and the paint was peeling right off the walls.

Then I heard a creaking noise from above me and I saw some dust fall from the floor boards above me. Then I heard a loud snapping noise and the floor above me collapsed. I quickly jumped out of the way and avoided any serious injury. I looked towards where the floor had collapsed but I couldn't see anything due to a big cloud of dust. In the cloud I could hear someone coughing. Then the cloud of dust faded away and I saw a small figure standing in the shadows of the house.

"Who's their" I asked in a serious tone. Not that I was scared or anything I just was in a shady area and you can never be too safe in area like this.

"oww, that hurt" I heard a male voice call out in a pained voice.

"I said who is their" I asked again with a louder voice.

There was silence for a few seconds before I heard anything from the unknown figure again. "Jeez don't worry about my health, I'm just fine" The voice said towards me in annoyance as the unknown pokemon walked out of the shadows. Then I saw the pikachu that ran into me earlier come out of the shadows.

"Hey your that pikachu that ran into me earlier" I said with slight annoyance since I still owed him for that.

"Oh umm you again, sorry about that" the pikachu said as he stretched his body out and cracked his back.

"Its fine I guess. Are you able to walk fine" I asked him. I guess I wasn't going to make a big deal out of him running into me since it was an accident and I wasn't really in the mood for an argument or a fight at the moment.

"Yeah I'm cool, I just landed a little funny that all" the pikachu said as he continued stretching out his body.

"You mentioned you were looking for someone before right, who?" I asked curious why he was in such a hurry.

The pikachu's face then went to a saddened look "I was looking for a friend that was possible abducted" he said in a slightly sad tone. "Not just him though six other pokemon went missing before him and I was just trying to find them" the pikachu said with a look of regret covering his face.

"Pokemon missing huh, I'm great at tracking you know I can possible give you a quick hand tonight but then I got to leave in the morning" I offered him. I wasn't usually the type to offer strangers help but something like this was actually pretty serious and if I could at least help point him in the right direction then I'm sure that would be enough.

"I don't think you should, my friend I was looking for was just helping me and he was abducted."

"Don't worry about me I can take care of myself" I said with a confident voice.

"If you must help me fine, but don't put yourself in danger okay." The pikachu said with a serious voice as he looked me in the yes with a serious glare.

"Oh and my name is Hesh by the way" the pikachu said as he extended his right hand.

"My name is Grayson, but people call me Gray for short" I said as I extended my right paw and shook his hand.

"Great then let's get started" Hesh said with a smile on his face.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It has now been many hours that I have been sitting in this cage. Crystal's body was still decaying on the floor. I lied facing away from her blood corpse because I couldn't stand to see all the blood or her eyes that were frozen in fear. In the background I could still here Ebony crying, she wasn't crying as much as before but she was still crying. I felt so horrible for her, it was my fault that she lost her sister and I just sat there too weak to do anything but watch her die.

I had no idea how long I was going to be in here, but I was sure as soon as they confirmed those test they would probably relocate me and do horrible things to me. I wish there was a way for me to escape this place but I had no way. The bars were too strong on my cell for me to even blast them off with a shadow ball. I had no way to escape or help save those around me and pretty soon Stark was going to kill another pokemon if I didn't tell him where my friends were.

I lied on the floor only thinking about the death's that would soon come. I wished I could just die and let it all end here. But sadly that wouldn't stop everything and my friends would still be in danger.

"Hey umbreon how are you holding up" I heard the squirtle known as Blue call out to me. I just sat there in silence and said nothing. A few minutes passed until he called out to me again "Hey Black come on talk to us" he shouted at me.

"Leave him alone Blue he's probably now realizing were all dead" The rattata said from his cage.

"Shut it, no one is dying" The charmander who went by the name Connor yelled in a pissed off voice. Then everyone in the room started arguing right away and I just wanted it to stop.

"Shut the hell up!" I yelled in an aggressive voice. Everyone stopped arguing and looked into my cell. I was still lying on the floor of my cell refusing to even look anywhere near that dead body.

"Just please let me have some quiet" I said out loud for everyone to here.

"And why in the hell would we do that" The rattata yelled from his cell in the corner of the room.

"Because I'm thinking of how the hell I'm going to get out of here" I snarled towards him. I then heard the rattata laugh obnoxiously at what I said "You can't get out of here we all tried at one point and we all failed. Even if we did get out we'd all get killed right away" the rattata said.

"Well were all dead in here" Connor said in my defense.

"He does have a point" Blue said in agreement. I then heard the rattata make some kind of scowling noise in his frustration of losing the argument.

"Well Black what do you have in mind" Blue asked curiously.

"I don't know yet. I'll probably have to have to make my move when Stark takes me out of my cage to torture me. Problem is I don't know if I can do anything that can stop him then" I said.

"Well you better start strategizing everything completely through because you will only get one chance because if you screw up they'll kill you instantly" Blue said.

"They won't kill me. There is something about me that they want and they will refuse to kill me no matter what" I said. And then an idea came into my head that may actually get us out.

"Actually I think I may have a plan that may work. But it will require a little team work" I said as I then began to tell my cell mates my brilliant plan.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Well I completely failed at what that pikachu from earlier told me to do. Gray was now gone and I had no clue where he was. Luckily for me Alex and Kana were asleep at the moment so I would have until morning to find Gray. I then had the brilliant idea of waking up Kana and making this her problem as well. I jumped up on the bed Kana was happily sleeping on and I began tapping her obnoxiously in her face repeatedly. I then saw her eyes slowly nudge open and she looked at me.

"I'm going to kill you Flare" Kana said in a scary voice. I seemed to have forgotten that Kana becomes a demon when you separate her from her sleep and she is literally terrifying.

"Kana I need your help" I asked her nervously.

"Go away or I'm going to fry your brain with electricity" She said in a grouchy voice as she repositioned herself so she wasn't facing me and she attempted to go back to sleep.

"Kana, Gray is missing and I don't know where he is" I said. Kana's head then shot up instantly as soon as she heard those words.

"Gray's missing are you sure" Kana asked in a concerned voice.

"Well I don't know where he is and someone told me pokemon have been getting abducted lately and I don't want to find out he was added to the collection of missing pokemon.

"Well let's go then" Kana said as she jumped off the bed and headed towards the door. I followed her and we quickly left hotel and began our search. I had no clue where to even begin and I didn't even know my way around this place.

"Kana" I said awkwardly.

"Yeah" She replied.

"Where in Mew's name do we even start" I said as I then began to notice how big this area really was. Kana just looked at me and sighed in slight annoyance. She obviously thought the same thing as me since neither of us knew where to even begin our search.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Blue shot a big stream of water straight towards me from his cage. The water hit my shoulder really hard and the water cut my shoulder right open. I winced from the pain and quickly fell over. I lied on the ground in pain as a small puddle of blood started forming around my wound. I stood back up and then Blue launched yet another stream of water towards me that hit me exactly in the same spot from last time. It instantly made my wound even deeper and I fell back down. Blood was now pouring down from my wound as a steady paste and it hurt like hell.

"Hey someone help. The umbreon is injured and it's lethal" Connor yelled at the top of his lungs. No one came to help me and I lied on the ground slowly bleeding out.

"Seriously the umbreon known as Black is bleeding to death" Connor yelled again at the top of his lungs. A few seconds passed by and then Zero ran into the room in a big hurry. He quickly ran over to my cage and inspected my wound.

"Don't worry I'll get you help" He said in an urgent voice. I guess he used telepathy of some kind because right after two scientists with medical equipment ran in the room and made their way to my cell. The scientist quickly opened my cell and dragged me out. I then let out a small smirk and jumped up and head butted the scientist between his eyes. The other scientist body began shaking and I bet if I could see his face he'd be crying right now. Zero looked at me in a disappointed look as he nodded his head. I then quickly charged towards the other scientist and jumped in the air like a rocket and head butted the other scientist in the gut. He went flying on the ground and began moaning in pain. He then tried standing up again but then vomited all over himself from the blow he received in his gut and passed out in his own body fluids.

"I can't believe you actually fell for that" I said towards zero. "This is one of the most cliché escape tricks and you fell for it" I said in a taunting voice. The kadabra then pointed his hand at me as if he was trying to use some kind of psychic attack on me but I felt absolutely nothing. Luckily for me I was an umbreon and psychic moves didn't work to well against me.

"No luck" I said as I gave him a death glare. I then charged up a shadow ball and launched it right at the kadabra's face. He didn't even have the reflex to blink in time before it made solid contact with his face. He was sent flying back and smashed into the scientist who puked all over himself and he was now covered in puke as well. I would have actually felt bad for the guy if he wasn't holding me hostage and experimenting on pokemon.

I then quickly remembered the plan and that I was slowly bleeding to death and I ran over towards the first scientist I knocked out and grabbed the keys off his unconscious body with my teeth and I ran over to blue's cage and slid the keys through the cage bars.

"Nice job Black" Blue said with a smile on his face as he began unlocking his cage from behind the bars. I would have unlocked it myself but you know umbreon's don't have thumbs. After a few seconds of Blue rustling around with the lock he finally unlocked it and kicked the door open. Blue didn't waste any time and began unlocking everyone's cell. After a few minutes everyone was free and was happy to be out of their cells.

"Sorry about the wound Black, but we need to heal up your wound or you will bleed to death" Blue said in a serious voice. The plan was that he was supposed to injure me with one of his ranged attacks so one of the scientist would be dumb enough to open my cell and then I would beat the living hell out of them. So far everything was going awesome.

Blue ran up to one of the scientist and ripped off a huge section of his lab coat and ran up to me. He then began wrapping the cloth under my arm and over my shoulder multiple times and then eventually tied a knot so it would stay in place. The pressure that was now on my wound hurt but I knew it was for my own health.

"It won't stop the bleeding but it will slow it down enough until we can get you some help" Blue said with a small smile. I then had something I needed to do before we went any further. I walked over to Crystal's dead body. Her body was covered in blood and it did make me feel uneasy but I had to fight my fear of blood to do something quick. I looked into her fearful eyes one last time and I gently put my paw on her eyes and gently closed them so Crystal could rest in peace.

"I'm sorry. I promise I will save your sister at all cost" I said to Crystal. I then walked back towards everyone.

I looked into ebony's eyes. It was obvious she was still emotionally devastated from losing her sister. "Ebony I'm so sorry about your sister. I'm going to get everyone out of here though so we can all live for her" I said. Ebony just gave a small nod towards me as a small tear left her eye.

"Let's get started then" Connor said excitedly.

"I concur" Blue said. The rattata just stood there and waited for things to get started. The door that led outside the hall was still wide open and I was the first one to make the first step towards our freedom. I peeked my head slowly outside into the hallway and thankfully for us it was empty as of now. I looked back and nodded my head at everyone to indicate the coast was clear and we all began moving like ghost down the hall.

Blue then snapped his finger and got all of our attention before we went too far "If I remember correctly from my observations the hallways in this building all go in a loop that forms a square. Around the hallways obviously there are rooms for things such as experimenting and there is also a cafeteria and equipment rooms everywhere. I do think I remember where the exit is from when I was captured" Blue said with an intellectual voice as well all listened carefully.

"Alright then you lead" Connor said. Blue then began leading us down the hall. We all ran down the hall as silent as possible but we tried to keep a steady paste. Then once we reached this end of the hall we turned left and began heading down the hall. The hallway looked like something out of a horror movie that humans would watch. It was dark and gloomy, the lights were dim and they flickered along with a cold chilling atmosphere and then to make this a legit horror movie we had creepy masked scientists roaming around and if they caught us it would be all over and they would possible kill everyone but me.

We moved down the hall as fast as we could without making a sound. Everyone was silent except the rattata who was breathing heavy due to his adrenaline probably being up. After about two minutes of silently running down the long never ending hall we finally came along another turn and we went left since it was the only way to turn.

Then everyone was petrified when they saw a black scyther that was waiting for us behind the corner. The scyther just looked at us with cold eyes that made me feel uneasy. Everyone except for me inched back a few steps. I wasn't going to stand down when I was this close to freedom.

"Think we can take him" Connor asked as smoke left his nostrils from the flame he was charging in his mouth.

"It's our only option. I'll go in close and you use fire based attacks since they are effective on him" I said as I began charging towards the black scyther. Before I was even close to him he swung his arm towards us and sent an air slash towards us. The air slash cut through the air at a high velocity and everyone jumped out of the way without hesitation. I continued moving towards the scyther and he then turned his attention towards me and swung his blade towards me at light speed. I quickly moved out of its reach as Connor shot an ember straight towards the scyther. He just cut straight through the fire ball and caused a mini explosion of flames. The scyther just jumped back away before he was damaged and I felt the explosion of heat against my skin as everyone else shielded their eyes.

Then Blue sent a jet stream of water straight towards the scyther. The scyther then jumped over the jet stream of water and stuck his bladed arm into the ceiling and used his arm to swing himself towards us as he flew through the air at light speed. Connor then sent out a huge flamethrower but the scyther then jumped to the side and continued running towards them not even losing the slightest bit of speed.

Once he reached them he then began swinging his bladed arms quickly towards everyone. They all barely got out of the way in time. I then saw my chance and sent a shadow ball towards his back. The scyther quickly turned around and ducked under it and then began charging towards me at light speed. He sent another air slash towards me and I jumped to the side in a sloppy motion. By the time I hit the floor he had already caught up to me and landed a solid kick on me and sent me sliding along the cement floor. The wound in my shoulder was now aching and I knew if I kept moving like this I was going to undo the bandage that was barely keeping me from bleeding to death.

The scyther now redirected his attention towards the rest of the group and began making his way quickly towards them. I quickly followed behind him in an attempt to help fight him. Blue sent out another stream of water towards the scyther but he just moved out of the way and kicked blue right in the face and sent him flying. Connor released a massive flamethrower that would have turned anything in its path into cinder. A cloud of smoke covered the area and I slowly made my way towards it fearing what I would see once it cleared up. Once it did clear I saw Connor lying on the floor groaning in pain and the black scyther standing unharmed.

The rattata just cowered in fear away from the scyther while Ebony stood up strong towards the scyther. The scyther then readied his blade and charged towards the defenseless eevee who closed her eyes and accepted her imminent death. Luckily for her I was just fast enough and I jumped in front of her with a very strong shadow ball charged. Right before I could launch it towards the scyther, he stabbed me in my left hip really good. I then released the shadow ball right as he withdrew his blade out of my body. The shadow ball violently exploded and sent the scyther flying into the wall and I could tell he was unconscious for now.

Everyone quickly got back up and regrouped around me. "Good job Black you saved all of our asses just now" Connor said. I just gave out a small smile and I then tried taking a small step forwards. My whole body then screamed in pain as I fell to the ground. I quickly realized that the stab wound I received in my left hip was a lot deeper than I thought and I may have been seriously injured now. Everyone gathered around me and Blue and Connor both helped me back up to my feet carefully.

"Come on Black don't stop here we are literally next to the exit" Blue said with a reassuring voice. They both helped support my weight as we all slowly made our way down the hall. Everyone was fine except for me. Ebony was safe thanks to me saving her and the rattata probably nearly shit himself from the stress of that fight.

Blue and Connor slowly helped me down the hall as everyone else followed while keeping an eye on our back. When we were halfway down the hall we came by a door.

"This is it this is the exit" Blue said with a big smile on his face.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

Flare and I aimlessly wondered around this mountain almost all night until we finally found Gray wondering around with a pikachu. We were both confused on why he was with the pikachu but we were just happy to find him.

"Gray!" Flare yelled in excitement as he ran towards Gray. Gray quickly noticed us and walked towards us with a lot less enthusiasm. We were now on the side of the mountain on a random trail that led to an unknown location.

"What are you doing here" Gray asked in a slightly surprised voice.

"We were looking for you dummy" I said in reply to Gray.

"Why" Gray asked.

"Because you were missing and this area has had a lot of pokemon gone missing lately" Flare said in a serious voice. The pikachu Gray was roaming around with then decided to intervene.

"That's what we were looking for" The pikachu said to Flare. It looked like Flare recognized the pikachu from the awkward expression on his face.

"Why did you let him help you when I offered to help earlier" Flare said in an offended voice.

"Because your friend was already out wondering around and he offered to help and I had a change of heart I guess" The pikachu said while scratching the back of his head.

"Well now we can all search together" I said out loud. I actually wouldn't have minded helping out a little myself since this was just horrible to even here about and I always looked forward to helping people and pokemon.

"Well fine just stick together and no matter what don't travel alone" The pikachu said in a slightly annoyed voice.

We all then began searching together for the missing pokemon in the area for the remainder of the night.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Blue slowly got the door to our freedom open. The door slowly opened and we all waited in excitement. Connor and Blue helped me through the door and Ebony and the coward rattata followed behind us. We were all shocked once we were outside because we were in a normal house. The house itself looked pretty clean and well maintained. There was clean carpet throughout the house along with furniture and the mother of all flat screens mounted onto the wall. The house was also at a comfortable temperature.

"The hell" Connor said in a confused tone. We all walked through the normal house and slowly went towards the front door. Then I noticed something that was bad. I noticed a camera watching us from the ceiling.

"There is a camera watching us there" I said as I pointed at the camera with a shaky paw. Then we all heard and alarm start going off and we all knew it was time for us to run like hell. We all made our way quickly towards the front door and opened it. Once we were outside I took in a nice breath of fresh air, I could tell by looking at the sky that it was night, but I could also tell that the night was practically over and within the hour the sun would be coming up. We were now on the mountain and I looked back at the house that the lab we were in was connected to. The house literally just looked like a normal house that no one would think twice about looking at.

"That house must have been a disguise for the evils within" Blue said with an angry voice "After this is done I'm exposing them for what those monsters are."

Connor and Blue then continued helping me escape as Ebony and Danny the coward rattata followed behind. Every step I took I felt as if I was being stabbed again by that scyther. I really felt like stopping here but I knew I had to push on and fight the pain.

After about thirty minutes of slowly making our way down the mountain we could see some of the people from the facility we were in following us. They appeared to now be armed with heavy duty fire arms and they still wore the creepy masks to protect their identity. Connor let go of me for a second and launched a fire ball up towards the armed hunters. They jumped out of the way right away and we all began moving as fast as we could. Every few seconds Connor would let go of me and launch a few embers towards them to try and take them out. Eventually he got a hit on one of them and the scientist fell down with smoke sizzling above his body. The other scientist helped his fallen comrade and grabbed a radio out of his pocket and probably began radioing in for some backup.

We had lost the scientists who were hunting us for now but there was a blood trail following us, so it wasn't going to be a challenge for them to find us. I was now breathing really heavy and every step I took the pain got worse and worse and I was reaching my limit. After about thirty minutes of walking I then reached my pain capacity and I would have fell down if Connor and Blue weren't holding onto me.

"Stop, please just stop" I said in a pained voice. Connor and Blue quickly yet gently set me down on the cold rocks we were on and gave me a second to rest from the pain I was experiencing.

"Are you okay" Blue asked me in a worried voice. I looked at him with my crimson eyes.

"I can't go on like this" I said in a pained voice. Blood was slowly making its way out of my wound and I was in no way thrilled about that.

"You have to" Connor said. Off in the distance we could here a few gun shots from the people looking for us. They were most likely just blind firing hoping to get a lucky shot on us.

"No you guys need to get the hell out of here. It's me they really want. And if they capture me they will most likely settle for that" I said with a shaky voice as I breathed really hard.

"We can carry you if we have to though" Connor said in a desperate voice.

"Yeah and I'll slow you all down until you get caught with me. Just leave me. Go to Amberette town and look for a pikachu named Hesh, he will help you all" I said. Everyone looked at me with saddened expressions. Blue and Connor just looked at each other and nodded. Ebony looked like she was about to cry and the rattata that has been of no help just sat there not really looking like her cared to much about me.

"Alright Black we are going to go and find help for you" Connor said with a small smile. Ebony then decided to walk up to me and say her goodbyes to me while I was still alive. She looked like she was about to break down crying again but I wasn't going to blame her, she was young and she was going through a lot right now.

"Black thanks" Ebony said in a faint voice followed by a sob. I just nodded at her and Connor grabbed her shoulder and began directing her in the direction they were running. I watched as everyone quickly ran to safety and left me like I told them to. Despite the fact I was screwed I was a little happy since I at least got to do one thing right with my life.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well their is the end of chapter 23. You guys can expect a awesome finale to this part of the story. (This part not the entire story lol) Anyways a lot is going on as the missing pokemon try to escape and Black choose to stay behind so they can have a better chance of escaping. Black is also seriously wounded and is barely able to move at this chance and he will need medical assistance asap. Also I hope i didn't rush the escape to fast. I just didn't want to waste a lot of time writing about how depressed Black would have been if he was stuck their and write about the others wondering around. Anyways I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I promise things are about to get good again. Also the reason I have been updating so much lately is because I'm on spring break and I've had a bit of time every other day lol.


	24. Life's End

**Well here is Chapter 24. I loved writing this chapter because it was kind of emotional and fun to write. I won't spoil to much on it but their will be a bit to talk about in the author's note at the end. Thanks for reading and thanks again for everyone who takes a little time to leave a review you guys/gals are awesome and deserve a medal or something cool like that lol.**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Life's End**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I was now travelling down a path very nervously with Kana, Gray and the pikachu I just met known as Hesh. We were traveling down a path that followed the side of the mountain now. The reason we were heading in this direction is because we could hear the sound of gunshots off in the distance. Kana had an uneasy look on her face and she almost looked a little sick, Gray looked like he was on guard and he was very jumpy from even the smallest noises and Hesh was just walking down the path with a lot of confidence not fearing the danger ahead.

"Are we sure this is a good idea" Kana asked with a slightly shaky voice.

Hesh just looked at her funny "Towns back that way" he said as he pointed her towards town. I honestly wouldn't of minded heading back to town because honestly I was not really interested in feeling what it's like to get shot by a gun, although not to sound weird I was kind of curious at the same time what it felt like. Not that I would go testing it out, it was just an interesting thought.

The night was now almost over and we could see the sky going from its black darkness to a dark blue and soon the sun would be out and would bring the world back to life.

"What about you Gray do you think this is safe in anyway" Kana asked him, trying to get someone to bail out with her. "Kana if you want to go back that's fine, my opinion on you can't possibly get any lower" Gray with a snide smirk on his face. I was pretty sure that was just Gray's cruel humor and that he didn't really mean it completely.

"Jeez thanks" Kana said as she rolled her eyes at him in slight annoyance. I could tell Kana was worried because usually she would have just laughed that off, so obviously her personality was a little thrown off from the danger we were heading towards. All I knew is that we were running out of time and if Alex woke up before we were in town it was going to be very ugly for everyone.

Then we saw something that made Hesh's face freeze in shock. Running towards us was a group of four pokemon. There was a young looking eevee, a charmander, a squirtle with a little blood on him and a rattata that was breathing as if he had horrible asthma.

"Hesh" The charmander yelled towards the yellow pikachu who was still shocked.

"Connor" Hesh said quietly as he took in what he was seeing. "Where in the hell were you" Hesh yelled in a pissed off voice.

The charmander stopped dead in his tracks as soon as Hesh yelled and he stared at him not know what to say.

"Then the squirtle stepped in front of the charmander "We were all abducted by some odd individuals" the squirtle said speaking for the charmander. I was very shocked, we were looking for them this whole time and in the end they came to us.

"No time for introductions though our friend is injured and he needs medical attention now" the squirtle said in a dire voice.

"Please help" the small eevee said with a shy voice. I looked at her and she was shaking from everything that was going on and there was no way anyone who was sane could say no to a face like that.

"I'll help" I said out loud with a small smile to show my confidence. The eevee then let out a small smile. Gray then stepped forward and gave a small nod to show that he was in.

"I came all this way to lend a hand" Hesh said with a small smirk.

We all turned our attention at Kana who was still undecided. "Well" Gray asked her with an impatient voice.

"I'll see if I can help" She said in a slightly more confident voice than before.

"Much obliged" the squirtle said in a happy voice.

"I'm not trying to get out of this but Ebony and I are going to get the police and some medical assistance for our friend while you all go and help are friend" the squirtle said.

"I'll be coming with you Blue" the rattata who was breathing hard said.

"Okay fair enough, Connor lead me to your injured friend" Hesh said quickly agreeing to the squirtle's plan. Connor then nodded and began running in the direction of his wounded friend. We all followed Connor towards the direction of the gunshots we heard earlier. I was just hoping nothing to dangerous was up ahead and that we would be there in time.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I was still lying on the floor bleeding to death slowly. It has now been about five or ten minutes and the pain in my hip had calmed down a little. I decided that it was time for me to at least attempt not to let those bastards capture me so easily. I then rolled over slowly and began using all of my will strength to get back up. The instant I even started using my muscles my wound instantly started feeling an intense sharp pain that was excruciating. I eventually made it to my feet and I took a second to let the pain die down. A little before I started moving again, I was breathing really heavy now and no matter how much I breathed I could not catch my breath.

I then slowly began making my way down the mountain. I knew if the scientist knew anything about tracking they would just follow my blood trail to my soon to be dead body. I took baby steps down the mountain and made my way towards the beach. If I was going to die I was at least going to die somewhere peaceful. Every step I took down the mountain I could feel the sharp pain in my wound screaming bloody murder and I just wanted to stop here.

"Almost their" I said to myself in between my pained breaths. I didn't know why but the scientists that were after me weren't here yet. Then I started to fear that they may have been too dumb to follow my blood trail and they went for my friends. I tried shaking the thought out of my head and I continued my descent down the mountain.

After about five minutes of inching my way down the mountain my body gave out and I slipped and fell. Sadly for me physics was not my friend at the moment and I tousled down the mountain for a few seconds before I could catch myself. I yelled in agonizing pain at the top of my lungs. My body hurt before but now it was ten times worse. I didn't waste any time after my scream though, I quickly began getting to my feet and I continued my descent.

After a few minutes of walking down a mountain half dead I finally made it to the beach at the bottom of the mountain. The sand on the beach was nice and cool on my soar paws. Off in the distance of the ocean I could see the sun slowly rising and it lit the entire ocean on fire in a variety of fiery colors. The sun was pretty blinding, but it made the scene perfect.

"It's a good day to die" I said to myself jokingly as I gently lied down on the sand. The sun's rays were slowly heating up my cold body and made me even more comfortable with my death. The ocean waves gently went up and down the beach making a really soothing noise as it went along the sand and retracted back into the deep sea. Life's end wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

"Found you" I heard a voice I resented call out from behind me. I slowly shifted my glance and I saw Stark standing about five meters away from me. He then slowly made his way towards me.

"Can't I just die in peace" I said in a slightly annoyed voice.

"No I'm afraid that would be bad for the Crimson Dawn" he said towards me.

"Who?" I asked" in a confused voice.

"Not the scientists who held you hostage but the pokemon who are after you" Stark enlightened me on the name of the group of pokemon after me.

"Then who the hell are the scientist and what the hell were they doing to everyone their" I asked in a slightly angered voice.

"The scientists go by the name of Team Genesis and they are a large group of underground scientists throughout Kalos who experiment on pokemon. Although they are mostly popular for creating artificial pokemon and using them for their own use or selling them to the highest bidder in an underground market" Stark said.

"I've never heard of them" I said in a faint voice.

"No surprise they are good at concealing their existence to the world" Stark said as he looked off into the sunrise.

"I have one question for you Stark" I said as I raised my head and looked stark in his blue eyes. He shifted his glance and gave me his full attention "Go ahead Shoot" he said.

"How do you kill someone like that eevee back in that facility and not feel anything. What kind of heartless monster does that" I said as I felt myself slowly coming back to life from my anger that was building up.

"How do I kill someone and feel nothing?" Stark repeated the question I asked "I guess it has to do with how I was raised. I wasn't raised in the wild like you nor was I raised by a loving family that taught me morals of any kind. I was raised to be a killer" Stark said as he looked at me with piercing eyes.

Stark then continued to enlighten me on his background story "The first memory I can even remember was when I was with my trainer. Although we weren't on a mission to get gym badges, he was a hitman that was greedy and would just about kill anyone if the price was right" Stark said as he continued his story.

I just listened to his somewhat interesting background story that seemed like a Hollywood movie humans would watch. "So I was raised to kill and in order to do that my trainer made sure to break my soul. I had a really close friend at one point in my life when my trainer and I were staying low in some country town. As soon as my trainer found out he literally took that pokemon deep into the woods and butchered him in front of me just to prove a point. I wasn't allowed to have friends, I was his tool nothing more and he had no use for tools with emotions" Stark said with slight anger towards his old trainer.

"Anyways I'd get into my life more but I'm afraid you will die before it's over so why don't I take you back and I'll tell you the rest after you tell me where your friends are" Starks said as he quickly got back down to business. I quickly froze up in fear. He was going to now save me just so he could get some answers out of me. I was just hoping he was going to let me die their but it seemed he had different plans than me.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We all anxiously followed the trail until we came upon a trail of blood. "He was right here" Connor yelled in frustration. After a little more observation Connor quickly realized that the trail of blood led down the mountain, which indicated the wounded pokemon probably moved on his own.

"Guys who is he?" Kana said in a really shaky voice that really worried me. Everyone quickly shifted their glance to where Kana was looking and we all saw a black scyther standing on a giant rock on the path. We all took a few steps back.

"Who the hell are you" Gray snarled in a vicious voice towards the black scyther. The scyther then jumped off the rock and went towards gray with his blade. Gray foresaw the attack and quickly jumped away to safety. The scyther's blade hit the ground and left a good sized cut in the rock ground. I gulped at that sight. I could only imagine the kind of cuts those blades would make against flesh and bone.

"Fine we'll play along with you" Gray said in a taunting tone. "Flare, Kana, Hesh go to your friend, charmander you have a type advantage and I don't so you stay here and help me beat the living hell out of this bug" Gray said with confidence.

We were all hesitant about leaving Gray and Connor with such a dangerous looking opponent but I knew if Gray couldn't handle him he could at least kill the bug with his horrible attitude. We all obeyed his orders and quickly ran down the mountain in the direction of the blood trail. After about five minutes of walking the trail led to a beach. On the beach we saw an umbreon that was white standing over something black.

Hesh didn't waste any time and quickly bolted down the mountain towards the umbreon in an angry manner. Kana and I followed at a much slower paste since we weren't use to navigating around on a mountain. Once Hesh reached the bottom he froze and his fist tightened up in an angry manner and I noticed he was gritting his teeth and death staring the white umbreon. Once I got closer I noticed what the white umbreon was standing above.

"Black" I said faintly in disbelief of what I was seeing. Kana stood next to me in shock as well not believing what she was seeing. The white umbreon then turned around and moved away from Blacks body and revealed a giant wound in his hip that was bleeding quite a bit.

"Black" I yelled towards my long lost friend. I saw him shift his glare towards us.

"Flare… Run" I heard him say as his head fell to the ground.

"You know Black" Hesh asked me while he kept full eye contact on the white umbreon.

"Yeah Black is my friend" I said as I felt fury building up inside me. The white umbreon then looked at us with a slightly shocked look.

"Well this will save me the time of beating the answers out of your friend, it looks like you came to me" The umbreon said with a voice that set my teeth on edge.

"What" Kana said in a worried voice that was shaky.

"My colleagues have been looking for you, you know since your all loose ends" he said as he took a step towards us. Kana took a step back, but Hesh and I held our ground.

"Wait let me help him" Hesh said in a worried voice towards the umbreon. The umbreon just looked at him in a confused manner. "Let me try and stop his bleeding please" Hesh said in a desperate voice.

The umbreon just stood there for a second and considered what he was saying "Fine, but no tricks" the umbreon said with a serious voice. "No tricks" Hesh said as he walked towards Black cautiously with his hands up. The white umbreon just took a few steps away from Black and gave Hesh some room to help Black. Hesh had no equipment on him to help at all so the best Hesh could do was put his hands on Black's wound and apply pressure. Black was still conscious so when Hesh applied the pressure he winced in pain from the pressure.

"It's going to be okay Black were here to help you" Hesh said in a calm voice.

"Jolteon are you fast" Stark asked her. Kana then froze up a little from him asking her a question like that so randomly.

"I'll take your silence as a yes, run down the left side of the beach and there should be a lifeguard tower somewhere. Once you find it there should be some medical supplies for your friend" the umbreon said as he pointed in the direction of the lifeguard tower. Kana just looked at me for a second not really knowing what to do.

"Just go Kana we'll be fine" I whispered to her. She gave a small nod and ran as fast as she could towards the life guard tower along the beach the umbreon spoke of.

I just awkwardly stood here keeping a close eye on the white umbreon. "Are you the one who hurt Black" I asked with a serious voice.

"Not the wound on his side that was caused by my comrade" the umbreon said with a small yawn. I felt kind of insulated that he would even consider yawning at a situation like this.

"Then why are you letting us heal him" I said in an untrusting tone.

"Not that I care for him, it's just that someone wants him alive and no matter what he can't die" the umbreon said as he stretched his body out a little.

After a few minutes Kana came running back with a big first aid kit in her mouth. She got close to Black but she refused to get close to the white umbreon.

"I'm not going to kill you yet so just give him the kit" the umbreon snapped at her. She then cautiously brought the kit to Hesh. Hesh quickly opened it up and it revealed bandages and a liquid container and a stitching kit. Hesh gulped and then wiped some sweat off his head as he began to take out the equipment.

Black just looked at Hesh with a weak and tired glare. "He's just going to kill all of you once this is over, run while you can" Black said in a faint voice.

"Don't worry about us just try and focus on staying awake" Hesh said in a calm voice as began unscrewing the lid to the liquid container. The container appeared to be rubbing alcohol and I knew that pouring it on a wound as deep as Black's was going to burn like fire, but at least it would keep him from getting an infection.

"This may sting a little buddy but just hang in their okay" Hesh said as he then placed a hand on Black to hold him still. Black just looked away as Hesh began pouring the alcohol in his wound. The instant the rubbing alcohol made contact with his wound he quickly began wincing and squirming in pain as he let out a groan of pain here and there. Black's eyes were now clenched shut as he gritted his teeth in an attempt to cope with the pain he was in.

"Okay that's the worst part Black, now I just need to stop the bleeding a little more and I'm going to stitch up your wound, can you hang in there for me buddy" Hesh said in a somewhat professional caring doctor voice. Hesh then took out a cloth and began pressing in on the wound and Black then began wincing in pain again.

"I know, I know it hurts just hang in there for me bud" Hesh said with a small reassuring smile in an attempt to calm Black down a little.

"Is he going to be fine" the white umbreon asked in a serious unpleasant voice.

"If I can stop the bleed he will be fine for a while, but he needs a hospital now before he gets worse" Hesh said towards the umbreon.

After about a few minutes of watching Hesh apply pressure to Blacks wound the bleeding was finally slowing down.

"Okay I can now move onto the next part. Black I need you to stand completely still" Hesh said as he looked Black dead in the eyes. Black just gave a weak nod as Hesh began pulling out the stitching kit.

"I can't watch this" Kana said as she turned her head as if she was about to puke. I on the other hand was going to keep a good eye on our white umbreon to make sure he didn't try anything.

Hesh was now holding two tweezers, one in each hand. He also had out a long wire that was attached to a suture needle. Hesh then took a deep breath and grabbed the suture needle with the tweezers in his hand and then he grabbed Blacks flesh with the tweezers from inside the wound and held it out and then put the needle through the inside of his wound and then put it through the other side of the wound and then moved up along the wound and went to the other side of the wound and put it through the flesh of the wound and then put it in the exact opposite side of the wound and continued the process until he was about five stitches in on each side. Once he was five stitches in he pulled the wire from both sides of the wound together and the flesh from Black's wound came together and he began tying a knot to hold the flesh together. Once the knot was done he took a deep breath and wiped some sweat off his head.

The wound was only around one third sealed by now and there was still quite a bit to go. The whole time Hesh was stitching up Black, Black just tried his best not to make sudden movements as he closed his eyes. Every here and there you could see Black grit his teeth tighter from being uncomfortable. I could only imagine the pain he was going through and how horrible it must feel to get stitches put in you without any form of pain killer.

After around ten minutes of watching Black being stitched up Hesh finally made a knot on the final stitch and the wound was now sealed up completely. Hesh let out a sigh of relief and quickly sat down to relax from having to focus so long. Black on the other hand was still conscious and just lied their probably exhausted from his near death experience.

"Is he completely stable now" The umbreon asked as he looked at Black.

"Yeah as long as he doesn't move around too much we should be able to get him to a hospital alive" Hesh said with an exhausted voice.

"Good" The umbreon said as he walked over to Black. Everyone including Hesh all got really on edge as he moved towards black. Black tried moving away but the white umbreon then hit him in the temple of his head with his paw really hard. I then watched as Black's body went limp and he fell unconscious.

"The hell was that for" I yelled in anger as I began charging a flame thrower in my mouth.

"I don't want him getting hurt while we finish up here" The umbreon said as he looked us in the eyes.

"I thought you were going to let us go" Hesh said in a betrayed voice as he got away from the umbreon as fast as possible.

"I never said that, you asked to heal him and I allowed you to. I'll make you a deal though" the umbreon said to us. We all just stared at him with killer eyes and waited to battle him.

"If you can kill me, you can take your friend with you, but I don't think any of you have a chance of landing a scratch on me" he said in a taunting voice. We all just continued staring at him.

"You can tell a lot about someone's battle experience by looking into their eyes. I can tell you have seen a little bit of experience fennekin since your eyes glow with confidence, but that is also one of your weaknesses and the pikachu on the other hand just wants to smash my skull in, but judging by his glare he's probably the most experience out of all of you and the jolteon over there. I can tell you are a coward just by looking at you" He said as he judged all of us just by the look into our eyes.

"Shut it" Hesh yelled with fury in his tone.

"I remember one time I fought a pokemon who was a member of the elite four, now that was one hell of a battle, sadly it did end in a draw but I think we both held out pretty good. Do you think you can match the power of a member of the elite four" The umbreon gloated with pride as he took a step towards us.

I knew if he was telling the truth then we were all in serious trouble since we all struggled to beat the first gym leader. I could feel a bead of sweat rolling down my head as I swallowed the saliva in my mouth and prepared for a fight to protect all of our lives.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well as I said at the beginning I loved writing this chapter it was entertaining just to write. Anyways I bet Black really loved getting that medical attention without any pain killers. Anyways for those of you who don't know what a suture is it's a hook like needle used for surgery. Before I made this chap I actually looked up some real surgery video's that way I could give a good description on that stitching scene. Anyways some of Stark's background was revealed but I promise you that's just the beginning of his story. (I won't spoil much) Gray and Connor are now fighting that black scyther and I'm sure he will put up a good fight. Anyways a lot is going on and things are getting very intense for our cast of character as they all fight for what they believe'n. Thanks for reading and as always I'm going to thank everyone who reviews and reads.


	25. Betrayal

Well this will be the 25th chapter I've made so far and i'm pretty happy. I think this fan fic is coming along really well for my first ever attempt at writing a story and I really enjoy it. I never really knew what to expect from people since I've never tried anything like this before. I'm not sure if i've gotten good results for my story being 25 chaps in and its only been up for a month and a half. Either way I am happy with the results and I really do enjoy seeing people enjoying my story and it means a lot to me. I'd like to thank everyone who has read and followed my story up to this point I can't put my gratitude in context honestly so hopefully you all get the point lol. Anyways enough about that now on to the story. Flare, Hesh and Kana are now about to fight Stark in an intense battle while Connor and Gray fight Kane/the black scyther. Things are going to get crazy as the chaos begins to wrap up.

* * *

**Chapter 25: Betrayal**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

The scyther, Connor and I were facing was fast, really fast. Connor and I were still at the same spot as before on the mountain, we were now on our toes from the black scyther who's speed was unmatched by any living organism.

"This is bad" Connor said as a bead of sweat dropped off his forehead. I couldn't agree more but I was going to refuse to show any sign of fear or weakness. The scyther was just watching us from a safe distance of about ten meters away as we tried to come up with a plan that didn't end with us dying. The truth was that the scyther was stronger than both of us, a better fighter and there was no hope of us out running the bug. We were in a tight situation and we needed an advantage fast.

The scyther then got bored of us just thinking and he moved in for an attack with his blades. Faster than I can blink he ran up in front of me and swung both of his blades horizontally in a scissor motion in an attempt to decapitate me. I quickly ducked as fast as I cold. I did not like the fact I could feel the blade cutting the fur on my head. That was to close for my taste. Then once I ducked the scyther then planted his foot right in my jaw and sent me flying to the ground in pain. Connor then launched a flame thrower that covered a good amount of area, but the scyther was faster than his flames and jumped out of the way without any struggle.

Connor quickly ran over to me and helped me to my feet. I flexed out my jaw a few times and heard a satisfying crack. I then felt my anger inside of me building up. I then charged up an ice beam and launched it straight towards the scyther. He just simply moved out of the way with his unmatched speed. Connor then launched a smokescreen at the scyther and clouded the whole area around him with smoke.

"Keep a good ice beam ready" Connor whispered into my ears as he launched a big flamethrower towards the scyther. Everything in the smoke was consumed in flames, besides the scyther that jumped out of the smokescreen and was now in the air using his wings to fly. I then shot my ice beam right at him and the scyther couldn't move this time, but he managed to absorb most of the impact by crisscrossing is blades and forming an X. The attack itself may have done little to nothing, but the force of the impact caused him to fall out of the sky and hit the ground. Almost instantly when the scyther hit the ground he flung himself back up like a ninja would and got back into his fighting stance.

"Well… damn" Connor muttered. That was literally the best we could come up with and it still hardly did anything to help us win.

"Connor launch another smoke screen and do what you did last time" I said as I simulated a decent plan in my head.

Connor did as I said and launched a smokescreen towards the scyther. The scyther was now covered in the smoke and I began sprinting towards the smoke. Connor launched his flame thrower and consumed all of the smoke. The scyther then popped out of the smoke and I tackled him instantly after he came out with everything I had and sent him on the ground. The moment he hit the ground I charged up the strongest ice beam I could and hit him with it. The beam hit his torso and it froze it almost solid. The scyther was now showing an expression of surprise with big widened eyes. The scyther slowly climbed up to his feet and observed his frozen torso.

He then took his blade and smashed the blunt side against the ice and smashed the ice right off his chest. The damage done to the bugs shell was pretty bad and a little more and he would finally have a weak spot.

"Connor keep going for his chest the shell on his body is weak their" I said to Connor who nodded in acknowledgement.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We all waited not knowing what to expect from the white umbreon. He just walked towards us calmly. The umbreon's back was to the sun, so we all had to look into the sun to be able to watch his movements. Then the umbreon darted towards us with lightning speed. He was heading towards Kana and she just froze in her tracks not even blinking. Hesh then shot a lightning bolt right in front of Kana which caused the umbreon to seize his attack on Kana. He then looked at Hesh, who was staring him down with eyes full of confidence.

"You want to die first then" The umbreon said as he shifted his attention towards Hesh. The umbreon's right paw then started glowing with a dark aura that was similar to how Black's shadow ball attack looked.

"What the…" Hesh said in a nervous voice as he took a step back. The umbreon then ran towards Hesh and swung his paw at Hesh. Hesh quickly dodged out of the way. The umbreon then kept jumping towards Hesh at light speed while swinging his paw at him until Hesh tripped and fell on the ground. I knew I only had one chance and I shot an ember at the umbreon, right before the umbreon could hit Hesh with his paw with the dark aura. The umbreon quickly jumped back to safety from my ember.

Hesh quickly climbed to hit feet and got into a fighting stance. "Be on guard this guys no joke" Hesh said out loud for us to here.

Kana stood her ground next to me, I could tell she was scared, but she wasn't the type to back down when her friends needed her. I just prayed that she wouldn't get hurt again since she still had little to no fighting experience.

"Were finished here" the umbreon said as he inhaled a deep breath. He then blew a giant wave of dark matter straight towards us like a flamethrower. We all quickly jumped to the side barely escaping the attack with our lives. Obviously the attack was lethal since the dark matter ate away the sand on the ground where the attack touched.

The umbreon then inhaled another breath before we were hardly back on our feet and launched another wave of dark matter similar to my flamethrower. We all struggled to get out of the way again. I looked over to Kana and she was just fine, but I noticed Hesh's leg was wounded by the dark matter and it ate away the skin on his leg. Hesh tried standing up on his leg but he quickly fell down and gritted hit teeth in pain.

The umbreon then inhaled another breath and we all got ready to dodge. Kana had other plans though and dashed straight towards the umbreon as she conducted electricity through her whole body. I've never seen her move so fast and she rammed her whole body into the white umbreon and caused him to misfire his dark matter into the air. Instantly after Kana tackled him she tripped and fell on the ground in a clumsy manner. The umbreon on the other hand slowly got up off the ground with his muscles pulsing with electricity. For someone who was just shocked he sure was taking it quite well since I'd still be trying to get over the pain. The umbreon then shifted his gaze at Kana who was still on the ground.

"Maybe you aren't the coward I predicted. I actually respect the risk you took" the umbreon said to Kana as he walked over to her. "To bad you are already dead" he said as he raised his shadow paw above her. Time slowed down as I watched as the umbreon was about to slaughter one of my closest friends. I tried charging up an ember but there was no way it would make it in time. The umbreon then sent hit paw towards her body to finish her. Kana then rolled onto her back and shot a thunder bolt right in the umbreon's face right as his paw made contact with her. The umbreon quickly flew back and I could see every muscle in his body tensing up from the electricity. This time he stayed on the ground and it was now my turn to help. I then shrouded my entire body in flames and charged straight towards the umbreon who was now slowly getting to his feet. The instant he noticed me his eyes widened and I made full contact with him in a fiery explosion as I tackled him with my whole entire existence. The umbreon went flying back and hit the sand on the ground with a few scorch marks on his fur.

I quickly ran over to Kana to make sure she was alright. "Kana are you okay" I yelled in a shaky voice worrying that she may have gotten injured. She just looked at me with a smile and revealed a small cut on her chest. The wound wasn't deep at all and was just a graze on the surface of her chest. If she was one second slower though this whole scene would be a tragedy right now.

"Flare" I heard Hesh call out from where he was sitting with his wounded leg. I then turned around and all I could see was the white umbreon head-butting me right between the eyes. I quickly fell to the ground as the whole world around me became blurry and I felt a horrible migraine in my head. Kana tried tackling the umbreon again but he then punched her in the face with his paw before she could make contact. Kana fell to the ground next to me. Hesh watched as me and Kana fell to the ground. Hesh then stood up and began trying to limp to us with his injured leg but he quickly fell down and he was now dragging himself towards us in a desperate attempt to help.

"You three put up a good fight, better than I thought you would… But it's over now" He said as his right paw was covered by his dark aura. Kana seemed to be unconscious from the blow she took and Hesh was too far away to do anything.

"Just do what your going to do" I said faintly to him. I then closed my eyes and just prayed that this was going to be quick as I blocked everything out of my head and the world fell silent.

"That's far enough Stark" I heard an unfamiliar voice call out. I then heard what sounded like guns being cocked and I opened my eyes and saw a kadabra standing off in the distance with five creepy men in tactical gear with a mask's on that made their face look like a blank human face. The scientists had on tactical vest and were armed with assault rifles and they were pointed on the white umbreon.

"Just who the hell's side are you on" the umbreon snarled. The kadabra looked unfazed by the umbreon who was addressed as Stark. Stark didn't look scared at all by the guns pointed at him and just held his ground as he death glared the armed men.

"They can be used as experiments, no need to kill them just yet" the kadabra said. The fact that he was considering using us as experiments sent shivers down my spine and I began pondering what horrible things he had in mind for us.

"The Crimson Dawn wanted them dead and that's what I'm doing" the umbreon said with a slightly calmer voice.

"You work for us Stark not them, they were just paying for your services. You seemed to have misinterpreted where your loyalties lie" the kadabra said with a calm voice.

"I'm loyal to neither I was just paying off a debt that's all" Stark said.

"Well now you owe us for killing all of our scientists who were sent to capture the umbreon" the kadabra said.

"I only did that because they were shooting their guns and could have possibly killed the umbreon. The men you use on your black op team are untrained and lack basic skills. You should have left It to me from the start" Stark snarled at the Kadabra

"Well I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but we are going to have to put you in your place once we get back to base" the kadabra said.

"Put me in my place" Stark said in an infuriated voice. "Stop talking to me like I have to help you guys. I am not your slave and I can do as I please" Stark said in complete anger as he took a step forward.

The kadabra just let out a small chuckle as if Stark was a moron "On the contrary, we created you so we own you Stark."

The moment those words left the kadabra's mouth I could see Stark become enraged. He was now clenching his teeth and was growling in a very aggressive manner.

"You're going to regret even considering that" stark snarled as he ran towards the armed men at light speed. They all began firing they're guns at Stark but none of them could land a single hit on the umbreon as he zigzagged around their bullets. I simply just prayed none of them accidentally shot one of us. The instant Stark was close to the men his body was covered in a dark aura and he jumped towards one of the armed men in the blink of an eye. The man screamed in terror as the umbreon clung onto him with his teeth that were deep in his neck. Blood shot out of his neck very quickly and the man quickly fell over and dropped the gun in his hand on the ground.

Stark then quickly jumped back and dodged some more gun shot and jumped towards the next armed scientist. In midair he swung his dark matter paw horizontally at his neck and his neck sliced right open and the man quickly fell to the ground while holding his neck in a futile attempt to stop the blood. I felt incredible sick as my stomach turned upside down and I could feel my lunch trying to escape my stomach. I've never seen someone die in person before and I prayed I'd never witness something so horrible.

Stark was now zigzagging away from the scientists horrible shot's and he made his next move on one of the three remaining scientists. He inhaled a breath and released dark matter out of his mouth and engulfed the scientist in dark matter. I won't even speak of what his body looked like after that. All I did was shield my eyes and tried my hardest not to puke at the horrible sight. After a few gunshots I quickly decided to see what was happening in the fight. The scientist where still trying to shoot the lightning fast umbreon. One of the scientists was following Stark with a trail of bullets behind him, Stark jumped towards one of the scientist and jumped on his shoulder and jumped off it. The other scientist then accidentally shot his friend in an attempt to kill the umbreon.

The scientist fell to the ground clenching his wound "You fucking moron" the man yelled in pain. The kadabra was just watching everything happen with amusement in his eyes as if this was some kind of experiment to him. The last scientist just pointed his gun at stark with shaky hands. They both stared at each other waiting for the other to make the move. Stark then taunted him by making a sudden movement with his body. The scientist just simply fell on his butt and shielded his face in terror as he whimpered in fear. Stark just watched the man cower in fear and decided to not to take his life. The man realized he was still alive and quickly took his chance and began running for dear life in fear abandoning the kadabra.

"Well that was easy" Stark said in a taunting voice as he walked towards the kadabra. The kadabra showed no sign of fear at all and just held his hands behind his back.

"For me" the kadabra said as he revealed a small remote in his hand. Stark quickly charged at the kadabra at light speed to finish the fight. Right before he reached the kadabra his whole body tensed up and he tousled down to the ground. The umbreon quickly jumped back up to his feet and lunged towards the kadabra but his muscles tensed up again in midair and he just fell on the ground breathing heavy. I had no idea what was going on but the kadabra somehow stopped Stark with minimum effort. I could only imagine what kind of sick pokemon the kadabra was though for waiting until after his team mates died to use that trick to stop him.

"What the hell are you doing to me" Stark said in a pained voice as he breathed heavy from the unknown force acting upon him.

The kadabra just walked up to him and kneeled down next to him "In your body there is multiple receptors. Every time I push the button on this remote the receptors send electric shocks through your body to the point that your muscles won't function properly. As I said before Stark you are our property and you will obey us" The kadabra said with a sick twisted voice.

"I'm going to kill you when you least expect it" Stark snapped in a pissed off voice. The kadabra then pushed the button on the remote and sent electric shocks into Starks body and every muscle tensed up in his body. Despite the fact he just tried to kill me I couldn't help but want to help the guy since the kadabra seemed like a worse pokemon in a way.

"Anyways Stark we've had a change of plans and we no longer need the umbreon thanks to the test coming back positive and some samples of DNA we collected. We no longer at this point have a need for the Crimson Dawn so we will now move on to phase two in our plane" the kadabra said as he pushed the button again and sent more electric shocks into Stark's body. This time though he held the button down for much longer and eventually Starks eyes rolled into the back of his head and he appeared to be unconscious.

Hesh was also watching the sick twisted kadabra betray his team mate and I'm sure Hesh was also wondering what kind of sick twisted event was going on right now and what phase two was. I thought they were on a team and now that kadabra was betraying his team mate and referring to him as property. The kadabra then lifted the umbreon onto his shoulder and began walking away with Stark not even caring about us.

"Wait" I yelled to the kadabra. He stopped and shifted his glance at me. "What are you going to do with him" I asked in a concerned voice. Despite the fact the umbreon tried to kill all of us I still couldn't help but feel sorry for him to an extent.

"We no longer have a need for your friend Black and we got what we needed out of him. But I will warn you Crimson still wants your friend" he said as he continued walking away from me. I had no clue what he meant by crimson and it appeared more than one group was after Black and I was now more confused than before.

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

Connor and I were now at our limit and we had barely escaped death to this point. Connor had received many wounds and he was now barely standing from exhaustion. I still had a little energy left but nowhere near enough to hold my own. The scyther didn't even show a sign of exhaustion as he made his way towards us to finish the job. I quickly ran scenarios through my head to find a way to get out of this alive but no matter how I thought of it I always ended up dead.

"Shit" I muttered out loud as the scyther continued walking towards us. I held my ground on wobbly feet as I looked off into the distance and watched the sun that barely sat over the ocean. It was a calming sight to see before the inventible happened.

"Target spotted" I heard a male voice say from above us. I then looked up the mountain and saw multiple men standing on a cliff above us with blank human face masks on with assault rifles pointed at the black scyther.

"Yeah that's the Crimson member alright, open fire men" Another one of the men shouted out loud. All the men then opened fire with their automatic rifles at the scyther. The scyther quickly jumped out of the way and hid behind a rock. I quickly went behind another rock and took cover from the gun shots as well. Connor on the other hand was limping towards cover and I saw a bullet rip through his back and out his chest as I saw blood shoot out his mouth. He stood there for a second in shock of getting shot and he then quickly fell to his knees with frozen eyes.

"Nooo…" I yelled out, not believing what I was seeing. Everything was now happening so fast. I wanted to help him but the armed men were laying down a lot of fire and I wouldn't last a second out there, so I sat here helpless as Connor lied their possibly dead.

The scyther on the other hand disappeared and I had no idea where he had gone. I then poked my head out of my cover and the men were searching around for the scyther. Then from above the scyther dropped down from the sky and stabbed his blade into one of the men's chest. The man's body quickly fell limp and all the men opened fire at him. The scyther held the man's body up and used it as a meat shield for the bullets that were coming his way. After a few seconds of nonstop gun shots all I heard was a few clicks and silence. I then heard a few screams of agony and I saw a man fall down to the ground from the cliff above. I quickly looked out of my cover and I saw that all of the men were dead and the scyther was just standing next to their slaughtered bodies.

The scyther then walked out of sight. I waited a few seconds to make sure nothing happened and I then quickly remembered Connor. I quickly ran out of my cover and ran towards Connor who was lying on the ground on his stomach. Once I reached him I quickly grabbed him as gently as I could with my paw and flipped him over so I could see his face. Connors eyes were closed and I couldn't hear him breathing. I quickly put my ear against his chest where his heart would be and I listened for a pulse.

"Connor, Connor" I whispered to him in a concerned voice. I then put my head down and tried listening for a pulse again. I then could hear a very faint heart beat that was weak.

"I'm still here" I heard a faint and weak whisper escape Connor's mouth.

"Thank Mew" I said in a relieved voice.

"Do you think everyone is okay" Connor said in a weak whisper.

Despite the fact that I had no clue and that if things were going fine for them they would have been back by now, despite the fact that I knew that I lied "Yeah I'm sure they are just fine and I guarantee they found and saved your friend by now" I said in an attempt to ease Connors mind.

Connor then let out a small chuckle and he gave out a weak cough along with a little blood "They got me pretty good, I wonder how long I got" Connor said accepting that he was already dead.

"Don't say that, help will be arriving soon and we are going to get you patched up and you are going to live a good life" I said in a reassuring voice in an attempt to talk him out of his attitude.

"I need… you to do something… if I don't make it" Connor said with a few pauses in his voice.

"You're not going to die" I said even though it was becoming obvious that he had little time left. Blood was escaping the wound that went straight through his chest and I was attempting to hold the blood in even though my paws weren't the best for holding wounds shut.

"My family lives in Geosenge, please tell them that I'm sorry… That I never made it home… and that they were always in my thoughts" Connor said in a faint and quiet voice. I had to practically put my ear against his mouth just to make out what he was saying.

"You can make it, don't just roll over and die on me" I yelled in frustration. I looked at Connor and his eyes where now closed.

"Dammit don't just give up now" I yelled out loud as a tear escaped my eye. Connor just lied their and didn't reply to me. I put my head against his chest one last time and all I heard was silence. I then took my hand off his wound and took a few steps back and bowed my head towards him as a sign of respect.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **Well their was a lot of content in that chapter so lets talk shall we. Flare, Hesh and Kana actually held out pretty good against Stark. Until he decided to stop messing around and took them down when they were distracted. Now things kind of got a little weird when Zero/The kadabra came in and turned on Stark and had a little talk with him. Stark is now being manipulated by Team Genesis and he is not the type who takes being manipulated well. Also the Kadabra said they had a new plan and I'm sure it wont be good. Just remember some of the things Zero said and it may give you some hints on what he was getting at. (I wont spoil it though) Now onto Gray's side of the chapter. It was tragic how things went from bad to worse and Connor was gunned down within a blink of an eye. I thought it was a good scene and kind of touching in my opinion. It now appears that team Genesis is now betraying the Crimson Dawn seeing as they just tried killing a member of The crimson Dawn. (The Scyther) Things will be getting tough for our protagonist as they try and grasp what is going on and soon things will start making for sense and the true motive of our antagonist will be revealed. Thanks for reading I really appreciate it and I will have another chapter up when I have time. Sadly this is the last day of my spring break so I won't have as much open time to write, but I already had a lot of spare time during the week so its not like anything changed lol. Thanks again for reading.


	26. Alive

**Hey welcome to chap 26. Anyways things appear to now slightly be calming down as our protagonist's finally get a chance to catch their breath from the chaos around them.**

**(Please Read)!**

**I'd like to do a mini survey if possible about my story to help improve certain aspects of the story. I ask that you please try and answer the questions because it will help me know what to improve on and I really want to improve my writing skills as much as possible. Thanks.**

**1) Who is your favorite character?**

**2) Why is this pokemon/person your favorite character?**

**3) Why do you specifically like this story?**

**4) What do you want to see more of in the story and why?**

**5) When you read the description of the story what made you interested in it and what do you think I could do to improve the story description?**

**6) Who is your least favorite character?**

**7) Why is this character your least favorite?**

**8) How long do you prefer a chapter to be before it is too long?**

**9) What is something you think I am doing a good job on in this story so far and what do you think I need to improve on? (Obviously grammar lol and don't be afraid to be honest I won't be offended)**

**10) What is the meaning of life… lol jk on that one :D**

**If it's not too much to ask please answer the questions. PM me or just post it in the review section and thanks for those who do help. Even if you don't review often or haven't yet please take a few seconds to answer the survey because it will help me know what to improve on or if I'm doing something bad. Anyways thanks in advance for those who do answer the questions and it will diffidently help me improve on the story since I'm always trying to improve.**

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**Chapter 26: Alive**

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**Point of View Black**

"Black" I heard a faint voice call out.

"Black" the voice called out again as I tried to remember who it was.

"Hey come back to us Black" The voice called out to me again. I slowly felt my eyes crack open and the first thing I saw with my blurry vision was a familiar fennekin really close up to my face repeating my name over and over again.

"Black?" the fennekin said once he noticed me coming back to life. I tried to recollect the last thing I remembered. I could slightly remember me being wounded and Flare, Kana and Hesh about to have a face off against that umbreon Stark.

I quickly jerked up as I remembered the dire situation at hand and I felt a sharp pain in my hip. The instant I felt it I quickly decided to lie back down and take it easy until I knew what was going on.

"Black your alive" Flare said in a relieved voice.

I didn't waste a second on my first question "Where is Stark" I asked.

Flare froze and looked away from me with his head down "I honestly have no clue what just happened and I really don't want to know to be honest" Flare said. I would have to imagine something bizarre happened if the nosey fennekin Flare himself didn't even want to know.

"How long was I out" I mumbled.

"About thirty to an hour" I heard Hesh interrupt from a distance away. I shifted my blurry vision to the left of Flare and saw Hesh wrapping a bandage around his leg. The flesh on his leg looked really bad and made me cringe from the little amount of blood I could see dripping off his leg.

"Where's Kana" I asked fearing that something may have happened to her while I was out cold. Flare just pointed down the beach and off in the distance I could see the usually high spirited Jolteon that I hardly even knew sitting on the beach looking off into the distance. I quickly recognized the look in her eyes as shock from a traumatic event. I would know since I went through a lot of crazy stuff in my days.

"What's wrong with her" I whispered quietly so she wouldn't have a chance of hearing me.

Flare just let out a sigh of depression and didn't even bother answering. Hesh was now finished bandaging up his leg and slowly limped his way over to us with his bandaged foot.

"Good to see you breathing. How do you feel" Hesh asked with an expressionless face.

"Like a child eevee after drinking an energy drink" I said sarcastically. Hesh didn't seem amused by my sarcasm and neither did Flare. I hardly knew neither of them but it was odd seeing them so… emotionally dead.

I decided that I wasn't going to pry any further on this discussion since they were all probably shaken up from what ever happened while I was asleep. I still couldn't grasp how the hell they got out of that fight alive. Stark was powerful and well I just couldn't see them winning against someone like him.

"Black" Flare said as if he had a question.

"Yeah" I said in a faint voice.

"What did those people want from you" Flare asked me. The question sent shivers down my spine and I prayed that Flare would have just ignored the obvious question that should have been asked long ago.

"I don't know" I said trying to play dumb.

Flare didn't look too satisfied with my answer "Black…" Flare said in a stern voice and it was obvious he saw through my lie. I only knew partially why they wanted me and I had no clue on what they were going to do with me once they had me.

"Over their" I heard a deep male voice call out. Every one of us then shifted our gaze towards the distance where the mountain was and we saw about three police officers and a medic running towards us to finally help us now that all the trouble was gone. I then saw something that I was not in the mood for… Gray.

Gray just walked down the beach with his head low and wore a depressed look on his face. After he got a little closer, he then spotted me and I just wanted to turn invisible at that moment.

"You" I heard him growl in a voice that made me nervous. "You're the reason all of this is happening" Gray yelled as he walked towards me in a very hostile attitude. I really didn't know how to react since I was still very weak and I definitely didn't have the energy for an argument. The police officers and the medic all froze at the tension that was coming from Gray's anger.

"Oh shit" I said with the little strength I had as he then began getting ready to pounce on me. Hesh then jumped in front of me and held his arms out in front of me in an attempt to shield me despite his leg injury.

"Whoa pipe down there for a minute buddy" Hesh said with a voice that was on guard.

"Don't tell me to calm down this is his damn fault and his alone" Gray said with a growl in his voice.

"Let's just calm down buddy… Wait where's Connor?" Hesh quickly asked as he looked around everywhere for the missing charmander. Gray then just looked down and tried to avoid eye contact.

"Gray where the hell is Connor" Hesh shouted in a worried voice as he limped towards Gray.

Hesh's eyes then lit up with anger as a vein bulged out of his head "Where the Hell is my friend" Hesh yelled at Gray. Gray still remained quiet and avoided eye contact. "I'm sorry" Gray said quietly without making eye contact.

"Gray… don't tell me…" Hesh said as I saw his pointy ears lower and he fell to his knees and looked down as he gripped the sand on the ground as hard as he could. I could hear the faint noise of him trying to hold in tears. His breathing became hard and I could hear him sniffling. I was clueless on what was going on but judging from the scene nothing good was happening and it involved Connor.

"Dammit" Hesh yelled at the top of his lungs. The police and the medic were now done watching the scene and quickly went back to work. The medic walked up to my body and examined my wound.

"Wound is pretty serious, and a decent stitch job was used on him. The bleeding has stopped but he needs help" The medic said out loud for a police officer to hear. The police officer just wrote down a few notes on a note pad he had handy.

"This is going to hurt a little but stay with my" the doctor said as he wrapped his hands around me and cautiously lifted me up, it did hurt like hell but I didn't resist the medic. If I was in a better position I would have so kicked the medic's ass for touching me but now was not the time and I was to focused on trying to understand what happened to Connor, despite the fact that the answer was self-explanatory.

The medic slowly carried me away from my friends. I looked around the area and I then saw something that made me want to pass out again. I saw the police officer's all inspecting a bunch of mutilated bodies with blood everywhere. Despite the sudden light headed feeling I was experiencing I couldn't help but notice the bodies were the scientist's from the place I was trapped in. The scientist were slaughtered. All I could think of is who was responsible for their death and if Flare, Hesh or Kanna had a hand in it out of self-defense. It was unlikely since they would never do such a thing and even if they did they would not have done it in such a violent way.

The medic carried me up the hill carefully and tried his hardest not to upset my wound. After the medic climbed up the mountain a little we came up on a trail with a truck on the trail. The medic set me gently down on the opened back of the truck and got into the driver seat of the truck. The truck's engine roared to life in an obnoxious manner and the truck gently began moving along the trail. I just looked up and looked at the sky as we drove down the trail. I couldn't believe I was still alive. I had literally given up on life today at one point and now here I was in the back of a truck going to civilization so I could get help and live on. I was actually happy for once to be alive.

* * *

**Point of View Charmander**

I was now dragging myself along the route to Amberette town. I would have been at the town ages ago if I didn't have the habit of literally stopping every thirty minutes to take a break and enjoy procrastinating from my current mission. I was now finally seeing a giant mountain off in the distance and I knew I was close. The real question was whether I wanted to take a break before I made my way to the mountain or not.

After about thirty long minutes of me dragging my feet along the mountain I finally was there and I was slightly proud that I made it all this way with no help and for me I made good time for no transportation. I then followed the route a little more and noticed that the route split off into two directions. One went through the mountain and the other went around. I quickly noticed the caution sign and began wondering what awaited me in the cave. I knew if I went around it would probably extend my trip now by another day at least so I went with the educated answer… I was taking the shortcut like I always did in life.

I entered in the dark cave and the darkness was quickly illuminated by my tail flame. The best part about being a charmander was always having a built in torch that would accidentally light anything nearby on fire. I cautiously made my way through the cave not even slightly fearing the danger that the sign was there to warn me of. I wasn't afraid of anything and MewTwo could be in this cave and I wouldn't give a damn. Hell I'd cuss him out even and be proud of it.

"Heh heh heh…" I heard a creepy and demonic laugh from above me.

"Ahh hell no" I said as I quickly picked up the pace towards the other side of the cave. I wasn't afraid I just didn't want to waste any more time procrastinating…

I continued hearing the creepy laughing as I kept picking up my pace until I was running at max speed.

"Graah" a skull faced entity screamed in my face and caused me to fall back on my butt. I was frozen from the jump scare and I was frozen in shock. And low and behold I saw a duskull laughing his ass off at me.

"Who the hell do you think you are" I said in an intimidating voice. The duskull just continued laughing in my face.

"I'm going to break you if you don't shut it" I said as my tail flame got bigger from my anger and lit up more of the cave. Once more of the cave was illuminated I saw around thirty duskull's looking down at me from the ceiling of the cave and I just awkwardly stared at them for a second as they stared back at me. I then let my tail flame go back down to its normal size.

"Anyways I'll just let that slide buddy" I said with a small chuckle as I inched my way towards the exit.

"Where do you think you are going" the duskull said in a taunting voice.

"Oh sweet mother of Mew I'm out" I said to myself as I ran faster than I moved in probably year's. The horde of duskull's just chased after me with a taunting laugh and I could feel my legs slowly giving out from overuse even though I had only been running for around fifteen seconds at this point. I then looked back and saw that the creepy demonic pokemon were gaining on me and scenes from the exorcist popped into my head and I feared that I was going to have a repeat of that movie in a few minutes.

I then tapped into a hidden energy and began picking up speed at a much higher speed. After another few minutes of running I finally saw the light of the exit and I continued sprinting. I looked back and saw that I had a little space left between the duskull's and me. Then right before I was outside the cave I dived towards the exit. Now when I watched movies with my trainer the hero would always slide away from danger like a total bad ass. Then when I did it I just hit the ground with an unsatisfying thump and my whole ribcage felt like it was broken and I slid like two feet and scraped my entire chest along the rough surface of the cave floor.

I didn't have long to wallow in pain because when I looked back I saw the entire hoard of duskull's about to dog pile on top of me. I quickly got back up and ran out the cave like a normal pokemon like I should have in the first place.

Once I was outside the duskull's seized their attack on me and I took a sigh of relief from Mew knows would have happened to me. After a very long time of walking I was finally right outside of Amberette town and I could see it in the distance.

Now all I had to do was get that umbreon with fifty different name's trust and help those assholes out. Everything was going to be easy from here on out once I figured out where he was.

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**Chapter End**

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Well that is the end of the chapter. Anyways sorry I haven't put the charmander in any recent chapters I just wanted to focus on the other character and not overwhelm myself or the reader's with too many different point of views. I do plan on keeping the POV's mostly focused on the main characters since I find it overwhelming with too many POV's. Anyways please answer at least one question off the survey I posted at the beginning of the chapter. (Obviously you don't have to I'd just appreciate it big time) Please be honest if you do fill out the survey because honesty is helpful even if it may not be what I want to here. I'm always looking to improve my skills. Anyways onto something a little funny actually lol. I was looking back at some of my previous chapters and I was actually embarrassed on all the typos I saw and I was actually questioning how a lot of you put up with them, I will probably take some time in the near future to rewrite previous chapters so new readers aren't scared away with my horrible grammar lol. Anyways thanks for reading this far and I'm still enjoying writing this fic a lot and I'm happy to hear what people think and know that they are enjoying this story.


	27. Guilt

**Welcome to chapter 28! Before I go on about this Chapter I'd like to thank someone who goes by the name The Heck since he looked over the beta form of this chapter and helped give me advice on how to make it more professional and make things flow smoothly. So I'd just like to say thanks and acknowledge his help because he gave me a lot of good tips and help on this chapter and on top of that gave plenty of advice on previous chapters. So give a round of applause for him being an awesome person!**

**Anyways onto the chapter. Things get a little emotional/dark in this chapter so beware lol. Anyways I think this chapter is really good or in my opinion it is lol. (Better be I spent a lot of time on it... my video game time...) But anyways I'm trying to put more effort into my chapters lately so if you have any constructive criticism please tell me lol I wont mind. Anyways I spent a lot of time trying to perfect this chapter so I'd like to here how it came out from some people. Thanks for reading and as always thanks to all those who take a little time to review!**

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** Chapter 27: Guilt**

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**Point of View Black**

To make a long story short I was hauled to the pokemon center emergency room and they re-stitched my body and gave me a small blood transfusion to keep me going. After many hours of sitting in a pokemon center room I was now starting to feel better again, health wise. In no way did I feel like moving I was just not feeling like I was on the verge of death. Just when I was starting to get bored I heard a knock on the door to my room and the door cracked open.

Through the door Alex came running in with Flare and Hesh. Alex quickly ran up to my bed with an excited look on his face and he looked very relieved that I was okay.

"Black… I can't believe that I found you" Alex said with a smile on his face. I gave him a weak smile back since I was in a slightly better mood versus when I was dying earlier.

"I heard everything that happened and I'm just relieved that you are okay. I honestly thought you ran away, but I guess you were kidnapped in middle of the night" Alex said with a comforting smile on his face. Alex appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact I left way before and got abducted shortly after.

"Yeah… we'll go with that" I said awkwardly, despite the fact he couldn't understand a word that came out my mouth.

Flare, Kana and Hesh were all waiting behind Alex. They looked a little less depressed, but it was still obvious that they were bothered by everything that has been going on.

A thought then popped into my head that I wanted an answer too "Hesh where is everyone else who was trapped with me" I asked.

"Blue and that rattata are with the police speaking to a pokemon translator so they can tell the police. It looks like they are about to bring those bastards down for what they did" Hesh said as he took a pause between his sentences "And Ebony is in the waiting room of the hospital now. She would have came in with us but they wanted only a few of us to come in since your still in rough shape."

"And what about Connor" I asked wanting an answer to what all the previous drama was about.

Hesh's face froze and he looked down "Those bastards… They shot him down like he wasn't even a living pokemon" Hesh yelled as his mood quickly shifted to anger. My jaw dropped along with my ears and time froze in place as those words rung in my ears.

"No… that couldn't have happened… he left and got away" I said faintly wanting to find out that he was playing some sick twisted joke on me.

"Sorry Black but it's true. The people after you sent armed men after you and-"Flare was saying before I interrupted him "This is my fault" I said.

Even Hesh looked a little surprised by what I was saying "Black I would love nothing more than for it to be that easy, but you had nothing to do with anyone's death" Hesh said in an attempt to calm me down.

"Not responsible. What about Crystal one of the other pokemon trapped with us! It's my fault she died, I could have saved her but I was too weak and I just sat there like a coward as I watched her die right in front of me" I shouted as I held in my tears and resisted the urge to cry. Alex watched us with a very confused look on his face and had no way of figuring out what the tension between us was about.

"Black It's not yo-"Flare said before I interrupted "What the hell do you know? I watched her die because of me and I just fucking watched like a coward. That monster killed her because I refused to tell him some info and she paid for that" I snarled as I continued to resist my inner emotions. I felt so disgusted in myself for allowing pokemon to die over me.

Alex then decided to step in "I don't know what's going on but if your arguing this is not an appropriate time or place. We should all just be grateful that everyone made it out of that dangerous situation alive" Alex said trying to stop the drama.

"Just leave… please" I said as I rolled over so I couldn't see him.

"Black… I just want you to know when you need someone to talk to or just need a shoulder to cry on… I'm here for you and I know that you never wanted anyone to get hurt" I heard Flare say. I waited a few seconds and I instantly felt regret for blowing up on him like that. I quickly rolled back over to see Flare but I only saw Alex standing next to me.

"I'm sure they will be back later" Alex said with a reassuring smile and he stroked his hands gently across my black fur. Usually I would have killed anyone who touched me but I just didn't care at this point. Then I heard a knocking noise by the door of the room. Alex and I both shifted our gazed towards a man in a brown trench coat who let himself in the room. The man was white and appeared to be in his late thirties. The man had a dark brown buzz cut and carried a suit case with him.

"Hello, is this the umbreon known as Black" the man asked in a gloomy voice.

Alex just stood up and moved his body to face the anonymous man "Yes, may I ask who you are sir" Alex said as respectfully as possible.

"My name is detective Norman and I'm here to ask the umbreon a few questions if now is a good time" The detective said as he extended his hand towards Alex. Alex reached out and gripped Norman's hand and shook it.

"You're here to talk to a pokemon?" Alex said in a confused voice. I was a little confused myself since I had no clue how me and him where going to carry out a conversation with a language barrier between our species.

The detective just gave out a small chuckle "Well I have a pokemon to translate our conversation for me right outside. But first I'd like to know if this is a good time since he is still recovering and I do want to let him rest but this is important" the detective said in a respectful voice. I actually kind of liked him since he wasn't trying to force us to do anything and he just asked instead of just barking questions at us.

"What do you say Black" Alex asked as he gazed over at me. I didn't see any harm and I nodded my head in agreement.

"Excellent, this won't take too long" The detective said as he opened his brief case "Come on in Porygon we are ready to start" the man said.

My jaw dropped as I saw the most bizarre pokemon I have ever seen come through the door. "The hell is that" I said in confusion. The pokemon was a floating cube shaped duck that was pink with a blue belly.

In mid-air the pokemon rotated until it was facing me. "I am porygon and I will be translating the conversation between you and detective Norman" the abnormal creature spoke in a monotone voice that was kind of unusual listening to.

The detective then walked up to me holding a clipboard and a pen he got from the suitcase he was carrying around "I'm going to start my questions now, try and give as much detail as possible and take your time." I shook my head and waited for his first question "How long where you held captive in the facility" the detective asked. "One day at best" I quickly replied. The porygon then looked at the detective "One day at best" the porygon said mimicking exactly what I said.

"Alright next question, how many pokemon where there with you being held hostage at the time."

"When I was first there, there were five. One of the pokemon died in front of me" I said as I reflected back on the horrors I let happen "Another pokemon named Connor died from what I've heard from my friends. So including myself three pokemon are left alive." The porygon then said exactly what I said to the detective in its robotic voice.

"This next question may be something you don't want to talk about, but what did they do to you" he asked as he wrote notes on his paper. He was right I didn't want to talk about anything that happened their but I was just going to get this over with "They took a blood sample and cut off a small amount of my flesh and that's all I can remember" I said. The porygon then translated my words over to the detective. Alex was just sitting in the corner of the room quietly watching the interrogation.

"Okay I'm going to ask one more question for now and I'll let you rest a little bit" I just nodded to what he said and awaited for the final question. "Do you know for sure who the people were who held you hostage" he asked. Memories from my conversation with stark on the beach came flooding back into my head as I recalled what he said "They went by the name Team Genesis I believe." The porygon then translated my words to the detective and he wrote down more notes.

"That's exactly what I needed to hear to confirm some things. Your friends told us the location of the Genesis base and right now our whole police force is paying them a little visit. I'll be asking more specific questions tomorrow so until then please get some good rest" the detective said as he packed up his suitcase and headed towards the door. The porygon followed the man out and they left me and Alex alone again.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I was now regrouping with Gray and Kana at the hotel. Once I was in our hotel room I quickly found a comfortable spot on the floor and lied down so I could finally relax from such a long day. Gray was on the couch napping as far as I could tell and Kana just lied on the bed dead asleep from exhaustion.

"So how's the umbreon doing. Funny how everything falls apart in his wake as I said thing would" Gray said in a malicious attitude.

My tolerance was quickly worn dry from Gray's prejudiced problem with Black and I was not going to tolerate it any longer "Gray stop. I honestly don't care about your racist comments" my eyes rolled as I retorted against what Gray said.

"How can you be okay with this, we are just in the same area as him and everything is falling apart and two pokemon die because of him on top of that" Gray said in resentment.

"Yeah well if he wasn't there in the first place all five of those pokemon would have died at some point in there. Black saved them, he didn't want anyone to die and I talked to him and he hates himself right now for what happened to those two pokemon" there was a silent silence between me and Gray for a minute before either of us spoke a word. I decided to break the silence "Gray can you just please try and act nice to him. He is going through a hard time now and he was already going through a lot in his life before all of this" Gray just looked at me like I was asking the impossible. "Why would I do that for an umbreon" he countered.

"Because Gray if he was the horrible monster you think all umbreon's are then he wouldn't have been affected from watching pokemon around him die. He would be light as a feather and feel no guilt, he is a good pokemon and your blinded by your intolerance towards umbreon's" I said as I stared Gray right in his eyes with a very stern glare.

Gray then let out a sigh "Fine I don't like him at all but I'll pretend to be nice to him until things calm down a bit" Gray said with an exhale. I actually was very astonished that I convinced him to even remotely be nice to Black and I just couldn't have confidence in my ear's that I was hearing this from Gray of all pokemon. I expected him to honestly just laugh in my face like I was an idiot to him.

I then let out a big smirk "Thanks Gray." Gray just lied back down on the couch and went back to napping and didn't acknowledge my gratitude. It was now early afternoon now but I was already exhausted from the chaos that went on around us and I decided it was finally time to get some well-earned rest as I put my head down and closed my eyes and gave into my bodies' desire to rest.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now early morning and I just felt groggy. Luckily I was able to avoid getting any form of pain killers. The reason I hated pain killers had to do with how they made me feel, especially after what happened last time. Being in a pokemon center room all day was really boring and especially depressing since all I could think about was Connor and Crystal. I kept thinking of how I could have done things differently to save them, but in the end I always had to remind myself that there was no point. What was done was done and I was going to have to live with their blood on my paws for the rest of my existence.

The random noise of someone knocking on my door quickly interrupted my silence and detective Nor something walked into the room wearing the same trench coat. The porygon that was with him last time was not with him this time and I was confused on how he planned on communicating with me.

"Can I help you…?" I said in a confused voice even though he couldn't understand me.

"Black there is something I need you to do" the detective said as he walked closer to me and slid his left hand along the wall not even bothering to look at me.

I waited in silence for what he was going to ask me to do "Our men arrived at the base team Genesis had on the mountain. The whole place was wiped clean and there isn't a single trace of life or evidence there. The base is still intact but they lit a lot of stuff on fire within the premises and we are running into a dead end really fast and I want you to come down to the base and tell me everything you can from there. Even the smallest things you can tell us will help us destroy those bastards" The detective said as he looked into my eyes with a serious glare. I could see his dedication on this case and it was very respectable.

I considered his idea and I had no intention of going back to that hell hole, but there was one thing I wanted to do if I ever did go back there. I gave a nod to show I would agree to help him out.

The detective then gave a small smile "Good, I got permission from your trainer already and the pokecenter said I could take you out as long as you don't move a lot."

The detective then walked out of the room for a minute and came in with a wheel chair. He then walked over towards me and lifted me up and set me down. I was in no way thrilled about getting picked up and then pushed around in a wheel chair but I was also a little happy that I was finally leaving this pokecenter, despite the fact I was not happy about where we were going. Once we were outside the detective rolled me towards a blue car of some kind and opened the door. He then picked me up and put me in the passenger seat of his car.

I quickly made myself confortable and curled up into a ball on the seat and tried to relax a little. Luckily for me the detective was nice enough to open the car window on my side so I could get some fresh air and enjoy a little bit of the nice weather.

After about a minute of driving the car stopped. I then sat up in disbelief that we were already there. We were outside a hotel and we were still in Amberette town. Then I heard the car door open behind me and I looked back to see Alex and Flare jumping in the car.

"What are you two doing here" I asked in a confused tone.

Flare then looked at me with a small smile "Alex's condition for the detective taking you to this place was that he had to come with and I'm just coming along to be a friend."

"Oh… thanks" I said. To this point in my life I was still not quite use to pokemon or people treating me well since my species was shunned by many pokemon and people in the past and I in no way have been friendly with anyone in a very long time until recently, around two years to be more exact.

The detective drove us on a trail on the mountain and we all sat in silence for around ten minutes before Flare decided to break the silence "So how are you holding up, does your wound still hurt?" Flare asked in an attempt to start a conversation.

I wasn't really in the mood for a conversation since it was early in the morning and I was still groggy from just waking up "I'm doing fine" I replied bluntly not wanting to socialize with anyone at the moment.

"That's good" Flare said. I wasn't really making eye contact with him, but I knew if I was to look back he would probably have his usual smile that never went away.

"Well if your curious at all I'm doing just fine" Flare said with a cheerful tone.

"How is Kana and Gray doing" I asked since I knew he wasn't going to stop talking so I decided to at least get some info out of him.

"Kana is a little disturbed from seeing the dead bodies on the beach but she is slowly getting over it and Gray is Gray"

"Where is Ebony and Hesh" I asked.

"Hesh is actually looking out for Ebony until a new home can be found for her. It's sad since her sister was the only family she had" Flares words got more silent as they went on and he realized that his words were probably upsetting me, which they were unintentionally upsetting me since I didn't want to remember how I was responsible for severing a child eevee's last family member.

"Sorry I know you probably didn't want me to bring that up" Flare said with an apologetic tone in his words. I just sat in silence and pondered how I was going to face Ebony and apologize to her and make things right for her. Although I knew better than anyone what it was like to lose family and nothing in the world can fill an empty void like that.

After a very long time of sitting in a silent car we finally made our way up the mountain where the facility was except this time the house was burned down and it was surrounded by police cars. The area was lit up by the flashing lights coming from the police cars and a little bit of smoke emitted from the house that was there.

"What happened here" I asked. "They cleaned up the evidence really good here" Flare said as he observed the sight as well. The detective got out of the car and opened the door for me. He then picked me up and gently and set me on the ground.

"Are you fine to walk I got a wheelchair in the back seat that I can haul you around with if you are still too weak."

I took a few steps to get a feel on how much my body was strained from my wound. To my surprise my body was recovering quite well, although there was a lot of strain on my wound but I'd still rather walk than be pushed around all day, plus wheel chairs were for humans and not for pokemon with my body structure so it kind of made me feel silly when I was rolled out of the pokemon center.

Outside the burnt down house that hid the facility was the same creepy porygon. The detective went up to the strange creature and exchanged a few words and they both walked towards us. Or for the porygon he levitated towards us. I couldn't help but find the Porygon strange and unsettling. The thing looked so odd and levitated around and it bothered me so much that the thing never blinked.

"Please follow me and watch your step" The detective said as he led us through the burnt down house. It appeared that whatever fire did exist was put out a while ago and had plenty of time to cool off. At times like this I wished I choose the wheelchair since my feet where now covered in ashes from the burnt house. We walked through the remains of the house until we came by the exit we used to get out of the Team Genesis base. The detective then began walking down the stairs that led to the condemned facility.

"Follow me please" the detective said as he continued making his way down to the base. Once I was back down in the base my nostrils were instantly filled with a little smoke and I began coughing violently.

"Mew what the hell happened here" I said as I coughed on the remaining smoke that I accidentally inhaled.

The porygon then turned towards me "Shortly after you and the other pokemon escaped, team Genesis quickly destroyed any form of evidence of their existence and evacuated the foundation" the porygon said in his awkward robot voice.

"I have something I need to do here before we go on" I said as I began walking down the hall. The porygon followed as well as he translated my words. Everyone just followed me and didn't interrupt what I had to do. I eventually came up on the door that led to where I was held hostage. I scratched the door a little indicating that I wanted in. The detective quickly walked over and opened the door for me and I entered in cautiously. I looked in the room and everything was empty in the room besides scorch marks everywhere, the cages and the remains of a blood stain where Crystal died. The sight of the blood was still unsettling but that was the last thing on my mind at the moment.

"Where is she" I yelled in frustration. "Where did you put her body" I yelled at the detective. The porygon translated what I said and he then raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Crystal" I said as I became frustrated that her body was gone.

"We didn't find anyone in here. We did find some remains in the cafeteria though" the detective said.

"Then take me there" I said in an anxious voice. The detective then directed me in the direction of the cafeteria. The hallway was filled with police men and a forensics team and they were searching for even the slightest sign of evidence. This entire facility literally looked like it was lit on fire just to burn anything that could contain even a molecule of DNA that could be led back to them. The facility was mostly made of steel and concrete so there was no real fear of the area being unstable to walk in after all the damage done to the facility.

We finally walked through a door in the hallway that led to the cafeteria and inside was just a big room with a lot of round tables that were sloppily tossed to the side. Everyone cringed and covered their nose from the offal smell in this room. It smelled like burnt meat only worse. I then looked in the center of the room and noticed what was causing the horrible burning smell. In the middle of the room was a smoking pile of burnt pokemon. The corpses were burnt down to the bone and hardly left anything. I cringed at the horrible sight I was seeing but I made my way towards the pile. As I got closer the details on their body made me cringe in disgust. The burnt corpses were mostly reduced down to bone that where covered black in scorch marks. Whatever flesh did survive was burnt almost black and had a few red spots along the meat.

"Who were all of these pokemon, I don't remember seeing many pokemon here" I said as I tried to recall how many pokemon I saw in the facility. The porygon of course translated my words for Alex and the detective to hear. Flare just sat by the door gagging on the sight in front of him.

The detective then looked at me "The room you were kept in wasn't the only room with pokemon in it. Yours actually had the least pokemon in it. All the pokemon here were probably killed because they had no way of getting rid of them in time and they knew that we would be coming as soon as we were alerted about this place" I then felt even worse than before. There was a least twelve burnt pokemon corpses in this pile and I was responsible for their deaths. If I would have known they were here I could have saved them when I was escaping them and instead they were left to be killed while we escaped. The more and more I dug through this place the more I realized how much death I have caused just for being around in this world. I could feel tears forming in my eyes but I tried my hardest to fight them off since I didn't like crying in front of others.

"Black are you going to be okay" Flare asked as he walked up to me looking like he was about to puke from the horrible sight in front of him. He then reached his paw out to touch me but I just smacked his paw away. Flare just looked at me with dilated eyes and I could tell he was devastated by the sight in front of him as well.

"I could have saved them you know. They died because I escaped without them when I could have saved them too" I said as I felt myself getting closer to breaking and just crying like a child in front of everyone, but I continued to fight off my emotions as I felt my eyes become heavy and strained from holding back tears for so long.

"Black you can't keep blaming yourself. You had no way of knowing these pokemon would have died" Flare said as he gave me a pat on the back with his paw. His optimism did help bring me out of my shitty mood or at least postpone it for now.

Then we heard the sound of running towards the cafeteria door and we all turned and saw a tired looking police officer standing in front of the door. "Sir we found something you may want to look at" he said as he took in deep breaths. We all followed the guy down the hall until we came across a door that was open. We walked in and it appeared to be a monitoring room where they watched everything through security cameras. The room was dark and the only thing that lit up the room was the twenty monitors mounted on the wall along with a bunch of computer equipment along with a desk below the monitors. The police officer then grabbed a DVD off the desk in the room and put it into a DVD player that was connected to the monitors in the room. Most of the monitors were playing a white fuzzy screen with black dots appearing rapidly on the screen similar to a TV channel with nothing on it.

"Watch this sir. This is the only form of evidence we've found so far" the man said as he stepped back for us to see the video and every monitor on the wall played the same video. The quality on the video was almost crystal clear and even had sound. The video was a recording from one of the cameras and it was watching the cafeteria we were just in. In the video scientist were frantically running around. Along the wall of the cafeteria was a line of pokemon against the wall being held by gunpoint by armed men. Many of the pokemon had restraints on such as muzzles, cuff and chains so they couldn't fight back. Many of the pokemon were whispering and I could hear some of them crying in fear. One of the pokemon appeared to be praying to the God they believed. Two of the scientists then began pulling a cubone into the room by its legs. The cubone was constantly trying to resist the man and eventually got its leg free and kicked the man between the legs and began running. One of the scientist with the gun then shot a round at the cubone and it shredded through its chest and the cubone fell limp.

"Start a pile in the middle of the room" One of the scientists said. One of the scientists then grabbed the cubone and began dragging the dead creature. All of the other pokemon where now screaming and panicking from the gun shot that silenced the cubone. Then after a few seconds a bayleef managed to get free from its restraints and sent a razor leaf towards one of the scientists and hit him directly on the shoulder and he fell on the ground holding his bloody wound. Once that happened multiple began running but then the loud noise of gunshots fired off into the air and every rebelling pokemon quickly fell to the ground dead. The floor was now covered in blood and every pokemon that didn't defy the scientist's was practically hugging the wall.

"Failure to cooperate will end in all of your death's now please cooperate and this will be over soon" One of the scientist yelled at the terrified pokemon as the other scientists helped their wounded comrade up.

After a few minutes another pokemon was dragged into the room and lined up against the wall. "That's the last of them. Do it" the scientist said and he headed for the exit.

The moment those words were said all of the scientists pointed they're guns at the pokemon. Their was a split second of silence in the room as all of the pokemon stared at the armed men. One of the men appeared to be shaking in fear or perhaps out of guilt. After a few seconds the loud sound of gunshots filled the air and a few screams were quickly cut short. Every one of us besides the detective stopped watching right after that and looked away. After a few seconds I then shifted my gaze back at the clip and saw the dead bodies of many pokemon lying dead on the ground covered in blood. One of the scientists then took off his faceless mask and fell to his knees. His back was turned from the camera so his face couldn't be made out but it appeared that he was crying. One of the other scientists then walked up to him and grabbed his mask and put it into the crying man's hand forcefully and whispered something in his ears. The man who was crying then got up to his feet and put the mask back on to conceal his identity.

All I could think was how this was my entire fault and how none of them deserved to die like that. One of the scientists then walked into the cafeteria with a gasoline tank and walked towards the dead pokemon. Then another one of the scientists walked into the room with a can in his hand. He then walked up to the camera and looked at it for a second through his blank mask and held up the can which turned out to be spray paint. He then sprayed a black thick paint on the camera lens and stopped us from spectating the horrors of the scene. Even though I didn't see the end I got what happened from their and I was disgusted by how inhumane they were.

All of us stood there silently not knowing what to say. "Who… Who would do horrible things like that" Flare said with tears rolling down his eyes, Alex looked like he was fighting off some emotions from the clip we watched as well. I remained silent as the image of the pokemon dying replayed over and over in my head. I couldn't get the image of their terror as they were shot out of my head as they cried and prayed for mercy. In the end I felt solely responsible for this since I was the one who left them to die and I couldn't get that thought out of my head no matter how hard I tried.

Flare looked devastated and had tears rolling down his eyes. The detective on the other hand was just writing notes down on his clipboard and didn't look to fazed by the video we were shown.

"How can they do this… something has to be done about this" Flare said in a shaky voice. Flare was right these monster's couldn't keep getting away with committing acts so horrible and just walk away un affected.

"I'm going to kill every single last one of them" I said with a growl as my sorrow was quickly converted into anger.

"Black…" Flare said in a shaky voice "Hatred won't fix anything."

"Look at what they did though…" I said in an angered voice as I fought off my tears. The whole time we have been talking the porygon was translating everything we have said and it was kind of starting to get slightly on my nerves and I felt like way to much was going on at once and I began feeling like everything was moving fast and I felt very uncomfortable from that feeling.

"Besides that clip, they have stripped this place clean and we have nothing to even prove that experiments were even done here" the detective said in a stressed voice as he banged his hand on the desk next to the monitors.

Anger was still building up in me from seeing how low humanity could go and seeing the horrors that went on in this world "They can't keep getting away with this" I yelled in frustration. The porygon continued translating my words. Even though the Porygon didn't translate my words with any emotions I could tell Alex could sense my emotions from the tone of my voice and my body language.

Alex then stepped forward "They won't Black I promise that they will get what they have coming one day" Alex said. I just looked at him with fury in my eyes.

"And how the fuck is that huh? There is no sign that they were even here and right now somewhere else in the world pokemon are being tortured in Hell's like this and all you can do is talk about them getting judgment. The world is full of ignorant morons and the world is going to turn a blind eye on this, because all there is, is our stories and no evidence besides pokemon burnt beyond recognition and a video." I yelled in frustration at Alex and I began inhaling deep breaths to recover from my outburst. The porygon was still translating my words and I saw Alex's head drop from listening to my words. Finally the porygon finished translating. The room was now filled with silence and no one said anything.

"All of their deaths are my fault… and what about me… Don't I deserve something… This is my fault…" I said in a shaky voice as I completely broke and tears flowed down my eyes as guilt overcame me. The porygon translated my words to Alex.

"Black…" Alex said as he dropped to his knees and pulled me into a tight hug and held me tightly against his chest. I just kept crying and didn't even try and fight it anymore. Everyone just walked out the room and gave us a moment of privacy.

"It's okay buddy no one is blaming you for anything" Alex said in a comforting voice as tears poured down my eyes as I sobbed in his arms as he held me tighter.

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**End Of Chapter**

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**Author Note: **have you Ever felt extreme guilt for doing something and it just ate at you for a long time. I think we have all been their at one point. (My list is to long to count...) anyways that's what Black was going through in this chapter. Except Black held in his emotions and refused to let them out until eventually he broke at the end of the chapter and let his emotions out. Black is experiencing a lot of guilt since he feels responsible for leaving those pokemon to die when he felt like he should have been their to save them but instead he escaped. Now on to some non story related stuff lol. I couldn't help but notice no one answered my questions... Oh well I'm honestly not surprised at all and I saw that coming... just thought i'd try. Anyways if you enjoyed this chapter please give me a review. Can you guess what I'm going to say next? Thanks you to everyone who has stuck with this story so long and thanks so much for reading and reviewing! Also this story has just now reached the 100,000 mark and I looked online and thats like almost the length of some descent sized books. (Assuming the source was credible)


	28. The Price of Freedom

**Well here is Chapter 28. Things are now calming down a bit in the story as everyone is trying to move past the events they've experienced. I really had a hard time finding time in my schedule to write this chapter. Not that I'm usually busy its just this week has been a little hectic for me. Anyways I'll see if I have time to get another chapter up later this week but we'll see lol. Thanks for reading! and thanks to all those who review and fav and follow my story!**

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**Chapter 28: The Price of Freedom. **

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**Point of View Flare**

Black and Alex where in the monitoring room for around five minutes before they finally came out, Black was the first one to exit and the first thing I noticed was his dilated eyes that looked agitated since from him crying. I was a bit surprised that he had a mental break down here out of all places. Following Black out of the monitoring room was Alex who looked like he was in a much better mood.

"Sorry about that" Black said in a gloomy voice. The detective who brought us here was now leaning against a wall with a drowsy expression on his face. After Black spoke it looked like it startled him and brought him out of his lazy state.

"Let's just finish up what we came here for" Black said and the porygon from before translated his words for the detective to hear.

For around the next hour Black told us everything that happened to him during his short stay in the Team Genesis facility. He told us about the DNA they extracted from him, to Stark killing Crystal and he told us about their escape. By the time he was finished showing everyone step by step of where he was when everything happened we were next to the exit of the facility.

"So that is everything that happened up until you actually left the facility" the detective said as he jotted down some notes on a piece of paper.

"Yeah, after we left we found ourselves in that burnt down house. Of course at the time it wasn't burnt down like it is now" Black said as the porygon translated his words right after he finished talking.

"Well I think you've helped us more than enough. With your story we now have a better idea on how Team Genesis operates and pretty soon we may have enough info to start putting pieces together" the detective said as he continued writing down notes on his paper. "Anyways I think we have all been crammed down in this facility long enough. How about I take you guys back to Amberette town?" the detective said as he yawned.

Black gave a nod and we all then made our way outside and finally saw the light of day for the first time in a few hours. Despite the fact that our visit to the facility was brief my eyes still burned a little once we got outside. The air outside was nice and fresh compared to the dull air in that facility.

After we all took in the fresh air we all made our way to the detectives car so we could finally head back to town and rest up a bit. Everyone was able to get in the car just fine except for Black who needed to be lifted into the car since he was still injured. The detective was driving and Alex was in the front passenger seat and Black and I were stuck in the back of the car.

I couldn't help but notice that Black still had that depressed look on his face. I then got the brilliant idea to try and cheer him up or at least try and take his mind off of the painful thoughts in his head.

"So what's your plan from here" I asked curiously.

Black just shifted his gaze at me for a few seconds before he said anything "I don't know. I'll probably just wonder around aimlessly like I was before I met you" Black said as he lied down on his right side and avoided eye contact with me.

"I know you probably won't come with us since you fear for our safety. But if you are going to go your own way actually try and do something instead of just hating your life. You're a good pokemon but I can tell you are always depressed and things are weighing you down" I said in a serious tone.

Black still refused to make eye contact with me and just stayed in his spot "It's not like I want to be this way Flare and I don't expect you to understand how I feel" Black said in a depressed voice.

"Well I already know better than to try and get you to talk about how you feel, but when you do leave just take care of yourself and try not to get yourself killed" I said in a depressed voice. I was now saddened by the fact that Black was back to icing people around him out, when before he was actually starting to become more social and friendly. I know he would probably get over his depression in a few weeks but the thing was that once he left he would probably be alone again and I doubt he would meet anyone who will help him through these hard times he was going through and once he left he would go back to being alone.

"Flare… there is something you need to know" Black said as he slowly sat up and looked directly into my eyes.

"When I saw all of those pokemon die in that room I realized something" Black said in a serious voice.

I was very confused on where this was going and nor did I like where it was going "What" I replied.

"I realized how far those people will go to cover up their tracks. They slaughtered all of those pokemon just to tie up any loose ends that could risk them getting caught" Black said.

"Where are you going with this" I said in a worried voice.

"Flare… these people leave no loose ends… They know who you are. They know you know that they exist. Flare when I saw that film I realized that by you being involved in this you and everyone else may already be dead" Black said in a serious tone.

I didn't even know how to respond to something like that. "H-how do you even know that" I asked in a worried voice.

"Because they were trying to force me to tell them where you guys were" Black said as he looked down.

"What does this even mean for us then" I asked as I realized how serious this may be.

Black then looked back into my eyes with a serious stare "I don't know…" Black said as he looked down again. "I-I'm so sorry…" Black said as he looked down.

The rest of the car ride was rode out in silence and I had nothing to really say to Black at this point. I know that up to this point that I tried helping Black out with his problems with the pokemon that were after him, but until now I never realized how big this whole thing was.

After a long silent car ride we were finally dropped off at our hotel and Alex said bye to the detective. Black didn't have to go to the pokecenter since the detective was able to get him out for our little trip. Once we were out of the car we headed towards our hotel room. Alex carried Black up the stairs even though he probably hated him for it. Once we were up the stairs we finally walked into our hotel room.

Once we were in I saw Kana lying on the bed still dead sleep even though it was late afternoon and Gray was on the couch but his eyes were locked dead on Black. Kana was now slowly waking up from the noise of us walking in and she sluggishly rolled over and got up on all four of her legs and stretched out while yawning.

"How did it go" Kana asked in a cheerful voice. I just sat their silently still taking in what Black said to me earlier.

"Flare" Kana said as she snapped me out of my deep thought.

"-oh uhh it went fine I guess" I said awkwardly. Kana didn't look too satisfied with my answer and she jumped off the couch and walked over to me.

"Is something bothering you" She asked in a curious voice.

Obviously I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell anyone about what Black said so I continued to lie "No everything is fine don't worry" I said in a nervous voice. Kana let out a sigh and I could tell she knew I was lying.

"Well if you say so Flare…" Kana said in a slightly disappointed voice as she walked towards Black.

"What about you Black how are you holding up" Kana asked the depressed umbreon.

"Fine" he replied in a depressed tone that showed he was not in the mood to socialize.

"Well I'll just let you guys settle in" Kana said awkwardly as she caught on to our mood and she headed back towards the bed.

Black then began walking towards me and he sat next to me on the floor. "Flare obviously one of us is going to have to tell everyone that they are in danger" Black whispered into my ear. I knew he was right but I just didn't want to think about it yet.

"I know…" I said in an unhappy voice.

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**Point of view Stark**

Every muscle in my body felt as if it was strained and I felt extremely fragile. I was now lying on a cold cement floor in a dark room with a small light bulb on the ceiling illuminating the room I was in barely. I had just woken up from my slumber and the last thing I remembered was the kadabra shocking me with the receptors in my body until I was unconscious. Infuriated by that last memory I slowly got the strength to stand and I struggled to my four paws. Once I was up on all four paws I had to take a second to maintain my balance as I swayed back and forth and wobble legs.

Once I got my balance I slowly began walking towards the door of the room which was slightly cracked open. When I was about halfway to the door I felt an intense series of coughs possess me as I coughed violently. After about fifteen seconds of constant coughing I finally got control of my body back. I took a few seconds to recover and I slowly began walking towards the door again.

After a minute of slowly struggling towards the door I finally made it. I took my paw and cautiously pushed the door open even more so I could fit through. Then I walked out the door and I was in a bright white room. My eyes were instantly blinded by the bright light of the room and I clenched my eyes shut as I tried to withstand the light.

"Ahh you are finally awake" I heard a familiar voice call out to me. Once my vision adapted to the room's bright light I quickly noticed that I was in some kind of briefing room. On the wall there was a giant map of Kalos and in front of that map were a few chairs facing the map. In the corner of the room was a table with a coffee maker on it. The walls and floor of this room were a pure white and didn't even have a single shadow in the room.

I then looked over to the other corner of the room and saw Zero leaning against the wall.

"You" I said with a growl as I started walking towards him as fast as I could with my weak body. Zero looked unfazed by my anger and didn't even bother moving.

"I would stop right there if I was you" Zero said in a bored voice.

"And why is that" I snarled at him.

"Because your weak and on top of that I'd hate to have to hurt you even more" Zero said in a provocative voice as he held out the remote he used to shock me from before. The instant he said that I stopped in my tracks and gave him a death glare.

"Good now that your calmed down I have some things I'd like to tell you" Zero said as he walked towards me. I just waited for him to speak as I continued staring at him with an untrusting glare.

"Team Genesis has one final mission for you and if you cooperate we will let you leave for good as a free pokemon. Of course that is if you agree to stay silent about us."

"And what do you need from me now" I said in an unfriendly voice.

"Due to some conflict between us and the Crimson Dawn we need someone to keep tabs on them from the inside" Zero said as he looked at me.

"And let me guess that's me your wanting to do that mission" I said.

"Correct."

"And how would I gain their trust so I can spy on them" I asked as if that was an impossible request.

"Simple. They think that you are on their side right now and they think we are holding you hostage. After all we originally reanimated you so you could hunt down that umbreon they were after. Plus on top of that we already have a spy with them now so he will smooth things over with them so they will trust you and think your one of them." His plan sounded like it could go wrong really fast and I was in no mood to help someone that shocked me until I was unconscious and basically referred to me as his property.

"And you think I'm just going to roll over and just do whatever you say. I'm no one's pawn" I snapped at him.

"Give up your pride Stark and just do what I tell you and you can be a free pokemon. That's the price of your freedom" Zero said with a sinister smile on his face.

"And how would I know that you are not going to just kill me right after?" I asked since I didn't trust him or Genesis even slightly.

"I guess if you really want I could just kill you here and that will be the end of that" Zero said as he took a step towards me and held out the remote he used to shock me.

I knew better than to believe him. I knew that the instant I was done helping them they were going to just kill me the instant my head was turned, but I knew that if I even wanted a slight chance of escaping I'd have to play along for now.

"Fine I'll help you" I said in a stern voice.

Zero then let out a small smirk "Good we will be meeting someone very important soon who you will need to learn as much about as possible" Zero said.

"Who" I asked curiously.

"The leader of the Crimson Dawn, Mandus" Zero said as he began signaling me to follow him "I'll explain everything you need to know on the way there."

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well it looks like Mandus may finally be revealed. Anyways you can expect some interesting stuff to be going on for Stark now in the story and hopefully I can build onto him more and show more sides of him that doesn't have to do with him being a killer with no empathy. Anyways I'm going to keep this short since I'm tired now so yeah lol. Thanks for reading!


	29. CEO

**Well things are still going calmly but that doesn't mean nothing interesting is happening at the moment. This chapter will introduce a very important character. Anyways I feel as if my last chapter came out like crap since I was tired when I wrote it so I may take some time to redo that chapter and possible touch up on some other chapters. If you got a recommendation on chapters you thought needed some work please PM or tell me in the review section. Don't forget to review and tell me what you think about the story so far! Thanks 4 reading!**

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**Chapter 29: CEO**

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**Point of View Stark**

Zero and I were now walking down a long white hallway that didn't even have a single shadow in it and the white walls reflected the light off the ceiling and added a glow to the wall and floors color. In the hall were a few scientists in lab coats. Unlike the last lab only a few of them actually had on the blank human face masks. Most of the scientists who didn't have masks on actually appeared to look like normal people who would never get tangled up with an organization like Genesis.

Once we were half way down the hall we reached a set of doors and Zero pushed them open and held it for me so I could walk through. I walked through cautiously. We were now in a hallway that had only one big set of doors at the end. Along the walls of the hallway was plants mounted on the wall. Once we reached the door Zero didn't open it. Instead he knocked on the door and waited.

"Permission to come in sir" Zero said in a formal voice. After a few seconds of waiting I heard a beeping noise and the set of doors slowly opened on their own as if it was inviting us to come in. Zero didn't waste any time and walked into the room as I followed him cautiously. The room we were in had red carpet with gold accents on it. Along the wall was a huge book shelf filled with a variety of many different books, and on the right wall was a map of Kalos. In the back of the room was a huge desk with a huge TV mounted on the wall behind it and an office chair with its back facing us.

"We are ready to commence the operation sir" Zero said in a formal voice "Just so you know Stark I will be saying what I say through telepathy so you actually understand what is going on between our conversation. That is if you have a place in the conversation."

Shortly after Zero said that the office chair turned around and revealed a middle aged man looking at us, the man had on a pitch black suit jacket with a crimson undershirt below it and a black tie with red accents on it. The man had black dress pants which matched the rest of his suit perfectly. As for his face… the first detail that caught my eyes attention was the massive burn scar on the left side of his face. The scar only covered around one third of his face and stopped right before it reached his nose. His eye still appeared to be intact from whatever caused the scar but his eye was slightly discolored and had a dull white tone to it and his eye pupil was a dull gray color and the non-burnt eye pupil was a grass green. The scar went as far back to his ear and gave his ear a deformed shape and the burn went only a few inches higher than his left eyes and it went no lower than his neck.

As for the man's hair… he had a very, very short buzz cut that you could barely see and it almost made him appear bald. The man also appeared to have stress wrinkles on his forehead which made him look like a strict person that would have a short tempter and low tolerance for people who waste his time.

"Very well then let us begin" The man said in a deep voice as he got up off his chair and picked up a hat that you would see a mobster wearing. (Poke Pie Hat) The man then began walking towards the door we came through.

"Who is this guy" I whispered into Zero's ear as we followed the man down the hall we came from.

"That is the CEO of Team Genesis. You would be wise to address him formally. But some people who know him a little more and warmed up to him enough to get past being formal call him by the code name Ghost" Zero whispered back as we exited the hall that led to his room and entered the main hall.

"Why ghost" I whispered to him as we walked down the main hall of the base we were in, most of the scientists that were near us when the man with the scar on his face walked by quickly picked up their pace on the work they were doing and showed no sign of slacking off.

"He got the code name Ghost because no one knows anything about him and it's as if he doesn't have a past or life of any kind. No one knows anything about him other than he is a genius that runs this underground organization and he makes enough profit to pay everyone here an exceptionally good salary for their skills" Zero said quietly back into my ear.

After a few minutes of following him we came upon a door with a key pad on it. One of the scientists that was nearby then dropped what he was doing immediately and ran up to the door and entered in a numbered code on the key pad and the door slid open automatically. Once the door was opened the man stepped back and saluted Ghost as we walked through the door.

Once I entered the room I quickly noticed how much bigger this room was compared to the rest of the facility. We appeared to be in a big underground hangar of some kind. Along the back wall there was a few military grade jeeps parked neatly along the wall and in the center of the room there was a helipad with a helicopter directly on top of it. In the room there were a few armed men and some pokemon walking around. The pokemon in the room appeared to be in good physical shape and their species varied from arcanine, houndoom and many other species that could be dangerous in combat.

"How big is this facility" I said in amazement.

Zero just looked at me as if he wasn't surprised by my reaction "Team Genesis has some really big pockets. The facility you were just in was one of our smaller low budget bases. This place is Team Genesis main base" Zero said with slight pride as we made our way towards the helicopter in the middle of the room.

As we approached even closer to the helicopter I noticed a few armed soldiers holding military grade guns and they were wearing tactical vest with supplied attached to it. The men had those blank human face masks on their faces and one of the men then opened the main door to the helicopter and Ghost got in and took a seat on the bench in the helicopter. Zero made his way in the helicopter and looked back at me.

"You are coming with so get in" Zero said in an annoyed voice. I was hesitant about getting in since I still had no idea where we were going or what they had in store for me. Despite my suspicions I got in the helicopter which was now starting and the blades on top of the helicopter spun around in a circle at a high speed which created a strong wind outside of the helicopter.

Then I heard a loud beeping noise and I peeked my head out of the helicopter and noticed that the ceiling was opening up slowly.

"Ready for takeoff" one of the armed soldiers from outside the chopper said.

Zero then looked at me "Don't worry these men are actually paid mercenaries and not inexperienced like the scientists in amberette who were just handed guns.

"Great" I said sarcastically as I realized that was just going to make escape harder in the future.

After a few seconds of waiting the helicopter finally lifted off the ground and I then finally remembered how much I hated riding in ground vehicles and now I was in a helicopter. I instantly felt knots forming in my stomach but I tried my hardest to show no sign of weakness in front of the bastards forcing me to work for them.

"Where are we going" I asked Zero.

Zero just looked at me funny as if I asked a dumb question "I already told you, we are going to meet up with Mandus and have a little debate with him."

"No I know that. Why are we doing this if he is your enemy" I said in an irritated voice.

"He is our enemy but we have some loose ends to cover up between us and we are going to bargain with them before things get heated between our two organizations. And we are going to use you as a bargaining chip since they think you are on their side and not ours."

I gave out an annoyed sigh as he kept talking to me as if I was his pawn and I had no say in my life at all. Although in the end I didn't have any say and I was his hostage until I could come up with an escape plan.

Then a thought popped into my head. If I killed the CEO of team Genesis here then this would all end and I'd stop a lot of chaos from coming to this world and I'd save myself on top of that. I evaluated the area around me and observed my chances of actually surviving a battle between these soldiers, Zero, The CEO and probably a helicopter crash from a high altitude right after the fight.

"I see the way you are looking around and I'm going to tell you now that it won't work" Zero said to me.

"What won't work" I said as I played dumb.

'Was it really that obvious' I thought to myself.

"I can tell you want to kill us. Regardless of whether you kill us or not there is a person back at our base watching you from here and that person will kill you the instant you try anything" Zero said with a small smirk.

"And how can he see me. I don't see any camera's around here" I said in an intimidating voice.

"Simple, nanotechnology that we put in your eyes" Zero said as I became confused.

"Nanotechnology?" I said in a confused voice.

"We made your eyes blue for a reason. That is so we know that you have nanotechnology in your eyes. With that we can see what you see and along with some other things in your body we can basically see and hear everything that happens around you. You are under twenty-four hour surveillance by us and there is no getting out of it other than just doing what we tell you for now."

'Dammit' I screamed in my thoughts. If he was telling the truth then I was officially dead and I may as well jump out of this helicopter now and die before I do anything to help these bastards.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now late at night and Alex was asleep hours ago and he was completely oblivious of the fact that I snuck out long ago. I was now behind the pokecenter with everyone who was involved with the Team Genesis incident from a few days ago. Flare, Gray, Kana, Hesh, Danny the annoying rattata, Ebony and Blue were all behind the pokemon center where Hesh usually stayed. Everyone was gathered up here right now because Flare and I told them that we had to talk about something extremely serious, which we did.

"Well why did you wake us up so damn late at night" Gray said in a tired yet pissed off voice as he let out a yawn.

I let out a sigh as I was about to tell everyone the grave news that may change all of their lives forever "Well obviously you all remember Team Genesis so I'll get straight to the point. Me and Flare both came to the conclusion that they are the type of people that will go to any length to cover their tracks" I said as I took a breath to continue my minor speech.

"Don't tell me" Gray muttered as I took my breath.

"We both believe that we are going to be on their list of loose ends to take care of" I said in a monotone voice that masked my depression.

"And how can we be sure that they are going to come" Ebony said in a shaky voice that showed she was afraid.

I then recalled the horrible things I saw at the Team Genesis base and I felt guilty for what a child pokemon was going to have to go through to survive "When I went back to the base we found some disturbing things. They executed every pokemon hostage in that facility just to cover their tracks and I don't think we are an exception" I said as my ears lowered and emotions rushed through my mind from remembering the horrible things in that video I saw.

I could see every ones faces become filled with different emotions. Gray sat there and gritted his teeth in anger along with Hesh who clenched his fist, Ebony looked like she was about to cry and Kana's face was frozen in shock. Danny was sitting their nodding his head in disapproval of what he heard and Blue on the other hand didn't look too shocked by what I said.

"I expected no less from people as low as them" Blue said as he nodded his head "Black is right though. Those people will be coming shortly and it would be wise if we were all prepared."

"And what would you suggest" Gray said in anger that wasn't particularly directed at the squirtle.

"Well obviously it would be unwise for us to stay in Amberette since they will be looking for us here. I would recommend that we all avoid staying in one place for too long and avoid giving out personal information and on top of that stay completely out of sight as much as possible" the squirlte said as if he had done this before.

"So what we just throw away our lives now and go into hiding" Gray snapped in anger.

"Well you and your friends are fortunately more lucky" Blue said.

"And how is that" Gray asked with a bit of anger still in his voice.

"I said that it would be wise not to stay in one area for too long, well you and your friends are already travelling around constantly since your trying to get the eight gym badges so you may be able to get by" Blue said in a reassuring voice.

"So we aren't in danger" Flare said in a relieved voice.

"No I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that things may be easier for you."

"What about Ebony, Danny and Hesh do we just leave them" I asked blue.

Then gray stepped towards me and I could see a vein bulging out of his forehead "What do you mean we? You are now going anywhere with us. Everything I've predicted about you so far has happened. You are dangerous" Gray said in a spiteful voice.

I just let out a sigh and accepted the fact that he was right. Everyone's life was going good without me. Except for a few individuals I saved "Yeah I'm sorry I know this is my fault to an extent and if you want me to leave then fine. But stop acting like I haven't done anything good" I retorted in slight anger.

"Oh what have you done for anyone" Gray said in an annoyed voice.

"Black saved us" Ebony murmured at Gray in a shy voice as she walked towards him in a nervous manner. "If Black hadn't been in there with us we would have never escaped. He came up with the plan and motivated us to not give up when we all lost hope on living" Ebony said in a louder voice that was filled with confidence now.

Gray just stood there with an agitated look on his face as he tried to refrain himself from yelling at a child. I on the other hand was shocked that Ebony didn't hate me. This whole time I felt like I was responsible for her sister's death and that the eevee would resent me. But now she was defending me.

"Whatever" Gray muttered below his breath as he rolled his eyes.

After a few seconds of silence Flare then decided it was time to speak "Anyways I'm all about a solution but I think everyone is just as much in this as the other and exiling Black is not a solution" Flare said as he looked at me with a small smirk on his face. I just smiled back since it felt good to have pokemon around me sticking up for me and reminded me why I wanted to stay with them before I left.

Kana then stepped forwards and looked at Gray "Everyone does have a point Gray. Black is a good pokemon and saved multiple lives. Would it really be the right thing to just reward him by exiling him away from us when it wouldn't even make a difference? The damage is already done" Kana said in a serious tone.

Gray just sat there and I could see his jaw trembling from him clenching his teeth so hard and it looked as if he was about to erupt with anger "Fine do what you want, I'll put up with him" Gray said quickly just wanting to get those words over with as fast as possible as he avoided eye contact with us.

"Why do you want me to stay with you guys when I'm the one who got you all into this" I asked in a slightly quiet voice.

Kana then looked at me with a cheerful smile "Because the damage is already done and we'll have a better chance of survival if we stick together."

"She has a point Black. You should stop resisting them and just be happy that you have friends to watch your back" Hesh said as he crossed his arms and leaned against the pokemon center.

"Are you sure this is what you guys want" I asked to double check that they were absolutely sure they wanted me around still. Flare and Kana gave a nod and Gray just rolled his eyes at me for the fiftieth time since I've known him.

"Thanks" I said with a small smile.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well you guy's/Gal's finally got to learn more about team Genesis and their leader. Anyways the CEO of Genesis is called Ghost and I think he will be an interesting character as I develop him more. I know I didn't do a lot with him this chapter but you will get to see and hear more from him in chapters that are coming very soon. I hoped I described him with enough detail and I'd also like to note that the scar on his face is totally random and has nothing to do with anything in the story (Sarcasm). Anyways I'd like to hear what people are thinking about this story so far and the direction it is going in so please review it does help me improve some things. Anyways thanks to everyone who followed, faved, reviewed my story so far! And thanks to everyone who just read my story in general as well.


	30. Mandus

**Yay new chapter! Fianlly i've been getting more time to write finally after having a bust week last week and this week. On top of that when ever I did have free time I was just so tired and slothish that I didn't want to do anything besides sleep and blow off my responsibilities lol. Anyways here is an awesome chapter that is only from Stark's point of view. Also I will be introducing someone that I think many of you have been waiting to be revealed. Thanks for reading and as always thank you everyone who has read, followed, fav and reviewed this story! You guy's and gals are awesome and sometimes your review really do motivate me to get off my lazy ass!**

* * *

**Chapter 30: Mandus**

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

The helicopter I was in was now at a high altitude in the air now and I could see the world around me perfectly from up here. The area directly below the helicopter appeared to be some kind of rocky wasteland with no sign of plant life at all. Far off in the distance in the opposite direction we were heading I could slightly see the light from Luminose city lighting up in the night sky.

I had probably been in this helicopter now for around fifteen minutes now and I was really getting tired of being in such a small space for a long period of time. Zero was just leaning against one of the walls of the helicopter while the man with the scar on his face known as Ghost just sat on a bench that was integrated into the helicopters wall along with those two there was also a few men in the helicopter sitting on the opposite side of ghost in the helicopter, the men appeared to be armed and from the look of them they had a good body build and probably had their work cut out for them.

"Alright listen up Stark" I heard zero say in a firm voice from behind me. I quickly stopped looking out of the helicopter window and directed my full attention towards Zero.

"Okay I'm going to start telling you everything you need to know so listen carefully because I don't want to repeat myself" Zero said as I listened.

"As I already told you, you are going undercover and will be acting as a spy to get info for us" Zero said.

"What do you need me to find" I said quickly before he could say more.

"I was getting to that. Now you will be finding info that could lead to Crimson's destruction and anything that can help us bring them down" Zero said with a pause after his words "There is one more important thing we need you to try and figure out and this is essential" Zero said as he stared at me with a serious gaze.

"What" I asked.

"We believe that Crimson has something of ours and if they do have it, it could be a disaster for all of Kalos."

"And what would that be" I asked in an attempt to learn more.

"It's not one hundred percent confirmed but we need you to keep an ear open for something called project Kurokami. Since it's not confirmed that they for surely have it I can't get to in-depth about it. But since we will be monitoring you twenty-four-seven we'll tell you more if we have our suspicions" Zero said.

"Project Kurokami?" I said in a confused voice.

"Just remember that it's important and we'll tell you more as time goes on. It's better to send you in oblivious that way they won't suspect anything from you, since you won't know much" Zero said as he walked towards me.

"Another question… How are you going to contact me if I'm undercover? More nanotechnology" I asked.

"Correct" Zero said in an impressed voice.

"Landing in five minutes" One of the soldiers yelled to us.

"Okay now before we land it's important that you remember that you are supposed to be our hostage and you want go with Mandus's team. So don't be surprised if we aren't too polite to you once we land" Zero said.

"I'm already your hostage" I said in a snide voice. Zero just ignored my comment and waited for us to land.

As the soldier said we would be landing in five minutes and we did. The instant we landed one of the soldiers that was with us pointed his gun at my head and I quickly went into a defensive position out of natural reflex that I've developed over years of dealing with stuff like this.

"Stark this is part of our operation" Zero barked at me in annoyance. I then quickly remembered what he told me from earlier and I let my guard down and faced the door out of the helicopter. Ghost then stood up and one of the other soldiers opened the door of the helicopter. The instant the door opened I instantly felt a strong breeze of wind from outside and I could see a strong wind outside carrying a lot of debris in it powerful gales.

Ghost didn't waste any time and instantly walked out of the helicopter paying no attention to the wind as two soldiers followed exactly two steps behind him in an organized order. Shortly after Zero and I exited the helicopter along with the last soldier who was still pointing his gun at my head. I wasn't really a fan of people pointing guns at me and in the past I made it a habit to kill anyone who even made me feel slightly threatened in any form possible.

Once I stepped foot outside I instantly felt the wind blowing aggressively against me and debris hit me constantly from the strong wind. I wasn't really bothered to much by the wind it was just slightly annoying since it made it hard to keep my eyes open. I continued walking with squinted eyes as I held my head low to avoid getting small little rock chunks in my eyes.

"There they are" I heard Zero say in a low tone. I suddenly forgot about the sand and looked up to see the people we were meeting out in this Celebi forsaken wasteland. At first I couldn't see anything but after a few seconds of focusing my vision I was finally able to make out a few figures that were standing in a group. In the group their appeared to be a white espeon with red eyes, a geninja who appeared to have a samurai sword on his back, there was also a quilava and standing in the middle of the group was a lucario who stood a few feet ahead of his group with his arms crossed as he looked at Ghost with a death glare that could kill. Despite the death glare Ghost continued walking towards the group of pokemon in a non-hesitant manner.

The lucario had an expression on his face that showed no fear and I could see power glowing in his eyes. The blue fur on the lucario's body was a darker tone of blue than the average lucario and it was almost as dark as the black fur on his body. lucario's naturally have three spikes on their, one on the chest and one on each arm, the spikes on his body though were a jet black that was shiny enough to see your own reflection in the darkness of the steel spike. One of the things that threw me off about the lucario though was how he was wearing a black cloak over his body, the clock wasn't the kind you put your arms in sleeves like a shirt, it was one of those cloaks you wear around your neck and wraps around your body and shields your entire torso. The cloak also seemed to have a hood on the back but the lucario wasn't using it at the moment. I could only assume that he was using the cloak for the big gale storm we were experiencing right now but it did make him look more intimidating and the look did fit him well.

Ghost stopped walking towards them once there was about five meters separating our two parties. Both of our groups just stared at each other with high tension between us. After around thirty seconds of awkwardly staring at each other Ghost then held up his hand as if he was gesturing for his men not to follow him. Shortly after he started walking the lucario started walking towards ghost alone as well. Once the two where only separated by a meter of ground they both stared at each other with high tension and everything fell silent and the wind even stopped for a few seconds as they faced each other.

"Mandus" I heard ghost say in a cold voice. The lucario just stood there and gave Ghost a cold look that was full of spite and hatred. I was actually surprised that the lucario was the pokemon known as Mandus. I always expected something more. I wasn't sure of what to expect, I just didn't expect a lucario.

"Ghost" Mandus replied with a voice that showed no sign of being nervous or any form of fear.

Right after those small words were exchanged the wind instantly picked back up and almost blew everyone off their feet as we all struggled to keep our balance as Ghost and Mandus were unaffected by the wind.

After a few seconds of having wind and small chunks of rock beating against my body a thought just occurred to me that I didn't notice until now "Wait a second did that lucario just speak to Ghost directly" I said in a confused voice.

Zero shifted one of his eyes towards me as he tried to cover his eyes from the heavy wind blowing us around "Yes, that lucario is something different. Don't let his appearance fool you" Zero said as he shifted his gaze towards Ghost and Mandus.

"So you are now choosing to go against us even though we had a mutual pact between our organizations" Mandus said in a serious voice. Ghost didn't even bother responding to the lucario and instead reached into his jackets pocket and pulled out a cigar and a lighter. Ghost then lit the cigar up with a lighter and put it into his mouth and inhaled its toxic poisons and took it out of his mouth and blew out a big gust of smoke right in the lucario's face as a sign of disrespect.

The instant the puff of smoke hit the lucario's face he instantly smacked the cigar right out of ghost's hand faster than my eyes could process his precipitous speed. Ghost just let out a grumble of irritation and let the hand he was holding his cigar up with drop down with an attitude.

"You will take me seriously Ghost" the lucario said in a dark tone that would have sent shivers down my spine if I was normal.

Ghost didn't even looked fazed by the lucario's demand and he just reached back into his pocket and pulled out another cigar

"Yes we are going against you" Ghost said as he lit up another cigar.

"Pity I actually believed that both of us would have benefited from our pact but instead you choose a death wish over an alliance" The lucario said as I could see him crossing his arms under his cloak.

"Death wish? Are you threatening me or maybe you are oblivious to what your against" Ghost said with a small intimidating chuckle.

"Think of it as you please but know this. I will not tolerate you interfering with our objective and you've already got in the way once and believe me there won't be a second time" the lucario said in a powerful voice that made some of the soldiers by me take a step back.

"What you mean your mission on capturing that umbreon" Ghost said as if Mandus was crazy "I'll have you know that the only reason we didn't capture you precious umbreon when we could of is simple because we have its DNA and we are working on altering the DNA of other umbreon's to be just like him" Ghost said with a slightly confident look on his face.

The lucario just nodded his head at Ghost "Oh and where is this perfect umbreon you have produced. Obviously you have nothing to offer me since a greedy corrupt pig like you would have already tried selling me something like that the moment you got off your helicopter" the lucario said with some bite in his words.

"And how would you know it's not the umbreon with us" Ghost said as he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Because he's not" Mandus said bluntly.

Ghost then chuckled a little at what Mandus said and then looked to the ground as he laughed "Okay you got me there. But we have experimented with some umbreon's and we are expecting to figure out how to make an umbreon with split eevee evolutions like the umbreon you are after."

"Well until then it's not worth mentioning so quit howling about achievements you haven't achieved yet" Mandus said in a serious voice that showed annoyance towards Ghost.

"You're a hard pokemon to please" Ghost said with a sigh.

Zero and I waited patiently with the other troops as we all eased dropped on their conversation. Every one of us was on guard since we expected a fight to break out any second now between the two. I had my money on the lucario if it did come down to that and if anything I'd probably help him kill the bastard.

"Well it's obvious we didn't come here to try and work things out so let's just get down to business" Mandus said in a serious tone.

"Very well."

"Before we finish our business though, I think it is safe to say there is too many loose ends between our two sides and if we do plan on settling things between our organizations we should spend time to tie up loose ends between us" the lucario proposed.

"That sounds logical" Ghost replied.

"Then let's take care of any liabilities first, after all remaining invisible to the world is both of our organizations top priorities" Mandus said.

"Fine" Ghost said as he smoked his cigar "One more thing, take your artificial umbreon with you. We have no need for him. After all we originally made him so he could capture that other umbreon you were looking for" Ghost said as he signally me to come towards him with a wave. The soldier next to me then took his gun off my head right away and I began cautiously walking towards Mandus.

"How do I know that it's not a trap" the lucario said in an untrusting voice as he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

'Shit' was all I could think as I began pondering a backup plan that didn't involve me dying.

"You don't have to take him I'll just have to dispose of him after were done her" Ghost said as he looked at me. The instant those words came out I just stopped dead in my tracks and death stared Ghost with a serious glare.

"Stop talking about me as if I'm expendable" I snarled at him as I reached my limit of being talked down to. Ghost just stared at me for a second and looked back at Mandus and completely ignored me.

"I'm talking to you" I yelled in frustration at Ghost even though he couldn't understand a word I was barking at him. Even after I yelled Ghost failed to notice me and I then began contemplating on whether I just wanted to say screw it and just kill the bastard really quick before I died.

"Fine I'll take him in" Mandus said as he stared at me as if he was evaluating me. Ghost then just looked at me and gave me a nod as if I was supposed to go with him. I then cautiously walked towards the group of pokemon that were with Mandus. The instant I reached their group I immediately felt out of place. Not that I minded since I was used to being alone and I honestly preferred others to just not socialize with me. After all I was anti-social since I was a trainer killer who didn't really care for having friends or anyone to care about.

Once I reached the other side I looked back and saw Ghost extend his hand towards Mandus in an attempt to shake his paw "So we agree on everything we talked about" Ghost said.

Mandus just looked at his hand and just turned around and started walking towards me and his colleagues.

"I'll play along with you for now. Just remember that a new dawn will be coming soon, a dawn that will only come through bloodshed and you and your colleagues will be the origin of this new dawn" Mandus said as he walked towards me and his group of minions.

Ghost then began walking back towards his group as well and continued smoking his cigar up as the helicopter's blades began spinning. I then looked back and looked at my new team of pokemon and I just waited for them to say something first.

"Stark, welcome to the Crimson Dawn" I heard the lucario say as he began walking in the opposite direction of the helicopter and didn't even bother making eye contact with his team.

The lucario just kept walking as his cloak fluttered in the gusts of wind and everyone else followed the lucario's lead and when I looked back in the distance I could see the helicopter I came in taking off and heading away in the opposite direction.

"Don't be too bothered by Mandus. He is a very serious individual" I heard a voice say from behind me. I quickly turned my head and saw a white espeon with crimson eyes standing behind me. I didn't even bother responding to him and I just turned my head back in the direction I was walking and ignored him.

"Not to social are you. I'm not surprised. I'd imagine you resent everyone here for putting you in this situation and I would also bet you have trust issues" the espeon said in a sympathetic voice. Then something clicked in my head and the espeon's face became familiar to me.

"Wait your Black's brother. I remember seeing your picture when Genesis was briefing me on everything I needed to know about him" I said in slight surprise.

"Yes I am his brother. But I prefer to refer to him by his real name and not his new name" the white espeon said.

"Whatever works" I muttered.

"Anyways I don't know how they treated you in Genesis but most of the pokemon in our organization is mostly pokemon who dream of a better future that doesn't need violence and everyone can live as equals. A world free from hatred and those whose hearts are corrupted with greed" the espeon said.

"What about you. I've heard about what you've done to your family and I can't see you as the type of pokemon that has good motives" I snarled at him in annoyance.

The espeon flinched a little at my accusation and then tilted his head down a little "Nothing I've done was in vein and it is for a better future… I don't expect anyone to understand my motives and why I've committed the sins I've done" the espeon said in a bitter voice.

"Do you have regret" I asked.

There was a few seconds before the espeon responded "No it has to be this way" he responded.

I out of all pokemon would know about killing other living beings and walking away unfazed. Yet I knew it was wrong so whenever I heard someone else talking about murder as if it was nothing it just kind of bothered me that there was other monsters out there like me.

In the end I guess there will always be others that were broken like me, others that haunt this world, others living beings that commit sins every day, others that shouldn't be alive after what they've done to those around them.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **Well we finally get to see who Mandus is. Now much was really revealed on Mandus obviously but from what you may have noticed is he is very serious and is portrayed as a powerful individual. Like most characters he will have a unique background story and I can say out of all the characters he will add some interesting things later on in the story as you learn more about him and his motives. You may also notice the the crimson dawn always talks about bringing peace to the world. Well I am a strong believer that their is really no such thing as a true bad guy (unless they are mentally fucked up in the head and go around torturing people) Villains are mostly defined by an individuals opinion on what is evil and in-moral, while the other individual will look at their actions as a good deed and for the better of the world. I hope what I just explained made sense lol. Anyways please tell me what you think of this chapter I'm interested to see what people think about our two antagonist (Ghost and Mandus). And I say this at the end of every chapter and I am always going to say this, Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	31. Proposal

**So here is another chapter. Anyways our characters are now finally beginning to leave Anbrette town. It took awhile for me to finally appropriately be able to get things moving towards them leaving. So you can expect them to be heading to a new area within the next chapter. Anyways I finally noticed that I was spelling Ambrette town wrong the whole entire time. (I was spelling it Amberette town) Anyways thanks for reading and hopefully things can start moving more soon.**

* * *

**Chapter 31: Proposal**

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**Point of View Black**

I was now sitting outside of the hotel which Alex was sleeping in. The sun was now starting to come up now and it was bringing Ambrette town back to life after the long night. After our little meeting last night I decided it was best to just stay awake since I wasn't tired at the time and I had a lot on my mind. After hours of lying around though I was pretty tired now as my eyes became heavier and my vision became slightly blurred and I was now beginning to regret my decision of staying awake for so long especially since today was also the day we were leaving Ambrette town and that didn't help either so I was expecting this day to be long and dragged out.

After a half hour of waiting I heard the sound of the hotel room door opening from behind me. I quickly shifted my eyes back and I saw a tired looking fennekin walking out of the room and sat right next to me.

"Couldn't sleep" I asked in a groggy voice.

"Yeah" he replied along with a tired yawn.

"So what's been keeping you up" I asked.

"Just everything that's been going on" Flare replied in a drained voice "Why are you still awake" he then asked me.

I took a second before responding "Thinking on how I'm going to keep us all alive" I replied.

"Well do you have any plans" Flare asked as he looked at me.

"Nothing different than what we were already doing" I said in a quiet voice.

"I see" Flare said bluntly.

"I have a question Flare" I asked as I sat up.

"Sure what is it" he said.

"What would you say about Hesh, Ebony, Blue and possibly that rattata coming with us?" I asked.

"Do they want to come with us" Flare then asked me curiously.

"No, but I was going to ask them if it was okay."

"Well I wouldn't mind them coming with, but that's not my decision alone" Flare said with a small smile on his tired face.

"Well I can ask Kana and I'd rather not talk to Gray but how exactly would I ask Alex" I asked with a confused look on my face.

"I can ask Gray and for Alex umm that's a good question" Flare said with a small chuckle at the end of his sentence.

"Okay, well we will have to do that before we leave later today" I said as I stood up and stretched.

"Why do you want them coming with us though" Flare asked as I stretched out my body.

I took a second to process that question and ask myself why I really wanted them to come with us "Hesh is a good pokemon and I think he can help us a lot and he did say he wanted to travel. And my other reason is because we have a better chance against Genesis if we stick together instead of splitting apart" I said as I paused after those words "And for Ebony… I don't want her to be alone after losing her sister. I guess to an extent I feel responsible for her now since I did watch her sister die in front of me and I do know what it's like to lose family. So I understand her pain" I said in a gloomy voice.

"Well I'm sure they can all come Black so don't worry. And stop blaming yourself I'm sure she knows it's not your fault" Flare said in an optimistic voice.

"If she does hate me though, I wouldn't blame her… When I lost my family one of the first things I did was try to find a way to justify their death's so I took it out on others and accused others for being responsible" I said as I looked off into the distance towards the ocean.

"Well she's not you though and maybe she is smarter than you" Flare said.

"True" I replied bluntly "Wait what… Are you saying a child is smarter than me" I asked him in an offended voice.

Flare then froze up as he realized what he said "N-no I m-meant like she's smarter than you were back then and she will cope with her emotions better."

"Anyways just leave the asking to me and I'll make sure they can come with us" Flare said.

"What about Alex you can't exactly ask him directly" I said.

"Ehh I guess we'll have to play charades with him" Flare said with a smirk.

* * *

Flare and I both waited in the hotel room for an hour until the sound of an alarm clock destroyed the morning silence as sound waves blasted through the silent air. When the alarm did go off I was drifting in and out of sleep so it scared the living hell out of me and caused me to jump up with my heart throbbing. Alex slowly got off his bed and smacked the alarm clock that was sitting on a night stand and the alarm clock finally shut the hell up.

Alex slowly got out of his bed and raised his arms in the air as he stretched as I stood silently staring at him as my heart throbbed from the jump scare from the alarm clock. Once Alex was done stretching he then flipped on a light and illuminated the whole room. Then to add to the light he opened the blinds on the window and let in a bunch of natural light that burned my eyes that were used to the nocturnal darkness of the night. Shortly after the blinds opened I spotted Kana tossing and turning at the end of the bed and as she was trying to adjust herself on the bed as the sun's rays made her uncomfortable. I watched her toss and turn until she made the clumsy mistake of rolling off the bed. Hey eyes instantly sprang open as she fell in slow motion and I could see the shock in her shaky eyes as she hit the ground and made a loud thump noise.

The sound of her hitting the ground made me wince a little as I felt the pain myself, a few seconds after I could hear the pained sound of Kana moaning in frustration and minor agony. Eventually I did watch her crawl up to her feet in a sloth like manner. As for the absol who seemed to sleep for twenty three hours of the day he still managed to sleep after all of the noise and light in the room.

"Morning everyone" Alex said in a tired voice as he noticed the few of his pokemon that were awake. I lifted my paw and gave a small wave to him to show acknowledgement to his words. I then saw Flare walking towards Kana and once he reached the drowsy jolteon he took a seat next to her as she yawned and failed to notice the fennekin. Flare then started talking to Kana as she jumped in surprise from not noticing him. I couldn't really hear them and I didn't really have the attention span to pay attention so I lied down on the floor and closed my eyes and started going to sleep even though it was morning, although this would be considered my normal bedtime if I was still a wild pokemon.

"Hey Black we got a big day you can't go back to sleep" I heard Alex holler in an excited voice. I then felt my blood boil from being separated from my precious sleep and I gave him a death stare.

Alex then looked at me funny as I gave him my death stare "Come on buddy we got a long day" Alex said as he walked up to me and gave me a small nudge on the shoulder.

"Mew dammit" I cursed out loud in frustration as I struggled to get up into the sitting position. When Alex wasn't looking though I closed my eyes again while I was sitting and attempted to fall asleep while sitting up. Every muscle in my body then began feeling slightly comfortable as I could feel myself drifting off into sleep and my body naturally slouched down and I eventually lied down out of reflex to my drowsiness as my eyes got more and more heavy.

"Hey Black" I heard Flare obnoxiously yell directly into my ears and I shot up from the natural reflex of being startled. I then felt a solid object hit the top of my head and I fell down and grasped my head and I heard Flare make some kind of yelping noise.

"Owww that hurt" Flare whined in a voice that made his voice sound congested. I then looked up while I held my throbbing head and saw the fennekin holding his nose along with a pained expression on his face. Then I realized that the solid object that hit my head was Flares face, or more specifically his nose.

"Then don't sneak up on me like that and yell in my ear" I said in an agitated voice as I rubbed my throbbing head.

"Anyways… I asked Kana and she said she wouldn't mind if they joined us. Now I just need to ask Gray and Alex" Flare said in his congested voice as held his nose.

"That's great" I responded with a small smile.

"Yeah I'll ask Gray once he gets off the couch and wakes up a bit" Flare said and I gave a nod along with a small smirk in response to what he said.

* * *

** Point of View Hesh**

I was awoken by the unpleasant rays of the sun that stung my eyes as I slowly opened them along with warming up my body to an uncomfortable temperature for sleeping. I was now behind the pokecenter leaning against the building I lived behind. A few meters to my left I could see Ebony curled up in a little ball as she slumbered. After a few seconds of watching her sleep I got up on my two feet and stretched a little and cracked the joints in my knuckles along with the joints in my neck.

"Ughh" I moaned as I tried wiping the morning drowsiness out of my eyes and I then began walking over towards my stash of food and I pulled out some berries and shoved a handful in my face and I began chomping on the berries.

After a few minutes of shoving more food than I needed into my mouth I looked over to my left and I saw Ebony slowly waking up as she uncurled out of her ball.

"Morning" I said with a mouthful of berries as I spat out some chunks of my food between my words. Ebony didn't even respond and I already knew she was still depressed about her sister.

"You holding up okay" I asked as I walked over to her and sat down and patted her on the back in a comforting manner. Ebony just looked down at the ground and I just let her have her silence since she probably wasn't ready to talk about her feelings yet.

A few minutes passed by before I attempted to get her to even respond to me "Are you hungry, I got plenty of food if you want some" I said with a smile on my face. Ebony just nodded her head horizontally and I frowned at her answer since she hasn't eaten hardly since she got away from Genesis.

"Hey Hesh" I heard the familiar voice of Black yell from behind me. I turned around and saw Black walking towards me with Flare.

"Hey, haven't seen you in like… forever" I replied jokingly.

"Try like Four hours" Black replied with a smirk.

"So I take it you're here to say goodbye since your leaving today?" I asked.

"Actually I have a proposal if your willing to listen" Black said with a smirk.

"Sure not like I have any plans today" I said as Ebony noticed Black but didn't bother

Black looked at Ebony in a depressed way and everything fell silent. "So what did you want to ask me" I said breaking the silence.

"Well you once said you wanted to travel right? So why don't you and Ebony come with us" Black said.

The thought ran through my head as I thought of all I would be leaving behind here in Ambrette. Then I thought about it some more and then I realized something… I have nothing holding me here…

"I don't know that's kind of a huge change in my life and that's also a huge choice for Ebony and she already has a lot going on now" I said as I thought through the tempting offer. I did always want to go see the world, I just wasn't sure if I wanted to see it with a pokemon trainer, then again I don't know if that'd bother me either since I did enjoy a good fight here and there. I especially enjoyed winning.

Flare then decided to put in his input "Well it may be good for Ebony to move around a bit. Have something to keep her busy instead of sitting around a town all day with nothing to do but think about her sister" Flare said out loud with a smile.

Black and I both froze and looked at Ebony who seemed unaffected by him bringing up her sister and then we both stared Flare down.

"Flare" Black said dully as he slapped Flare right in his nose with his paw. The fennekin instantly fell down and held his nose tightly.

"Ow! You know that still hurts from earlier" He cried out loud in a whinny attitude as he held his nose.

After a few seconds of watching Flare hold his nose in pain Black and I then went back to our conversation "Anyways, despite Flare being an insensible idiot, he is right but that's her choice just like it's your choice" Black said.

"True we'll think about it" I replied.

"Okay you got some time, but not a lot, now Flare and I are going to ask Blue and Danny the same question, we'll be back afterwards to check up on you" Black said as he started walking away.

Then something baffled me and I needed to get it off my chest "Wait what about your trainer, won't he care and how the heck would you even ask him…" I asked in a confused voice.

"Oh we lucked out on that" Flare said "That detective guy who made Black go back to the Genesis facility showed up and we just had the porygon that was with the detective translate our question to Alex" Flare said with a toothy grin.

"Oh… what did he want from you now" I asked.

"He just wanted to thank us for our help and check up on Black. He's actually an alright guy, when he isn't being so serious all the time" Flare answered.

"Anyways we'll be back soon" Black said as he walked off with Flare.

'Traveling… Would that life suit me' I thought to myself

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Black and I were now walking down the main street and heading out of town towards Danny and Blue. They were now staying on the outskirts of town on the mountain. After a few minutes of hiking up the mountain we were finally in the opening which Danny and Blue were occupying.

Once we reached the opening on the mountain we saw Blue sitting on a small rock and Danny lying down on the ground being a lazy individual. It didn't take long for Blue to notice us and he quickly looked over to us and gave a nod in our direction.

"Good morning" Blue said.

"Hey" Black replied as I followed his lead towards the squirtle.

"What brings you two up here" he asked as the rattata noticed our presence and got up and looked at us and waved his paw at us.

"Well we have a proposal for you two" Black said as the squirtle waited for him to continue "Would either of you two be interested in joining our team" Black asked.

"No thanks" Blue instantly replied.

Black looked a little insulted as his face flinched at how fast Blue replied "Your not even going to consider it for a second" Black said in a disappointed voice.

"No I already have plan's that's all" Blue said.

"Oh what are you going to do" I asked curiously.

"Actually Danny and I both agreed on doing the same thing. We both want to help find evidence of Team Genesis and find them and expose them to the world" Blue said with a confident smirk as his eyes lit up.

Then Danny took a step forward and shared a similar look on his face "Yeah, after what they did we both want to put an end to them" Danny said.

"Well that's great then" I said with a smirk.

"Aren't you worried you'll piss them off more though" Black added.

"They're going to do what they're going to do and we are going to stop them before they hurt others" Danny added in.

"Well okay then… I guess this will be goodbye then" Black said in a disappointed voice.

"It's not goodbye. Goodbye is used as a permanent parting and I'm sure are paths will intertwine one day" Blue said with a small smile.

"Well thanks for ruining our parting…" Black said in annoyance.

Blue then extended his right hand towards Black "I never did get that hand shake from you back when we first met" Blue said with his hand extended.

Black let out a small smirk and extended his right paw and shook hand to paw with the squirtle. The squirtle then walked towards me and extended his right hand "I hardly got to speak with you, but I can tell you have a lot of potential and I wish you luck on your journey with Black. I'd wish Black luck but after what he survived I can tell he already has enough luck for your whole team" the squirtle said as I extended my paw and shook his hand.

"Catch you guys later and good luck to you guys on bringing down genesis" Black said as he began walking back towards Ambrette.

"Take care" I yelled as I ran towards Black so I could catch up to him. I looked back and saw both Danny and Blue both waving back to us and I gave a small wave along with Black.

"Now we just got to check on Hesh and Ebony to see their opinion" Black said as we kept walking.

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well now only a few things need to happen and our protagonist can make there way towards the second gym. As for Danny and Blue not tagging along, I'm sure they may have a spot later on in this story... or maybe not. Anyways a lot of sleepiness in this chapter lol. When I was writing this chapter it actually reminded me of a funny story of how I was sleeping and the alarm on my phone went off and I somehow mistaked a square fan for my phone... (Note this fan was not small...) And then I got so pissed that I couldn't stop the music from my alarm that I started punching the fan in frustration. It took me a minute to actually realize what I was doing... Anyways I'm not a morning person lol. Anyways thanks for reading and leave a review to give me some feedback or maybe just to show your support for this story. Well this is it until next chapter!


	32. Ambrette Depature

**Well here is chapter 32! So here is some great news, this is the last chapter in Ambrette town and the story will now be progressing towards the second gym. I don't plan on spending as long their but doesn't mean their will be no story or character building. Anyways I'm just happy because every area the characters progress the closer I get to writing an arc I've been looking forward to lol. Also this is one of the smaller chapters, but I think that it works out for not dragging out this arc any more.**

**Anyways I do have a simple question if anyone wants to answer. I know last time I asked some questions no one replied... So I'll make this question easy. I made a new description for this story and I wan't to know which is better the new or old.**

**Original description**

**A Umbreon with a tragic background, a Fennekin who is clueless, a Absol who doesn't know how to be polite, a Charmander who is flat out lazy and a Jolteon with a high spirit, Will set off on a Epic journey to get all eight gym badges, but as their Journey goes on an insidious conspiracy will unfold affecting them all. Can they do it? Probably not, but we'll see.**

**New description**

**For the past two years of my life all I have known was pain, sorrow and loneliness. Ever since that night I've just given up on life and I felt hollow inside. I eventually met a few pokemon that changed my life in many ways and I could even call them friends. But them knowing me comes at a price as they learn more about me and what I've done and the pokemon that are after me.**

**Anyways you don't have to answer but if you could answer which description is better I guess i'd owe you a solid lol. Or if anyone would possible be able to help me make a better description that'd possible be better. Anyways thanks again for reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 32: Ambrette Departure**

* * *

**Point of View Hesh**

Ebony and I were now discussing our opinion on what we wanted to do about Black's offer on us leaving Ambrette with his team and traveling Kalos with them. I myself really wanted to go but at the same time if Ebony didn't want to go I couldn't just leave the child to fend for herself, it would be immoral.

"So have you put any thought into it" I asked Ebony as she sat on the ground and stared off towards the ocean.

It took her a few seconds before she actually did decide to respond "I don't know if I want to leave" Ebony said.

"Well what's keeping you here" I asked curiously as I sat on the dirt ground next to her and looked off into the distance with her.

"I don't know… I guess I just have a lot of memories here" Ebony said quietly.

"Memories of what" I asked.

Ebony continued looking off towards the ocean as the wind gently blew gently through her brown fur "Memories of growing up here with my sister" she replied, even though she was still

I could understand where she was coming from though. I too grew up here as well. But now I needed a change after all that has happened. "I have a lot of memories here to… I remember when Connor and I were younger we'd always get into trouble doing the dumbest things ever. Pranks, trouble making, being flat out idiot's you name it we were trouble makers back in the day. Eventually Connor did leave and went and started a new life in Geosenge, ever since I haven't really had much holding me here in Ambrette" I said as I reflected back on my late friend.

"Don't you miss him" Ebony said quietly.

"Connor" I asked. Ebony then nodded at me as she finally took her eyes off the ocean and made eye contact with me for the first time in a while. "I do miss him… He was like my brother and to an extent I just still haven't accepted what happened" I said with a sigh. "Whenever I think about it, it just seems like a bad dream" I said as memories flooded my mind.

"I'm sorry" Ebony blurted out as if she did something wrong.

"Sorry For what?" I asked in a confused voice.

"That was insensible of me to ask you" she said in an apologetic voice as she looked at the ground.

"No it's fine, honestly. I'm not going to just act like he never existed. But I'm also not going to sit here and cry over his life either. He would have wanted me to honestly not shed one tear over him" I said with a small reassuring smile. After that we just both began looking back out towards the ocean.

It wasn't for a few minutes until Ebony decided to ask another question "Hesh do you want to go with their team" Ebony asked.

"It'd be nice to leave this town and have something to do" I replied as I thought of what it'd be like to travel the world.

"Then let's go with them" Ebony said with a smile on her face.

My face froze in shock from her sudden out of nowhere answer "A-Are you sure this is what you want" I asked in a shocked voice. Ebony gave a small nod at my confused question and I suddenly felt a bunch of relief from her answer.

"That's great" I replied with a big smile on my face.

It took only around five minutes after Ebony made her choice for Black and Flare to finally show back up. "So did you two come up with a decision" Flare asked with that strange smile that was always on his face.

"Yeah we actually did come up with an answer" I said.

"And you answer is" Black said asked with slight anticipation as he looked at Ebony and I.

"We'll tag along with you guys for now" I said with a smirk on my face.

"Is Ebony okay with that to" Flare asked as he looked at the young eevee.

"I'm fine with it" the eevee said with a faint smile on her face.

"Great then why don't we introduce you to the rest of the team" Flare shouted out loud in excitement.

"Yeah what he said" Black said as he awkwardly stared at the over energetic fennekin.

Flare then began leading us in the direction of the team Ebony and I would be joining. The walk wasn't too long and the only reason it felt like a grind was because I was still tired from waking up not too long ago. Ebony on the other hand didn't look too tired, but she did follow behind the rest of the group in a shy manner.

Once we did arrive to our destination we were outside a normal hotel that looked a little old, but for Ambrette that wasn't new. Then out of the main door of the hotel came a human with blond hair that spiked up a little in the front. He had blue eyes and wore dark blue jeans along with a belt and a blank white t-shirt. The human also appeared to have a backpack on his back with a lot of supplies. One of the details that caught my attention the most was the big welcoming smile on the humans face.

"That's Alex and he's our trainer" Flare said as he looked at me.

Shortly after Alex walked out of the door a few familiar pokemon came out. There was only two pokemon that did come out, an absol who looked tired and a Jolteon that looked like she was in a cheerful mood.

"You must be Hesh and Ebony" My new pokemon trainer said with a big smile on his face as he walked over towards us and knelt down low so he could be as close to eye level with us as possible.

"Nice to meet you" I said politely even though he had no clue what I said.

"I'm glad you two want to join with us and I know we will all accomplish a lot together" Alex said. Alex then noticed the shy looking eevee standing directly behind me as if she was trying to hide.

"You must be Ebony" Alex said with a smile on his face. Ebony then took a few steps forward until she was close to Alex and she then gave a small nod. Alex then put his hand on her head and patted it and he then got up on his two legs.

"Anyways I'm really looking forward to our new partnership and I can't wait to see what we all can accomplish as our team grows larger" Alex said in excitement as he held his hand in a fist and held it up with a big smirk.

"Is he always like this" I asked as I looked over towards Black.

"Yeah, Flare and him are both really energetic almost twenty-four-seven. It's almost abnormal" Black said.

I then looked behind Alex and I saw the Jolteon and the absol walking towards me.

The absol was the first one to speak out of the two once they reached me and Ebony "Well you already know me Hesh so I don't think I need to introduce myself" the absol said.

The Jolteon then took her chance to speak "We already met just not under good circumstances and I don't think I ever got to tell you my name from the little time I have seen you."

"I don't believe so" I replied to the Jolteon.

"My name is Kana" She said with a kind and cheerful voice.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Hesh" I replied. The Jolteon then noticed Ebony sitting away from the group in isolation. She then walked over towards the isolated eevee and stood behind her.

"Hey there, are you Ebony" Kana asked the eevee. Ebony gave a weak and nervous nod.

"Not too good around new pokemon are you" kana asked as she sat down next to Ebony. Ebony again shook her head in response to Kana's question.

"That's fine you'll grow past that as you get to know us. Were all friends here after all" She said with a smile on her face.

Ebony then decided to speak in her quiet timid voice "I remember you from last night when we were all discussing things about team Genesis. Didn't someone call you Kana" Ebony said in a shy voice as I eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Yeah that's my name" Kana said with a smile.

"Alright is everyone ready to leave" Alex said out loud for all of us to here. I then began thinking about whether I truly wanted to leave. Although nothing other than memories bound me down here I still couldn't help but want to stay. Then my dreams of travelling came back into my head and I instantly snapped out of my second thoughts and gave a nod towards Alex to show I was ready.

"Let's head out then" Alex said in his peppy voice. We all then began following Alex towards the exit of Ambrette, which required us to go through an aquarium. It only took us about five minutes to make our way down town and in the aquarium and once we were there we went inside the building.

The inside of the aquarium would look exactly as expected. It was literally just a long hallway's with fish tanks built into the wall along with a circular fish tank in the middle of the room. Everyone stopped walking and took a second to observe the fish pokemon in the tanks.

Black was now staring at a magikarp that was inside the fish tank. He looked rather amused by the fish pokemon. "There it is guys… The most useless pokemon in the world" Black said in amazement.

"Yeah until it turns into a gyarados and obliderates you" Gray said in a slightly rude voice.

"What… a magikarp isn't going to beat me, that ridiculous… even if it evolves into a gyrara or whatever you said… What's that gy fish thing supposed to look like" Black asked in a confused voice.

Gray then gave a frustrated sigh "It's like a very long big serpent… And why the hell am I even bothering to explain this to you" Gray said in annoyance as he turned his head away from Black in a stubborn attitude.

"Hey Hesh I got a question" Black asked me as he looked around at the aquarium as if he was confused.

"What is it" I asked him as I awaited his next question.

"Why in the hell did they make the aquarium the only way to leave this town in this direction" Black asked as he scratched his upper neck with his front right paw.

I then stopped and actually thought of what he said. "Wait… Why did they build an aquarium in middle of the route" I said in a confused voice.

"I know humans really lack common sense" Black said as he continued trying to scratch his upper neck. The umbreon actually looked a little silly as he tried to scratch his upper neck since his body wasn't really structured for his arms to reach their and he was struggling to stretch his arm up to his neck as he awkwardly bent his arm just so he could get the sweet spot.

After around five minutes of everyone spectating the pokemon in the aquarium we were finally ready to leave and we headed out the exit and headed towards route eight. Once we were outside we were on a giant stone staircase that led down to a beach and had a path that followed the coast. Once we reached the bottom of the stone stairs I looked back towards Ambrette one last time as I remembered my memories with Connor and all the friends I've had their along with all the trouble we caused in our youth days. Honestly that town probably hated us back then, yet I still loved this place.

"Goodbye for now home" I said to myself as I looked ahead and tried my hardest not to look back.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well I feel like I accidentally made things take longer in Ambrette then necessary or it felt that ways or maybe you guys like that? Anyways you may have noticed the aquarium scene... Don't ask but their is literally a aquarium built in middle of the route you have to go through in Pokemon X and Y and Black's response was my response when I thought about the logic in that. Anyways it'd be awesome to here some feed back on the Ambrette arc since that segment of the story is over and now a new arc is starting. Thanks to everyone who has review and gave feedback so far. It is awesome hearing all of your opinions and what you thought and I do read every review and not one of them goes unappreciated. The reviews really do sometimes motivate me to write lol. Anyways thanks for reading and I'll have another chapter up when I decide to stop playing dark souls II... (Games addicting I can't stop... so yeah hard to write when addicted lol)


	33. Aiden

**Welcome to the next chapter! This chapter was actually really fun to write from beginning to end and it is actually one of the longer chapters I've released in awhile.(Not overwhelming of course) This chapter has a lot of character building through dialogue and action and has a bit of goofy conversation's that help show how a character acts when not being faced with death or a serious conversation. Of course I finally get to add something in this chapter I've been wanting to do for awhile but you'll have to read to find out. This chapter also does add a lot of hints to the main story if you read carefully and ask yourself questions on some of the things that may not mean much. (I love leaving clues like that lol) Anyways I hope everyone enjoys this chapter because it was a mother of a chapter to write and edit in one sitting lol. Thanks for reading and thanks to all those that support the story in any way!**

* * *

**Chapter 33: Aiden**

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

Our party has now been walking for around an hour since we left Ambrette and we were now on route eight. The route we were on was pretty unique since it followed the shore of the ocean and we were now walking on a path along a beach towards Cyllage city. The sun was now at the peak of its ascension through its daily cycle and it was now over heating everything its rays touched.

Alex appeared to be sweating quite a bit from the hot temperature and Flare seemed to be overheating as well as he walked in a droopy attitude that showed he was tired. I looked over to my left at Gray and saw that he was just taking the heat like a champ and looked almost unfazed by the overwhelming heat. Ebony and Hesh seemed pretty exhausted from the heat as well. Then I looked back at Black and saw that he was lagging behind the rest of the group. The umbreon just took one baby step at a time and looked directly at his feet and refused to look up.

I stopped walking for a few steps until he eventually made his way towards me. The instant he got close to me his head shot up and he took in a deep breath as if I just startled him. After he realized it was just me he exhaled his breath and continued walking in his slothish attitude.

"You alright, you look kinda out of it today" I asked as I walked beside him.

Black just continued walking while looking down at the ground as I saw a bead of sweat roll off his face "It's fifty million degrees out, there's not a shadow in sight and on top of that my black fur is absorbing the heat and I feel like Alex is trying to cook me alive out here… No nocturnal creature should have to endure this" Black said in a negative voice as he kicked the sand around in a childish manner as he kept walking. Although he did have a point on most of the things he did bring up, even if it was exaggerated.

"Yeah it is a little hot out here today" I said as I looked at the back of Black's head.

"A little" Black said in a crazed voice "If it's a little hot out… Then magikarp's are a superior species to the rest of us" Black said sarcastically.

"Maybe they are, and they just don't want us to know" I said jokingly, as I possibly started the biggest conspiracy ever.

"Then kill me now" Black said as he tried to look up a bit as the sun blinded him.

"It couldn't be that bad" I said.

"I couldn't live in a world like that" Black said as he still struggled to look up and endure the sun's rays as he and I both continued to follow behind the rest of the group that was about fifteen steps ahead of us.

"So what did you do before you were captured" I asked out of the blue.

Black instantly looked up at me with his mouth dropped "What did I do before I was captured" he asked himself. "Nothing really… I was honestly alone at that point of my life and didn't do anything significant" he said as he continued to ponder the thought.

"What'd you do before you joined our team" Black then decided to ask me.

The answer was pretty simple and not as exciting as I wish it could have been "Well I was a house pokemon honestly" I said with a nervous laugh worried that he'd judge me.

"Oh well at least a house has air conditioning" Black said.

"True but it gets boring being crammed in a house all day" I responded.

"I'd imagine" Black said in a bored voice as he continued staring at the ground as we walked.

"What about your family, I've never heard you mention them once" I then decided to ask.

Blacks ears instantly flickered as those words hit his ears "My family" he said in a quiet voice. "That subject is off limits" he said as his head went even lower along with his ears.

"Oh sorry I didn't know" I said out of guilt.

Black then let out a small sigh "It's fine, I've been asked that a million times at least."

"Well I'm sure you have your reasons for not wanting to talk about that. But if it helps I never actually knew any of my family" I said and then Black looked up slowly and looked at me and that's when I knew I had a conversation that caught his interest.

"Never" he said in a curious voice.

"Nope I've been with mister Hayter and Alex as long as I can remember" I said.

Black then raised his head a little more than he has since the sun came out "Don't you wonder who they were" he asked.

I then ponder that question that I always thought of. "Of course I do. I just have no way of finding my family" I said as I looked away to hide the emotions in me that were beginning to surface.

"Believe me I know how you feel… about having an empty family life" Black said in a sympathetic voice as he looked at me with caring eyes that showed he knew my pain. Yet how he knew my pain was still a mystery to me.

"Although I did actually know my family" he then said as he looked away to hide his emotions.

"Flare didn't separate you from your family when he caught you did he" I then asked as I instantly started filling in the blanks of what possible happened.

"No" Black almost instantly said. "I haven't seen my family in almost two years.

"Do you miss them" I asked as I instantly realized how dumb of a question that was, especially after he told me that the topic was off limits.

"Yeah" he replied in a numb voice. "I still remember them like it was yesterday. My sister… My brothers… My mother" Black said as he got sucked into his memories and forgot that he was even talking to me.

I then noticed he left someone out of the list of pokemon he remembered "What about your dad" I asked.

"Hardly knew him… Left when I was still a young eevee" Black said.

"I'm sorry to hear that" I truthfully said.

"It's fine… I still wonder if the ass is still out their" Black said in a slightly spiteful voice.

I then realized where Blacks mood was going and wasn't sure of how to handle it "Hey well why don't we change the subject, you said you didn't really like talking about your family life after all" I said in an attempt to change our conversation.

"Oh right" Black instantly said as he snapped out of his mood and remembered that he was too secretive to give away info like that, which I was going to respect that.

Black and I continued walking along route eight as our team slowly left us in the dust. We both eventually realized that and we both picked up our paste and eventually got close enough to our group that we weren't far off in the distance. As I looked at the rest of our team I noticed mostly everyone was socializing except for Alex who had no one to have an interesting conversation with. Flare and Hesh appeared to be having a conversation as I heard laughs escape their mouths every few minutes. Gray would sometimes add his input to the conversation, but he hardly contributed at all. As for Ebony the shy eevee kept to herself and kept walking in silence. I began to wonder if she was just naturally shy or if it was due to mental damage of losing her sister recently.

I then looked over to Black to see how he was holding up and I wasn't surprised to see that the umbreon was still being roasted alive from the suns bright rays. After a few minutes of walking I became bored and the neurons in my brain needed some kind of stimulation or I'd soon die from boredom.

"Okay Black here's a random question" I said with a big smile on my face "What's your zombie apocalypse plan" I asked as the umbreon just looked at me with a confused face.

"The hell is a zombie" he asked as my jaw dropped from his lack of knowledge on the subject.

"Are you kidding me" I yelled obnoxiously and everyone looked back at me as if I was crazy, yet I didn't care since this was an appropriate time for that.

"Seriously…" Black said.

"You know the living dead, people and pokemon coming back to life as brainless monsters that only seek to eat your brains" I said with enthusiasm "Have you not seen any good zombie movies."

"The hell did Alex's family do to you while you lived in that condo" Black said in a creeped out voice.

"Nothing what's wrong with you for not knowing that" I joked as I nudged him with my paw and made him stumble a little as he tried to keep a steady paste while walking.

"You have an overly active imagination" Black said.

"Wouldn't it make more sense that the world has an inactive imagination and mine's just normal" I said jokingly in a voice that was supposed to make me sound dumb.

"Oh mew what's wrong with you… I wanna talk to Flare and Hesh now… or even Gray…" Black said in a dark voice.

"Wow" I said in amazement of what he said.

"Okay maybe not Gray but still" Black then instantly said as he came to his senses and remembered their status as friends. Black's face then froze as he looked ahead and I swear I saw a tear of joy escape his eye as he stared at the rest area ahead.

Alex and the rest of our crew made their way towards the rest area in middle of the route. There was quite a few tables scattered throughout the area along with some cheap lawn chairs to go with the tables and right next to the route was an old man running a concession stand that sold food and drinks and what appeared to be over priced sunglasses.

"What do you guys say we stop for lunch" Alex asked everyone.

"Mew yes please" Black yelled out in a delirious voice as everyone looked back at the crazed umbreon.

Alex just scratched his head at the umbreon's random outburst "You really want to keep going that bad Black" Alex misinterpreted. Black then just stopped talking after Alex failed to interpret his mood and he just looked around the beach and saw an umbrella that made a nice shade spot and he instantly dived into the shade and made himself confortable in his natural environment of the shadows.

"Hey that was my spot" Gray then barked out in anger.

"Bite me" Black then said in a stern voice. Gray then began to growl a little in frustration until Flare nudged the upset absol.

"Remember I asked you to be nice to him" Flare then said quietly to the absol. He then let out a frustrated sigh and walked away. After a few minutes everyone but Black and Ebony where in a big group talking right in front of the beach, including myself.

"It's been such a long hot walk" Flare said in a lazy voice as he lied on the sandy ground.

"Yeah its killing me" Hesh concurred.

"So Kana what where you and Black talking about during the walk here" Flare then asked me. My brain then stopped working as the neurons in my brain failed to make a logical answer and I completely forgot about the random things we talked about. "This and that… and zombies" I said awkwardly.

"Zombies" Flare said in surprise.

"Yeah and he didn't even know what they were" I exclaimed.

"Wow…" Hesh then decided to add as Gray just sat in our group and didn't contribute to the conversation.

"We will have to find a way to show him a zombie movie" Flare then said in excitement.

"Or better yet…" I said as I waited for their attention "Let's show him a really gory horror movie, since he doesn't know a lot about movies" I said jokingly. Everyone then laughed at the idea of Black watching a horror movie and how he would react to the foreign video's he's never seen. Even gray was laughing a little at the concept.

"Then it's decided we are so doing that once we reach Cyllage city" Flare said as he laughed and Hesh nodded in agreement.

After minutes of us adding to the subject I then noticed Alex talking to a female off in the distance who also appeared to be a trainer as well. The lady had dark brown hair and wore a black and gray striped jacket with a black under shirt and she wore black sweat pants and black sport shoe's to match. She also appeared to have green eyes that gave her a rather confident look.

After a few minutes of me observing the two, I then saw them shake hands and Alex then made his way towards us. "Hey guys come over here" I heard Alex yell with a thrilled voice. Every single one of us then stopped what we were doing and made our way towards Alex who was also walking towards us.

We all then stood and awaited for Alex to speak "Would anyone be up for a battle with another trainer, two on two would be the rules we agreed on" Alex said with a big smirk. Almost everyone shook their head in excitement except for Gray, Ebony and Black.

"Black you can't fight though, you know since you just got out of the pokecenter" Alex said.

"Great I didn't really want to fight anyways" Black said in a slightly snide voice.

"I know you wanted to fight but I can't risk you upsetting your wound" Alex then said in a caring voice.

"Yeah keep thinking that" Black then said sarcastically.

Now that Black was out of the mix it just left Gray, Hesh, Flare, Ebony and me.

"Okay how about Kana and…" Alex said as he thought of another pokemon and I then felt myself become extremely nervous from being put on the spot like this. "And how about Flare" Alex said with a satisfied look on his face. Flare then gave an energetic nod and walked next to Alex and I nervously followed behind the two.

Flare then looked over at me and noticed my discomfort as I walked in a non-straight line and my breath picked up a little "Don't worry you'll do fine" Flare said with a reassuring smile on his face as he looked at me with confidence deep within his eyes.

We all continued to walk towards the anonymous trainer as she took two pokeball's off her belt and held one in each of her hands.

"You ready for what's coming" She said in a confident voice.

"Are you ready is the real question" Alex then said with a bigger ego.

Then we were all blinded by a bright flash of a light and two pokemon where released from her pokeball's. The first pokemon I made out was a bulbasaur that looked pretty average along with a confident yet friendly grin on his face.

Then I looked to the right of the bulbasaur and Flare and I both froze at the pokemon that was standing in front of us.

"Wait you" Flare said in surprise.

"Oh mew" A familiar charmander responded, the same charmander that put me in the pokemon center back in Luminose.

"Hey no hard feelings about last time right Jolte" The charmander said in a nervous voice as he scratched the back of his neck.

I then remembered how he also choose to help me after he injured me and I did remember his guilt, so in the end I wasn't too happy about being injured but I wasn't going to hold a grudge as long as he wasn't a bad pokemon.

"No, no grudge" I said with a small smile.

"So… this is your trainer" Flare then asked.

The charmander then looked back at the confident teenage girl and then looked back and lowered his head "This bitchy women decided to catch me when I was wondering around. Now I'm stuck and due to past escape attempts the lady won't let me out of her sight" The charmander said as he then raised his hands in anger.

"Well that really blows" Flare then replied.

Before the battle started I looked back off into the distance and I could see every one of my teammates watching the soon to come battle with high anticipation. The few other humans that were around then stopped what they were doing and readjusted themselves to watch the battle that was about to take place.

"Ready" the teenage girl asked.

"Let's do this" Alex yelled with enthusiasm as he pointed at her.

"Juda use vine whip" the lady yelled to her bulbasaur "Charmander use ember" she then added to her last command.

The instant those words left her mouth I then froze as I saw a giant vine from the bulbasaur come straight towards me and my mind suddenly began to think of everything I could do but instead I choose to think and not act.

"Kana dodge" Alex yelled and brought me back to my senses. I then instantly jumped out of the way as I felt the force of the vine just barely miss me. I didn't have much time to recover though because the instant that I dodged I saw an ember about one foot away from my face. I then let out a small scream as I dropped to the floor as fast as I could and barely avoided another trip to the pokecenter.

"Flare use flame charge and Kana use quick attack on the charmander and don't even give him a chance to breathe" Alex yelled in excitement.

I then took a big gulp and I said my last prayer to Mew and I sprinted towards the charmander at a speed that shouldn't have been possible. I looked to my side and saw Flare's body become engulfed in flame and he too charged towards his opponent.

"Mew no" I heard the charmander yell in fear as he dived away from my paw which had electricity pulsing through it. Right as he was getting back up though I instantly jumped towards him before the lizard could blink and I smack him right in the snout and conducted electricity right into his reptilian body.

The charmander then let out a screech of pain and fell to the ground as his muscles pulsed in pain. I then felt bad, I've never actually caused someone pain like that before. Other than that one time I was fighting that one umbreon to protect myself, but this was different.

"Are you okay" I asked in a guilty voice.

"That hurt" he yelled as he got up to his shaky feet. "Seriously… like what the hell" he continued to yell as he crossed his arms and stomp his feet as he looked at his trainer and everyone stopped fighting and watched the charmander throw a hissy fit.

"You know what I'm done. I am done" He yelled in anger "I'm tired of your bull crap training, being humiliated and I can't take that shit you call food anymore… This is inhumane and I'm going to get pokemon rights groups on yo ass women" he yelled in frustration.

The girl then scratched her head in confusion as she watched the charmander throw his tantrum "Charmander can you please just stay on task for one minute and not slack off" she said as she put her palm to her face.

"Mew just kill me Jolteon… please" the charmander then said as he threw his arms in the air and then faced me.

"Can we continue" I then heard Flare yell from the distance.

"Don't need my permission asshole" the charmander yelled at Flare in a rude tone.

"Rough week, sorry" I then heard the charmander say in a calmer voice towards me.

"Kana use thunder bolt" I then heard Alex yell from the distance.

I then began charging up an attack I've only used a few times due to the fact that my electric attacks were prohibited in the condo I lived in. The charmander's jaw then dropped as I launched a very sloppy and unstable thunder bolt towards him. He then launched an ember to counter the attack and the two attacks collided and caused an explosion that sent both of us flying to the ground.

I was now lying on the ground and I was slightly dazed and I was facing in the direction of Flares fight. I saw Flare dodging vines from the bulbasaur as he tried his hardest to avoid injury. Then I looked towards the charmander that I was supposed to be fighting. He was now staring at the fight between Flare and the bulbasaur and he then charged up an ember and sent it towards Flare who wasn't paying any attention to him.

"Flare" I yelled in an attempt to warn my friend. Flare and the bulbasaur then both looked at the ember and then the bulbasaur took his chance and began charging towards Flare for when he dodged the ember.

But instead of what the bulbasaur planned Flare then grabbed the plant pokemon with his teeth and flung the fella right into the ember and I then heard a loud screech from the bulbasaur as he flew to the ground in a fiery explosion that I was glad I wasn't apart of.

"Damn…" I then heard the charmander say in an awkward voice "Did you like see that…" the charmander said once again in his awkward voice "That was awesome" he then said out loud and the barely conscious bulbasaur looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Who the hell's side you on" he said right before he passed out.

"Whoops he actually heard that" the charmander said in an awkward voice as I then noticed him scratching the back of his neck out of habit of being embarrassed or nervous.

Then I saw my chance to get the charmander while he was distracted and I then tackled the poor sucker as he was looking at his incinerated teammate. Then I heard a small crack noise and the charmander hit the ground and got a mouth full of sand.

"I'm getting really sick of this" I then heard him say as he tried lifting himself up with shaky arms.

"Okay just stop, we surrender" the female trainer then yelled in humiliation.

Alex then let out a big smile and then ran onto the sandy beach where we were fighting and Flare and I both headed towards Alex. "That was great, I'm proud of you two" he said as he crouched down and pulled us into a big hug.

I honestly felt really good since I didn't know what to expect and I felt a lot of pressure and stress relieved. I could honestly say I enjoyed that battle to an extent despite the fact that the team was unorganized.

After a few minutes of everyone praising me and Flare the enemy trainer then walked towards us with her charmander and her bulbasaur was returned to his pokeball to rest.

"That was a good fight Alex, your pokemon impressed me honestly" the lady said as she extended her hand out for a hand shake. Alex then smile "You too your pokemon weren't too bad either" Alex said as he shook her hand. Then the charmander walked towards Black who appeared to be looking at him in an untrusting manner.

"The hell do you want" Black said in an upset voice.

"Whoa, whoa at least here me out" the charmander said as he held his hands up as if he was trying to show he was hiding nothing.

"I get it you are pissed about the whole Luminose city thing and I am too. I was forced to do all of that and I would have never had a hand or paw in that if I had a choice" The charmander explained himself.

"Then why'd you do it" Gray then said as he butted into the conversation.

"Because they were holding my real trainer hostage and I had to or they'd…" the charmander said as his voice got lower.

"Then what happened to him" Gray then asked.

"I don't know they still have him hostage… that is if he's still alive" the charmander said.

"I've actually been looking for you Ryder. You know those freaks and Vincent. You can help me can't you" the charmander asked in an anxious voice.

Black's eyes then froze once the charmander brought up his brother "I'm trying to stay out of that… and I just want to stay below the radar" Black said.

"But they're after you and they're going to find you one day. Let's help each other Black me and you can put a stop to them and save my trainer" the charmander said.

"Stop talking about them" Black then yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone then looked at black as he wore a tense look filled with anger as he gritted his teeth and stared the charmander dead in the eyes.

"So you choose for them to come to you and kill all of your friends in their sleep and abduct you. Is that what you choose… to be a coward" the charmander said and Black then began to growl in anger as his eyes lit up with fury.

"I suggest you stop talking now" Black said in a dark voice as he began circling around the charmander in a very hostile manner.

"Black stop this" Flare yelled in a concerned voice, but Black ignored Flares advice.

"I can help you find Vincent. I know how you must feel about him after that night and surely you must want to kill him after what he's done to you and your family" the charmander said as he continued twisting Black's heart cords. "I just want t-"

"Shut your fucking mouth before I kill you" Black then snapped in a vicious voice that made everyone including the charmander stand back in fear.

"If you even mention that one more time I'm going to kill you right here" Black continued to yell as he got in the charmander's face and made him fall down on his butt and he then began to shake slightly from Black's dark mood that set everyone's teeth on edge.

Then Flare jumped right beside the charmander and looked Black dead in the eyes without fear "Black that's enough. You can't just threaten pokemon like that" Flare said in a defensive voice as he got ready for Black's wrath.

Black just stood their gritting his teeth and made a scowling noise as if he was resisting what he wanted to say "Mention anything and I'll hospitalize you" Black growled in a sinister tone as he walked away from the group. Alex and the other trainer were too startled by Black's mood to even react properly about the situation and control they're pokemon.

After Black stormed off everyone just sat there in an awkward silence and the only sound was the wind blowing through the air.

"Sorry about that. He's been through some traumatic stuff lately" Alex apologized to the female trainer.

"Its fine I guess" She then replied in a confused voice not knowing how to respond.

Flare then turned around and looked at the charmander "Are you okay" he asked, the charmander just gave a nod and got up off the ground and dusted himself off.

"Thanks" he said dully.

I then decided to walk up to him and see if I could help brighten the mood of the situation "Everyone is okay and that's all that matters" I said with a smile that was obviously forced on my face. I was now scared honestly. 'What doesn't Black want us knowing' I asked myself. 'He didn't even sound like himself. He sounded like a completely different pokemon consumed by hatred' I continued to think.

"Anyways thanks again for helping me and I'm sorry if I caused any trouble now or in the past" the charmander said in a guilty voice.

"No its fine honestly" I quickly added in not leaving much room for him to feel guilty.

"I honestly just wanted to help my trainer. I never meant to hurt anyone. And I surely didn't mean to upset Ryder" the charmander said.

"We call him Black now but just leave that subject alone he's very touchy about that" Flare added in.

"Yeah I learned my lesson" the charmander said sarcastically.

"By the way charmander, what's your name" I then asked since I never caught it from any past dialogue and this was also a good chance to take the subject off Black's violent behavior.

"I never did introduce myself did I" the charmander then said "The name my original trainer gave me was Aiden" the charmander said.

"Aiden that's a unique name" I then added.

"Indeed it is, it actually pretty fitting though since it means little fire… Although the little fire part always made it sound less intimidating and too cute for my taste" the charmander said with a small chuckle of relief from the drama.

Flare then looked at me with a serious glance "We are going to need to have a serious talk with Black. He needs help or he's going to do something impulsive and hurt someone… I understand why he's like this but I can't honestly relate to it" Flare said.

"Relate to what" I asked.

"I can't tell anyone" Flare said as he shifted his glance at the charmander known as Aiden "And I suggest you keep that info quiet or he'll have another break down again" Flare said with a serious voice.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well that was a good chapter in my opinion and fun to write with all the things going on. I found it interesting how this chapter went from lighthearted and possible comical to some depending on humor to a dark chapter towards the very end. Anyways I'd like to discuss Black's little break down. A lot happened on the night he never wants to speak about and he does not want anyone knowing what happened that night and especially the horror's he lived. Of course one day I may be gracious enough to write about it lol. Okay I will explain one day lol but when that part comes up I will lol so until then hang tight. One thing also I'd like to remind you people of is that Aiden is a spy if you remember the Houndour speaking to him, I just though i'd mention that since it may have been easily forgotten and it'll be interesting to write about how things roll out about that and what kind of pokemon Aiden is. Anyways now onto the more lighthearted stuff lol. Someone once told me to add things about me to the characters so I decided to kind of add some to the characters. Example would be Kana and her conversation with Black about the zombies... The reason I added that was because when I get bored I ask the most dumbest questions ever just to cure my boredom so I had her ask that because I thought it would be slightly comical and plus their zombies lol. (I'm a huge zombie fan... just saying now) Anyways I could talk all day/night about this chapter but I don't want to whore out this any longer since this already was a long chapter and you all probably just want to stop reading. Thanks to all those who support the story and I hope this story has remained original enough to retain all of your attention lol.


	34. Who are you?

**Here is another chapter and I'd have to say its a good one yet it's pretty dark. This chapter focuses a bit more on black and will have a big twist that will play a big roll later on or maybe not... Also their will be a little more info on Black's past that pretty interesting. Anyway's thanks to everyone who reviews I appreciate it and thanks again to anyone who supports this story in anyway I really appreciate it and your all awesome! Enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 34: Who are you? **

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**Point of View Black**

I was now walking along the beach far away from my supposed friends. They were now long out of sight. At the moment and I just wanted somewhere to be alone and let out some stress. Once I checked back to make sure no one was behind me or in sight I then sat down on the sand and looked off into the horizon towards the ocean. The view went on forever and there wasn't a sign of land in sight.

All I could think of while sitting down was that persistent charmander "Asshole" I said out loud to myself as I thought about the inconsiderate prick. Memories of our conversation continued to haunt my mind and I could feel my anger continuing to grow inside of me. After a few more seconds I then couldn't take it anymore and I let out a loud scream of anger and I began punching the sandy ground repeatedly, sadly for me the sand wasn't satisfying to punch since it wasn't a hard surface and it just moved away from each hit.

Once I finished taking my anger out on the sand I then looked back towards the direction I came from to see if someone was looking for me. Thankfully the coast was clear for now and I wasn't going to have to listen to someone lecture me about how I'm supposed to act.

"Why do I even stay with them" I asked myself as I questioned my friendship with everyone around me. All they ever did was ask me things I didn't want to remember and in the end they'd all probably be drove away by my psychotic behaviors, if not die miserable death's.

"Don't you stay with them because they fill that empty void in your heart" I heard a familiar voice that I hated call out from behind me. I then turned my head just enough to see that illusionary jolteon that always haunted me.

"Stop talking like you know me" I scowled towards my illusionary brother who was dead.

"I do know you though" the jolteon said as he got up into my face and stared into my eyes with his soul piercing blue eyes "Stop living a lie Ryder, your only hurting yourself in the end" the jolteon said as I took a few steps away from him and looked away and avoided any form of eye contact.

"A lie" I asked in a confused voice "How am I living a lie?"

"Lying to everyone around you, acting like you deserve sympathy when you are right where you belong. Your no saint Ryder, you neglect that we were ever your family and try and you try to suppress your memories of us" the jolteon said in an upset voice.

I turned around and looked at the jolteon who was still staring at me with his piercing eyes "What am I supposed to do then" I shouted at the illusion.

The mirage then quickly let out a toothy smile "Where all dead because of you… we died because we were related to you… the least you can do is not act like we never existed" the jolteon said.

"It's not my fault…" I said in a faint voice "I've relived that night through my head at least a million times and in the end I… I honestly hardly understand what happened" I said in a depressed voice.

"In the end your death is simply because I'm an umbreon that's cursed" I said as a tear escaped my eye. I honestly hated being an umbreon. It was the crucible of all my pain. From what I've gathered in the past my family was killed because I was an umbreon that had an evolutionary disorder. I could never put together why they wanted me for it though, but I've lost everything because of what I am.

"That may be true, but in the end were all dead and my point is that you need to do something besides just feeling bad for yourself and acting like everyone should understand you. Your different, your hated, this world rejects you and what are you going to do" the jolteon asked as he got closer to me.

"What do you mean what am I going to do" I asked in a frustrated voice.

"Well the charmander had a point, are you just going to wait for them to come for you or are you going to fight for your right to live. If not may as well kill yourself here and save everyone around you while you can. Their all dead now if you don't grow up and stop pretending this isn't happening" the jolteon said as he stared me down with a pair of cold blue eyes.

"Stop them… For mew's sake last time I fought them I almost died, even with help" I yelled in frustration.

"You are not alone though" The jolteon said with an untrusting smile "There is more pokemon who wish to help you than you think, many who can help you survive" the jolteon said as his smile became bigger and gave him a demonic look.

"Who, and how do you know… you're an illusion right" I asked in confusion as I then considered the fact that this jolteon was possible something other than a hallucination of my dead brother.

"When the time come's you'll learn more" the jolteon said as his body began to slowly dematerialize into a black dust like substance that was blowing away in the wind.

This jolteon felt very different from my brother every time I saw him, he was not the loving gentle brother I loved "Who are you… your nothing like my brother" I growled towards him.

The jolteon was still slowly dematerializing and he then gave out a small laugh "Maybe I am your brother or maybe I'm something bigger" he said in a taunting voice "Regardless I'll contact you when times are better. Until then know that the Crimson Dawn will be coming soon and if you want your friends to live you better become stronger or there won't be a next time" he said as he completely dematerialized into black dust and blew away.

"Hey who are you!" I yelled at the top of my lungs despite the fact the imposter was gone. I then looked in every direction for a sign of the jolteon. I then actually had to ask myself how crazy I was and whether I imagined that or if it was actually supposed to mean something.

"Who are you" I asked again out loud as a heavy breeze blew and stopped the dead silence "Who are the other's that want to help me."

After a few minutes of pondering those thoughts I then decided it was time for me to head back to my group, despite the fact that I was better off not being with them and that I'd probably be the cause of all their deaths one day.

After around fifteen minutes of walking I finally came back to the rest area which we stopped at earlier. Although to my surprise everyone was gone and I was alone. I looked around and saw all the tables were unoccupied and that the concession stand was unattended. The area around me was completely deserted and I was alone.

'Did they just leave me behind' I thought to myself. The idea honestly wouldn't have surprised me at all though honestly since I was nothing but a bad luck charm for them. I then let out a deep sigh as thoughts of them giving up on me entered my head.

"Black" I heard a confused familiar voice call out from behind me. I then turned around and saw Kana staring at me with nervous eyes. For a second I actually thought the previous jolteon from before was back to harass me some more.

"Oh you guys are still here… Where is everybody?" I asked.

Kana then took a step back from me as if she was scared "Their all out looking for you" she said in a shaky voice. I could obviously tell she was scared of me after I snapped on that charmander earlier.

"Why are you acting this way" I said in a slightly upset voice.

"Acting like what" Kana said in an attempt to play dumb.

I then let out a big sigh of annoyance that showed my stress and that I was not in a good mood "I get it now, you are afraid of me to" I said as I looked her dead in the eyes.

The jolteon then tilted her head a little in confusion "I'm not afraid of you, I'm just worried about you after your little breakdown and you are honestly making us question your mental stability" the jolteon said in a nervous voice.

"Just say it" I said in a serious voice.

"Say what" Kana asked in a nervous voice.

"I know what you are all thinking…" I said.

"What do we all think then" Kana asked.

"You all think I'm some psychotic umbreon that's mentally unstable and that I'm a danger to have around" I said as I looked her with my blood red eyes that scarred many pokemon away.

Kana then held her head high and began walking towards me "It's no secret that you're a hard pokemon to understand. I also know that you are injured mentally, but no one can even understand you since you are not opening up to us. So we are just left to fill in the blanks on our own and then when someone like that charmander mention's something you completely snap and threaten to kill him. Everyone including myself doesn't understand you" Kana said in a very long speech and I just sat there and thought about what she was saying. In the end she was right. I couldn't just expect them to understand something they don't have a clue about. 'Would it be a bad idea to tell her' I thought to myself.

I then let out a groan "I'll tell you if you promise to never speak of it" I said in a serious voice.

"I'll take it to my grave" Kana said in a trusting voice.

I then sat there for a few seconds of thinking of how to word things for her and whether it was too late to go back on telling her or ask Celebi the guardian of time to undo those few words I said "I…" I said as I failed to say words that were going to make sense. "I'll start from the beginning I guess since everyone always wants every single detail of my suffering.

"I'm not getting no joy out of this" Kana said as if I offended her.

"Well I guess it starts mainly four years back when I originally evolved into an umbreon when I was younger" I said as Kana sat there and looked at me and didn't take her gaze off me for even a second.

"As you may know umbreon's are one of the most hated species on the planet. Alex may not bring it up but I'm sure he too knows why" I said as I got slightly off topic. "The moment I evolved into an umbreon I was so excited that I evolved finally since when you are young everyone is in a big hurry to grow up. But when my mom found out she acted like she was happy but now I know today that she was scared that I was going to live in a world that would discriminate me for what I am" I said as I took a second to get some air in my lungs so I could continue my story. "Well she was right everyone that did love me shunned me and iced me out. My friends I spent every day with were now my enemies and I was constantly bullied by them. Everyone around me always looked at me funny or avoided eye contact with me or I'd hear racist thing's said behind my back and sometime pokemon would even say hateful thing's to my face" I said as I reflected back on those dark days.

"I'm sorry that you were treated that way, but how does this relate to what you never wanted to talk about" Kana said in an attempt to speed up my story.

"Well I guess I want to just get some stuff off my shoulders and this will lead up to something" I said.

"Anyways from the time I first evolved I basically gave up on making friends, I gave up on socializing with anyone outside my family. My family was the only ones who accepted me" I said as my voice got fainter. "After two years of being discriminated something happened that I'll never forget" I said as my tongue became numb and I just wanted to stop talking.

"Is this the part you don't ever want to talk about" Kana interrupted, I then gave a nod to say yes without talking.

"Around two years from this day my entire family was slaughtered right in front of me" I said as Kana's face went from entertained to shocked as her jaw fell and her eyes widened" I still remember it all happening, the screams of my sister, my brother and my mother… I can't get the images of their blood everywhere out of my head it's all I see when I dream at night" I said as my eyes grew heavy from the tears that were beginning to form.

Kana just stared at me with shocked eyes as her jaw was cracked open "I'm… I'm so sorry… I had no idea" Kana said very quickly in an attempt to apologize for bringing up memories.

"It's was a traumatic experience… I wake up screaming some nights from nightmares I have about that night" I said.

"But the thing that made the mass murder worse was that one of the pokemon that helped was my own brother… Vincent" I said in a spiteful voice.

"Why would he do that" Kana said out loud in a shaky voice as I noticed a tear falling from her eye.

"Are you crying" I then asked her in slight shock of her reaction to my story.

"It's just horrible that things like that ever happen and every time we tried prying about that night all we did was remind you of that… I'm so sorry" Kana said as more tears flushed down her face. I just stood there shocked. No one has ever cried for me and for some reason now I felt guilty.

"Thanks…" I said quietly.

Kana then looked up after I said that "For what" she then asked.

"I know I've always iced others out. But thanks for listening" I said as I showed a hardly visible smile on my face.

"It's no problem and if you ever need to talk or just need someone to try and help you, I'd like to help if possible" she then said with a caring voice.

"Sure" I said as I considered her kindness.

"Well everyone should be back soon, so why don't we change the subject since we don't want them to see either of us depressed.

"That works for me" I said as I became happy that we were done with that subject "Just one more thing kana" I then said in a serious voice.

"What is it" The jolteon asked.

"I know it only sound's fair that everyone knows but I really don't want them knowing, so it'd mean a lot if we kept this between the two of us"

"Yeah sure I understand" Kana said in a trusting voice.

I then all of a suddenly felt tired and I let out a small yawn and I then lied down on the ground and curled up into a ball to make myself comfortable. I tried to fall asleep but all I could think about was that night two years ago and how horrifying it was.

* * *

**Black's point of view two years ago.**

* * *

Everything was so cold and dark. I was now lying on the cold snowy ground outside of the moment I was just terrified and I've completely lost motivation to move or run for my life from the danger nearby. It was only a few minutes ago that I watched my mother die and it was about ten minutes ago that I watched my brother and sister die by the hands of cold blooded murderer's.

Snow was now gently falling on me as I lied on the ground in despair. Everything seemed so peaceful until ten minutes ago. I then looked to left and looked at the hill me and my family lived on, at the top was a really big tree that would usually provide shade during the nice warm summer days. My gaze then focused on my paws and the bit of my body I could see, I was covered in the blood of my family and I instantly felt disgusted and I just wanted the blood off of me right away.

My head then began to feel like it was spinning and I then felt myself slowly drifting off into unconsciousness as I struggled to keep my eyes open. Every few seconds I could feel myself black out until I eventually gave in and passed out on the cold snowy ground.

"So this is the umbreon then huh" I heard a deep voice call out. I could hear the voices even though I was blacked out and all I could think of is who they were and why they cared about me.

"Yes sir this is my brother" I heard the familiar sound of my brother say towards the first individual who spoke.

"How does it feel to play the role of a traitor" the anonymous voice asked.

There was a moment of silence before Vincent even responded "I don't know, I guess in the end I'm not a traitor since this is for the future" my brother said to the unknown pokemon.

"This is how things have to be, you and your brother's sacrifice will one day change the world" the voice said.

"I know… Do we apprehend him from here then sir" Vincent asked.

"Not yet, it's still too early he's not yet ready. But in two or three years the time will come if we manipulate some things to go in our favor" the anonymous voice said. "Once the time passes we can then initiate phase two of project Kurokami" the voice said.

My eyes then began to slowly open but I could only make out blurs for a few seconds and eventually my vision stabilized and I saw my brother Vincent looking down at me. Standing right next to the white espeon was a quilava who had his back turned to me and a greninja that had a sword on his back.

"He's awake, what do we do" Vincent asked.

"Leave him he's too weak to even move" I heard the anonymous voice say from behind me. I tried to look to see who was talking but my body refused to move. I then heard the anonymous figure walking away from me and the other three pokemon followed behind the unknown pokemon.

"Vincent" I called out in a weak voice. The white espeon then stopped and looked back at me but said nothing.

"Why" was all I could get the strength to say towards my traitor brother.

"For a tomorrow" Vincent then said as he walked away and looked forward.

I lied in the cold snow for around an hour before I could even think of moving off the cold ground. Eventually though my body felt like it had a little energy and I rolled over with very weak muscles and forced myself to stand up. Once I was up on all four's I then took a step forward on one of my weak paws and I then looked towards the hill I lived on and started making my way up the hill.

After a few minutes of forcing myself to climb up a snowy hill I was at the top. The snow was gently falling from the sky and coating the world around me in its pure white coat. Far off in the distance I could see a town and in the other direction's I could see the world going on as far as the eye could see.

After I was done observing the world around me I then looked towards the tree on the hill. Next to the tree was a lifeless leafeon that lied on the ground with a giant gash in her jugular. Tears began to submerge from my eyes and they flowed down my face as I looked at my dead mother.

"Why… why…" I asked myself as I sobbed at the sight of my dead mother. I then walked up to her corpse and gave her a nudge in an attempt to make her show some sign of life.

"Please… wake up… Mom… please" I said as tears gushed down my face and I continued to sob at the sight of my dead mother. I just wanted to wake up and find out this was all some horrible nightmare, but no matter how hard I tried I still remained in this hell.

"I never even got to say bye" I said in between my sobs as I lied down next to my mother's corpse and grabbed her paw and put it over me as if she was hugging me. I then curled into a ball and closed my eyes and tried to act like this wasn't happening as I continued to sob out loud. I was now covered in even more of my mother's blood, but I didn't care I just wanted to be with her as long as possible, dead or alive.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well that was a dark chapter. Well I guess I'll start this author not with the jolteon mirage black always see's. Obviously something is up with that hallucination and It will not be the last time Black see's him. I'm actually curious to here what everyone think's about him and what he is. Now onto Black and Kana's conversation. I thought it was good that Black finally got to get some off the stuff he's been keeping a secret for years off his chest, after all he's hasn't told anyone about that beside's Flare and now Kana is the second pokemon to know. Now onto the flash back I put in at the end of the chapter. First off I hope I did a good job on that since it was an emotional chapter. Anyways I know I only showed what happened after the murder but their will be more info on it later on down the road. Obviously though he was traumatized. Anyways it'd be cool if some of you could give some feed back but if not no problem.

Thanks for reading and supporting the story!


	35. Trafficking

**So now were at chapter 35 and I can't believe how far this stories come over a short time. This chapter is a good one and will have something interesting in it later on. Thanks for reading and thank's to everyone who reviews!**

* * *

**Chapter 35: Trafficking**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Everybody was now returning from our search to find Black after he snapped and ran off on his own. To our surprise though we found him napping on the ground at the rest area where we were originally at. Every single one of us stared at Black as he slept in a calm manner as if nothing happened. It was kind of bizarre seeing Black curled up in a ball breathing gently after he just snapped not even fifteen minutes ago, it was odd seeing him calmed down so fast when his temper is known to last for so long.

"Kana how long has he been here" I asked as I looked at the jolteon who looked zoned out and didn't even reply to what I said "Kana" I shouted really loud to get her attention.

The jolteon then stuck her head up and her eyes widened really wide "Huh w-what" she said in a confused manner as she looked around to figure out who called her name.

"How long has he been back" I then asked.

"About fifteen minutes or so" Kana replied.

Hesh then looked at her with a strange look "And you didn't tell us he was back" the pikachu complained.

"Well no, me and Black had an interesting conversation when he got back"

"About what" the pikachu questioned.

"Nothing, just stuff" the jolteon said in an attempt to remain tight lipped.

"Whatever you say kana" Hesh said as he let out a yawn. I myself was a little disappointed that Kana wasn't going to tell us about their conversation.

"Is everyone ready to go" Alex asked us as he walked towards us.

"Sure why not" Hesh said out loud to our trainer.

Alex then looked back at us and noticed his sleeping umbreon that had no intention's on waking up. Alex then walked up to Black and kneeled down as low as he could without falling on the umbreon and then stroked his hand along Black's fur gently. Alex then unstrapped a pokeball off his belt and clicked a button on it and sucked Black into the ball.

"Rest up Black, I know things have been hard lately" Alex said with a small smile as he stood up.

"Alright let's all hustle since we lost some time looking for Black" Alex said in a peppy voice. Shortly after Alex said that we all started walking down the path along the beach towards Cyllage city. Luckily for us the weather still managed to stay as perfect as it was previously today and I'd even say it cooled down a little to the perfect temperature.

Everyone was walking silently in our group. The lady from before that we dueled against went on ahead towards the exact same destination we were going and said she'd meet up with us there after we found our pokemon. I was actually kind of curious about what I could learn from that charmander. I was mostly curious about what he knew of Black and the pokemon after us.

"Hey Flare can I talk to you in private" I then heard Kana call out from behind me. I turned my head back to see a bothered looking jolteon. The jolteon held her head low and had a gloomy look in her eyes eyes.

"Sure what's up" I said with a small smile that was supposed to lighten her upset mood.

"Just let everyone go ahead of us a little first" Kana said as she looked at our group. I then stopped walking and she did the same and we let everyone walk past us. No one really paid too much attention to us lacking behind since most of them were day dreaming, except for Hesh who was talking to Gray a little about random miscellaneous stuff.

After everyone was out of hearing distance we then both started walking behind our group and I then decided to start off the discussion Kana wanted to have "What's on your mind."

"You said you knew Black's background right" Kana asked.

I then let out a sigh of irritation since I already told her I wouldn't ever tell her about it "I can't tell you remember" I said as kindly as I could without sound annoyed.

"No it's not that…" kana said in a hollow voice "When we talked earlier he told me about his family and why he never wanted to speak of it" Kana said as she avoided eye contact.

I then stopped walking and just stared at Kana in shock "He… He told you" I said in disbelief.

"Yeah" Kana said.

"Then what did you need to talk to me about" I asked in a confused on what she wanted to actually talk about.

"I didn't really think much about his family and what happened to them until after Black fell asleep, but these pokemon after him are very dangerous and the more I learn of them the more I realize how heartless they are" Kana said in a unsteady voice.

"What are you getting at" I then asked.

"What are we going to do when they come back for him, they'll kill us just for knowing him" Kana said quietly to keep anyone else from hearing our conversation.

"What are you trying to imply, should we just throw him out or wrap him up as a present and just give him to them" I then said in a slightly angered voice.

"That's now what I'm getting at, I like Black and I feel bad for him. I really wouldn't have the heart to ruin his life anymore" Kana retorted.

"Then what" I asked her again.

Kana then just looked at me with shaky dilated eyes "Flare I'm scared honestly, I don't want to hurt Black but I'm scared those pokemon are going to kill us in our sleep one of these nights" Kana said.

I then looked her in her shaky eyes and I replied with a smile "Don't worry, we have more pokemon on our team now and plus were getting stronger. If we all just stick together I'm sure we can all push past this" I said as I pulled Kana into a hug and we both sat there in silence as our group left us behind.

"What if your wrong" Kana then said as I hugged her.

"I'm not, we have some strong pokemon with us and last time they got us in a secluded area where no one was around, we'll just stay in populated urban area's" I then said with a convincing plan as I let her go.

"I guess you have a point" Kana said with a smile on her face that showed she was cheering back up to her usual happy self.

Kana and I then both looked up the path and saw that are team was almost out of site. We both exchanged glances for a quick second and we both then started running back to our group. Kana could have easily out ran me but she ran along with me and didn't leave me behind.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

It didn't really take long for my new leader to put me to work. I was now assigned a little mission to silence a loose end. Accompanying me on this ever so crappy mission was the white espeon I first socialized with when I joined the crimson dawn and the other individual with us was a quilava who went by the name Merrick and wore a bored expression ever since we left on our mission.

Our party was now in the shady part of Luminose city. The streets were crowded with many people who paid very little attention to our trio as we walked down the streets of Luminose. Here and their though I could see a few humans or pokemon shoot me a dirty look since no one really liked my kind, although I could have cared less. It was now early evening and most people were finishing off they're day of work and getting ready to go home soon.

"How long until we are at the objective" the quilava said as he gave out a lazy yawn.

"We'll get their when we get their" the white espeon known as Vincent said in an agitated voice. I myself had grown annoyed with the whiney quilava. Most of the trip he has done nothing but complain and take up space in this mew forsaken world.

After around ten or so minutes of walking down the crowded streets of Luminose Vincent then led our group down an alley.

"Were here" Vincent said as if he didn't really care.

"Arceus finally" the quilava said in an exaggerated whiney voice.

Vincent then walked into the middle of the alley and stood right in front of a manhole that had a big lid on it. I then saw the manhole lid literally lift up a little and slide away from the hole. I then looked over towards Vincent who seemed to be the one who moved the lid.

"The sewer's" I questioned.

"It wouldn't have been my first pick either but it's where the target is" Vincent said as he got ready to jump down into the hole. Vincent then jumped down and the quilava quickly followed. I then thought for a second about whether I really cared about earning their trust enough to actually go down there.

"You coming or not" I then heard the quilava yell in anger from the hole.

I then jumped down the hole and quickly felt my feet contact with water and a solid ground at the bottom of the ground. Once I was at the bottom I quickly noticed how bad it smelled down here and I instantly wanted to just get out of this Mew forsake place.

Once I did get over the smell I then noted that the only source of light was coming from the flames on the quilava's back.

"Follow me" Vincent then said as he led us through the horrid sewers.

"How do you know your way through this place" I then asked as me and the quilava followed.

"I've met this pokemon before, our groups use to be business buddies but now things are different" Vincent said.

"So why do these pokemon have to die" I asked. Not that I cared about killing them, I just hated wasting my time and it never did hurt to have a reason.

"Because they help Team Genesis" Vincent said.

"How so" I asked.

"We are now heading into a base that is inhabited by a group of pokemon that make their living off pokemon trafficking and they sell a lot of these pokemon they kidnap off the streets to Team Genesis, which they then genetically alter and make the pokemon superior and sell them at a high price on the black market."

"I see" I said as I took in the info. After a few moments of wondering in the dark sewers with minimal light we eventually saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Once we got closer to the light I noticed the light was from a lantern that was hanging off the ceiling of the sewer and right next to the lantern was an arbok and a cubone standing right in front of a door that was randomly in the sewer. The two pokemon wore a smug look on their face that obviously showed they were up to no good.

"Stop right there, state your name and purpose" the arbok hissed in an unfriendly tone.

Vincent just looked at the arbok and the cubone for a second before replying "Hello to you to, we are from the Crimson Dawn" Vincent said.

"Crimson huh" the arbok said as he looked at his partner cubone "Genesis told us you'd be co-" A hole then burst open between the arbok's eyes as blood splattered all over the sewer wall's and his body fell on the wet cold floor and didn't move as a pool of blood formed around the arbok's head.

The cubone then looked at his partner as he quivered in fear from the graphic sight. Then I saw the skeleton make on the cubone's face crack between his eyes and then another hole burst open between the cubone's eyes and he fell on the ground dead next to his partner who also appeared dead.

I then looked at the white espeon who appeared to be the one who caused the gruesome deaths of the guards. He appeared to be unfazed by the murders and he just walked over their dead bodies as he opened the door with his psychic powers. I had no doubt in my mind that the espeon was a very dangerous individual who would pose a threat to any pokemon who didn't have a type advantage like me.

Shortly after he walked through the door Merrick and I followed behind the white espeon through the door that led deeper into the enemy's base. Once we were inside the door we were in a long dark hallway with barred cell's following along the walls of the dark room. Our party walked down the hall and as we walked I looked into the cells and saw many pokemon lying down in the cells. Some of the pokemon were awake and just watched us with eyes full of despair and showed no sign of hope. Throughout my life I have seen many faces like that and by now I was more than use to seeing the darkest corners of this world.

Once we reached the end of the hall we came upon another door. Vincent then opened the door with his mind again and we followed him through. When we entered the new room I saw a big opening and in the middle of the room I saw a pokemon standing in the darkness. Luckily my enhanced eyes that team genesis gave me allowed me to make out the figure in the darkness and he appeared to be a sneasel. I then looked around the other parts of the room and it appeared to be the one sneasel. There was no light in the room we were in other than a small light coming through the ceiling which made a spotlight right on the sneasel.

"I knew you would eventually come for me" the sneasel said as he looked at all of us.

"Not going to beg for your life" the quilava said to the sneasel as he gave a big toothy grin.

"I'm not the one who should be begging" the sneasel said as he smiled back at the quilava.

"The hell is that supposed to mean" the quilava yelled as he began walking towards the sneasel. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a scyther come out of the shadows and sprint towards Vincent at lightning speed. Vincent began to turn his head slowly as he heard the sound of running but the scyther shoved his bladed arm into Vincent's back before he could even see the scyther. I then ran towards the espeon as the scyther held the white espeon up with his blade shoved through his back. Blood pured out of Vincent's wound as he made a gurgling noise as blood came out of his mouth from the internal bleeding.

I then used dark matter and surrounded my right paw and jumped in the air towards the scyther. The scyther tried to dodge my attack but I jabbed him right in the face before he could even move and he instantly went flying to the ground. Once the scyther fell down along with Vincent I then looked at the white espeon. It didn't take long for me to realize he was dead and probably died within seconds after he was punctured, yet I was unfazed since death was a part of my life since I was a child.

I then looked over towards the quilava who appeared to be fighting off other pokemon who were giving him a hard time while the sneasel just sat back and watched the chaos. The pokemon fighting the quilava consisted of many different species such as a Persian, an arcanine and a golbat. The quilava continuously shot flamethrowers everywhere which caused the pokemon to dive out of the way as the flames lit up the room with a light that blinded me even with my enhanced vision.

Then the persian managed to get behind the quilava when he wasn't looking and tackled the quilava to the ground and pinned him down with his paw's as he tried to rip out Merrick's throat with his teeth, but the quilava managed to hold him back enough to save himself. The other pokemon then began making their way towards me as they got in their battle stances to fight me.

I then covered my entire body in dark matter as I sprinted towards my opponents without fear. I went for the golbat first since he appeared to be an easy kill and I lungedstraight towards him and swung my shadow paw straight for the pesky bat. The bat's eyes widened as I made my move but right before it landed he flew out of the way as I grazed its chest and blood dripped down its torso.

My eyes were then attracted to the arcanine who was charging up a ember in his mouth. He launched the fireball at me and I quickly ran towards the ember but right before it hit me I swiftly did a roll right under the attack and kept my speed as I charged towards the canine like creature.

I then thrashed my entire body into the arcanine and left a giant burn mark on the creatures left side from the dark matter around my body. The creature rolled around in pain as I placed my paw on the creature and pinned it to the ground and he looked up at me with shaking eyes that stared into my blue eyes.

"One down" I said as I raised my other paw up to finish the job. Then all of a sudden everything in my body felt bizarre as my vision got blurry and the muscles in my body felt very loose and struggled to support my weight. I then got off the arcanine as I struggled to even stay conscious. Then I felt a wet substance flowing along the side of my mouth and the inside of my mouth had a bitter metallic tasting liquid in it that was not saliva. There was no doubt in my mind that it tasted like blood, I've tasted it more than enough to recognize it.

To confirm my suspicion I quickly swabbed the liquid that escaped my mouth and flowed down my lips. I looked at it and my suspicions were confirmed, it was indeed blood.

'How, I wasn't even injured' I asked myself as I looked around the battle zone with blurry eyes. Then all of a sudden I felt a strong solid contact on my right side and I fell on the ground and skidded along the concrete floor. Then I saw the arcanine from before charging an ember up as he stood above me. I tried to struggle but my body felt way to weak and I knew I was in serious trouble.

'The hell is wrong with me' I screamed to myself in my head as I tried to understand why I was bleeding.

"That's enough" I heard a voice call out as everyone looked towards the sneasel who wore a look of terror as I saw Vincent who was perfectly fine standing behind him with a psychic attack charging up.

"How… I watched y-you die" the sneasel said in a shaky voice as he shook in fear.

"The mind is such an easy thing to fool if not properly trained and you and your friends believed an illusion over reality" Vincent said as he looked at the sneasel with a small grin. I had to admit myself, I thought he was dead and I couldn't believe that, that was an illusion and he was perfectly fine the whole time.

"Everyone stop now" the sneasel said in a shaky voice as his men backed away from me and the Persian got off the quilava and the arcanine got off me and took a few steps back from me as I slowly struggled to my feet.

"Please don't kill me" the sneasel said as a tear began to fall down his eyes.

"Seriously" Vincent said in an angered voice "Look at what kind of business you run, you don't have the right to cry and feel bad for yourself, why do you deserve a second chance" Vincent said as tears continued falling down the sneasel's face.

"P-Please I don't w-wanna die" the sneasel said as more tears flowed down his face and he cried like a child.

"Oh I'm not going to kill you. I've got something better in mind" Vincent said as he looked at the back of the sneasel's head.

"W-What's that" the sneasel said.

"Your all going to fall asleep in a moment and when you wake up the police will be here and we'll let the law sort things out" Vincent said in a dark tone.

"Going to the police that's dirty" the persian that was on the sneasel's side yelled.

"And your business isn't" Vincent retorted.

"Vince please give me another try man, we can talk this out. You want money I can make you a rich pokemon, Hell I'll make your friends rich as well" the sneasel said in a nervous voice with a few sniffles added in.

"Money holds no value to me" Vincent replied "Tell me though, maybe info on Genesis may persuade me to look the other way if you promise to behave in the future" Vincent said as the sneasel slowly turned his head towards the psychic.

"Like what" the sneasel asked.

"Hmm how about something that will help us defeat them" Vincent said with a small grin on his face.

"I don't know anything about them honestly, they just pay us good for pokemon" the sneasel yelled.

"And who usually comes to pick up the pokemon" Vincent then asked.

"Usually a couple armed soldiers meet us out in middle of route thirteen and they take the pokemon from their" the sneasel said without a second thought.

"Just soldiers" Vincent asked.

"Umm" the sneasel said as he continued to think "There was also a scyther with them here and their but during the more recent trades the scyther hasn't been their" the sneasel said.

"Okay and what else do you know then."

"Nothing they just pay us that's all I know" the sneasel said in a stressful voice.

"Surely you value your life more than that" Vincent said.

"Vince come on man, this is all I know… let this slide and I'll make you a twenty five, seventy five partner" the sneasel pleaded.

"Not interested in your business now answer my questions" Vincent replied.

"Okay fifty-fifty it doesn't get better than that" the sneasel said with a nervous laugh.

"If I hear one more offer I'm going to fry your brain until you can't even comprehend basic math" Vincent said in a dark tone.

"Listen I'm sorry I seriously know nothing… I'd help you if I could" the sneasel said as tears began to form in the sneasel's eyes again.

"Hmm that's too bad… for you" Vincent said as the gem on his forehead began to glow a bright crimson red and then I watched as everyone in the room beside our team become dizzy as they began to sway around and eventually they began collapsing on the ground. One by one each of them fell to the ground unconscious including the sneasel.

I looked down at the golbat's unconscious body and saw that he was only asleep as it snored peacefully unaware of the serious trouble it was in.

"Let's go" Vincent said in a tired voice as he sluggishly walked towards the exit.

I instantly noticed his swaying as he struggled to stand "Are you going to be okay" I asked, even though I felt like crap myself at the moment.

"Yeah, I just used a lot of energy back there with the illusions and knocking them out" Vincent said in a drowsy voice.

Then the quilava stepped into the conversation "So how are the police going to find out" the quilava interrupted.

"Simple, I'll find a police officer and I'll plant a thought into his head or make him hallucinate something that'll lead the police here" Vincent said as he continued to walk on his weak paws.

"Alright let's just get out of here… it smells like hell" I said as I followed the espeon on my weak paw's as well. The only thought I truly cared about at the moment though was what was wrong with my body and why it decided to act up like that randomly.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

It was now getting late and the sun had set long ago and our crew was now settling down for the night. Alex had set up a camp fire to keep us all warm for the night and it illuminated the area around us with a fiery orange color. Off in the distance we could all here the ocean waves splashing against the beach over and over.

Gray, Ebony and Alex had both fallen asleep long ago and left Kana, Hesh and I awake and Black was still in his pokeball.

"So Kana you ever going to tell me about what Black told you" Hesh pried.

"Nope" she replied bluntly as she lied down on the ground and rested her head on her two paws that were crisscrossed.

"Secrets I tell you" Hesh said as he sat down and put his hands behind him to support his weight as he leaned back and looked into the stars.

"So this is what it's like to travel" Hesh said in a relaxed voice.

"That's right you've never really left Ambrette have you" I said.

"Nope I've always been there and never really had a need to leave until recently" Hesh said as he looked up into the sky.

"Was it worth it" I asked.

Hesh then looked at me for a second as if he was unsure "We'll see I guess" Hesh said as he redirected his view towards the star's in the sky.

"Isn't that the little dipper thinge" Hesh then said as he pointed to the stars in the sky. I then looked to where he was pointing and tried connecting the dots in the sky but they all seemed to make everything but the little dipper.

"No I think that's just a group of stars" I said as I continued to look up.

"Do you know where any constellations are" Hesh then asked.

"Well sure I do" I said as I looked up at the sky and searched for the right group of stars as I strained my eyes to find any constellations.

Then I spotted something "Well yeah you got that thing right their… A umm blob… of star's… making a blob" I said as I slowly let my paw fall and I realized I had no clue what I was talking about.

"Wow that one is just beautiful" Hesh said sarcastically with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah shush up" I replied jokingly as I let out a yawn and I then lied down like Kana was. Hesh seemed to understand that I was sleepy since he didn't really say anything ever since I lied down. Everything just felt so perfect, the air around me was cold yet the camp fire warmed me up and created a very comfortable sensation that made the sleeping environment perfect. But to top that off in the distance I could hear the ocean waves swooshing back and forth along the beach, which luckily we were out of the tides reach.

Everything here was just perfect and I could feel sleep call my name as everything slowly faded to black.

* * *

**Chapter End **

* * *

**Author Note:**Well that concludes that chap. So things may have been a bit slow on our main protagonist's side but for Stark things were a bit more interesting. So in the chapter you may have noticed the scene where Stark started randomly having blood come out of his mouth, I'm not going to get to into it but just note that it may actually be important later on. I really liked writing this chap also because I got to show more of Vincent and Merrick and I'm always looking to build up their characters since their hardly seen at this point. Well I actually can't wait to upload next chapter because it will have an interesting beginning, you'll just have to see it when I upload it but when I do I think everyone will find it interesting.

Thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, follow and fav'd my story. Also I haven't really mentioned this in awhile but if I am making grammar mistakes or maybe just making a story telling mistake in general please inform me through a review or PM because I'm always looking to improve this story. Thank you.


	36. The Near Future?

**Well welcome to another chapter. Now I actually liked writing this chapter because it has a lot of juicy info, I'll be interested to hear what you guys/gals make of the info. I really love the beginning and I do hope that everyone likes it as much as I liked writing it because its just awesome (Or so it felt awesome in my head lol). Anyways... This chap will also have some good spicy character bulding, but I'll let you read for yourself. Anyways enjoy the chap and thanks for reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 36: The Near Future?**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I was now slowly waking up and I discovered that I was lying on the cold ground in an unfamiliar area. My vision was intensely blurred and I could hardly see anything besides bright lights off in the distance that appeared to be scorching flames. I strained my eyes to make it out but my vision refused to cooperate with me.

I then felt something wet trickling down my chest, I took my paw and swabbed the wet substance that was on my chest and held my paw up in my sight and my vision then stabilized finally and revealed blood on my paw. I then shifted my gaze down and saw blood flowing out of my chest. I had a minor gash in my chest and I was slowly loosing blood at a steady paste.

Now that my vision was back to normal I looked out to the distance and I saw blazing flames covering multiple building and I heard the sound of people yelling in terror off in the distance and then I heard a creaking noise from one of the buildings that was on fire, then all I could hear was the loud crashing sound of a building collapsing on itself and a big wave of debris covered the whole area and it was all I could see besides the lights of flames through the debris. My ears were now ringing from the loud crashing noise as I tried to get a grip on myself and all I could now hear besides the ringing in my ears was the pounding of my heart and my heavy breaths.

"W-What's going on" I then asked myself in a weak voice that I could hardly hear from the ringing in my ears.

Then I heard a loud fierce roar that would make any pokemon cower in fear off towards my left, I hesitantly looked in that direction afraid of what I was going to see and my jaw dropped at the sight of a dragonite blowing flames everywhere around the unknown city I was in. It appeared that the dragonite was the source of the chaos in the area and possible my current injuries. I then noticed that I was quivering in fear, I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself but nothing seemed to help neutralize my emotions.

I then realized that this was beyond serious and I started looking for someone that could help me and then I saw Kana lying on the ground unconscious or… dead. All I could focus on was the pool of blood forming around her and my imagination instantly assumed the worst scenario possible.

"Kana" I called out in terror to the jolteon but she didn't reply, but the dragonite noticed my words and stopped using its flamethrower on the buildings and looked at me with a dark glare that only seeked to destroy everything in its path. The dragonite then began to make its way towards me as it took giant steps that made a loud stomping noise as it got closer to me. As the dragonite got closer I then began to notice its size difference compared to how a normal dragnite was. This thing was easily twice the size of an average dragnite and was no doubt twice as deadly and a small pokemon like me wouldn't even stand a chance of scratching a pokemon of that size.

Seeing the dragnite coming towards me I instantly realized that this was like or death and I began to struggle up to my feet in an attempt to fight for my life. Around when I was halfway up to my paws I suddenly felt a strong tearing feeling and I then felt blood burst out of my wound along with a sharp pain and I fell down with a loud screech of pain as I cringed from the excruciating feeling. I then looked up once my pain subsided a little and I saw the dragonite charging up a flamethrower that was directed straight towards me.

I then realized that this was the end for me and I closed my eyes to shield me from the terror and prayed that the flames would at least kill me instantly so I wouldn't suffer. I waited a few seconds as I shook in fear but my death never came, I then opened my eyes and saw Black standing right in front of me in a defensive position as he stared at the dragonite and let out a vicious growl that set my teeth on edge.

The dragonite was still charging it's breath of hell as Black and the dragonite stared each other down. Black showed no sign of fear towards his foe and stood his ground. Black then began sprinting at light speed towards the dragonite as it released its flamethrower straight towards Black. My eyes were instantly blinded from the heat and bright colors of the flame as I clenched my eyes shut. All I did manage to make out was a fiery inferno that was covering everything where Black was and I was hardly even safe from the flames.

"Black!" I yelled in terror as I tried to open my eyes but couldn't make anything out through the inferno that the dragonite released.

* * *

My eyes instantly shot open and I quickly stood up on all four of my paws in nearly a split second. I then looked around and the first thing I noticed was the lack of fire and chaos everywhere and instead that the area was peaceful. It then snapped in my head and I realized that it was only a dream and no one was in danger and for a matter of fact everyone appeared to be sleeping serenely. My vision was then redirected off into the distance towards the ocean where I could see the sun starting to peak over the horizon and begin its cycle over the world we inhabited.

"Whoa that was… interesting" I said to myself as I reflected on that odd dream that still had me shaking slightly in fear. I knew that it was only a dream but I was still shocked from how realistic the dream was, most dreams were vivid and hard to even remember, but this one felt like reality.

I then looked over at Kana who was breathing gently as she rested her head on her paws. I was so happy that it was only a dream and none of it was true. I then counted my blessings and walked away from the sleeping jolteon.

'What was that' I asked myself. I just prayed to Mew that that wasn't any kind of vision or I was not looking forward to my future and I think everyone else could easily agree without second thought.

"You look like you had a good dream" I heard an acquainted voice call out from behind me. My head then cocked back and my vision revealed Black standing behind me with a bored expression on his face as the umbreon looked at me with groggy eyes that were barely open.

"Oh hey Black and what would possibly make you think that" I asked as I tilted my head a little in a curious manner as I awaited a logical response from the tired umbreon.

Black then let out a small smirk "Oh nothing I've just had enough nightmares to recognize someone waking up like that."

"Well no I was just sleeping funny and I just got up really fast" I then said quickly in my own defense, although I realized that I replied so fast that it made it more obvious that I was lying.

"Uh huh right" Black then teased.

"And what about you, you said you had nightmares" I said in an attempt to redirect the subject.

Blacks face then went to a serious look as he stared me in the eyes, then shortly after his face relaxed and revealed a small smirk "I constantly dream about magikarp taking over this world and enslaving us land pokemon" Black said in a fake disturbed voice.

"What is it with you and magikarp" I then asked as I pondered why he was so obsessed with them.

Black's head then tilted a little at my question as he wore a confused look "I don't know honestly."

"Of course you don't." I replied.

"So what was your nightmare then" Black asked me.

I don't know why but I didn't want to tell him about my dream mostly because of how bizarre it was "You know, I don't even remember. I just remember it being peculiar" I said with a fake laugh at the end.

"You're a dirty liar" Black said with a frown on his face.

"Okay Ryder" I said jokingly as I gave him a small nudge with my paw.

"Hey! why you calling me that now" Black yelled in an annoyed voice.

I just replied with a small laugh at the umbreon's frustration.

"Well your small" Black said as he gave me a nudge and sent me down on the sandy ground. The umbreon then looked at me as he winced a little bit "Ugh whoops" Black then said awkwardly as he realized his mistake.

"I'm not short, the whole world's just tall" I then shouted as I got back up on my paws.

Black just let out a small smile at my joke and said "Your logic is flawless."

"When are we leaving by the way" Black then asked me.

The question then processed through my brain as the neurons in my brain connected and made a logical answer "Eventually" I bluntly said with a toothy grin showing on my face.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I was still in Luminose city with Vincent and Merrick and we were now outside a warehouse that appeared to have been condemned long ago. The outside of the warehouse had cargo crates scattered all around and were pretty worn down and I was really questioning why we were wasting our time here out of all places in Kalos.

Merrick was walking with us along the warehouse on his two legs and he held a big bag in his hand which he was twirling around to amuse himself. I constantly wondered what was in the bag but I could only assume my anticipation would be cut short by a creature with a primitive mind like his.

"What's the purpose of coming here" I asked in hope that one of my two colleagues would reply.

Vincent then looked at me out of the corner of his eye as we walked along the side of the warehouse "We are here to destroy something of Genesis's" Vincent said with a sly smile.

"And what would they possible have here" I asked with interest.

"Genesis bought out this warehouse long ago for the sole purpose of storing data and small amounts of money."

Shortly after walking along the warehouse we eventually came upon a door that led into the warehouse. Vincent didn't even bother to open the door and instead smashed it open with his psychic powers and sent it flying into the warehouse.

Vincent didn't waste any time and walked in along with the quilava, I also followed in as I looked around cautiously. The warehouse had long rows of cargo everywhere and they were rusted and covered in dust as well. I couldn't also help but noticed that some of the cargo crates appeared to be melted slightly and have burn marks on them and it almost looked like a battle went down here.

"Hard to believe we were here not even to long ago" Merrick said as he reflected on recent memories.

"What were you doing here" I then asked.

"Merrick and I were here and we had a little fun with Vincent's brother" Merrick responded with a big smile on his face.

"Wait why didn't you do what you needed to do here back then" I then asked with slight annoyance as I tried to understand there thinking method.

"Because back then Genesis was our ally, they just let us barrow this warehouse as a headquarters while we were on that mission, back then our two organizations had a solid truce and we would have never imagined us going against them, although we never really liked them, just the benefits we got from them" Vincent replied.

"And how did you fail to apprehend Ryder, it's not like he is strong or anything" I questioned. I mean he wasn't the only reason I failed was because Zero had

Vincent then exchanged a glance with Merrick and then looked back at me "It's not that we couldn't beat him, it's that we choose not to" Vincent replied and I then completely felt confused on their logic and why the hell they would do something so stupid and counterproductive.

"What, why" I then asked as if they were morons.

Vincent then let out a small sigh "We simply wanted to just remind Ryder that we were still out there, things still need to be done before Ryder is where we need him and for our plan to be done effectively a lot of things must be met and we can't quite capture him until things are ready or our plan won't work and everything would have been done in vein."

"Then why send me after him" I then asked.

"We told Genesis to create you as a reanimation and not to have you go after him yet, they almost caused us a lot of trouble because of that misunderstanding" Vincent said. Then confusion over took my brain. Genesis told me to go after Ryder and that one black scyther who was with Crimson even assisted me.

"That scyther, what was his name Kane?" I asked as I tried to recall his name.

"Yeah" Vincent replied.

"Why was he trying to help me capture Black then, he may have not fought him but he was helping me capture him, isn't he on your side?" I then asked as confusion continued to take its course in my mind.

Vincent flinched at the question "hmm that's odd, he knows better, so why would he do that. I can't help you on that one. I would talk to him but the guy never talks."

"So back to the original subject though, what needs to be done before Black or Ryder or whatever his name is needs to get captured" I asked as I looked the crimson eyed espeon dead in the eyes.

"Mandus wants to be sure we can trust you before we tell you more about project Kurokami" Vincent said and my ears then pricked up a little from hearing those words. Then a memory of Zero telling me to keep an ear open for something about project Kurokami came into my mind. That diffidently confirmed that they had something to do with this Kurokami project and I was honestly intrigued. It sounded interesting and it had to be if a business as big as Genesis cared so much about it.

"Then what can you tell me of project Kurokami" I asked cautiously.

"Kurokami is many things. Just know that project Kurokami will change this world forever and justify everything bad that we have done to help try and complete it" Vincent said as he looked towards the ground.

Then I felt slight annoyance that the espeon actually thought there was atonement for pokemon like us "Does that justify the slaughter of your family and all the lives you ruined" I then asked with spite in my voice.

"If everything goes as planned we'll save more lives than we took. It will be the dawn of a new world, a world of peace, a world without violence or hatred. A world full of equal pokemon" Vincent said as he held his head up with pride as he enlightened me on his motives.

Then a thought came into my head "And what about human's" I asked as I noticed they were left out from what he said.

"That is a matter that is still being debated actually" Vincent said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Let me explain" Vincent said as he sat down and prepared to give me a lecture "It's not secrete that humans are the cause of everything bad in this world. Humans created a world that revolves around a government and an economy. Now for there to be an efficient economy there has to be a lower class a middle class and then an upper class."

"What are you getting at" I then interrupted as I failed to see his point.

"I'm getting to that now pay attention" Vincent said in annoyance "Now this whole world revolves around an economy and what runs an economy" Vincent then asked.

"Money?" I replied.

"Exactly money, if you have money your somebody and you can do anything and have whatever you want, but money causes greed and corruption. The world is being destroyed by the economy humans have created. Think about the environment's, the pokemon being hurt and the oil the humans love so much and let's not forget war and that alone could destroy our planet and it is all done to make profit or to benefit another man's greed" Vincent said as I began to understand what he was getting at.

"The economy of this world promotes greed, thus giving birth to businesses like Genesis who will do anything for money. Money is also the cause of your pain as well Stark" Vincent said as he stared me dead in the eyes and I then felt myself become more interested in the conversation.

"Think about it. Your old trainer was a hit-man and would do anything for money. He then got a pokemon like you and trained you to be a vicious killer and made profit off your sins, not once did he care about your personal feelings. It all came down to money and he would do anything to get it even if it caused you your life, which it did" Vincent said. Thoughts then came into my head about the horrible things my old trainer made me do just to make a small profit. All the lives I ruined and all the blood I've spilt just for paper with numbers on it that held no value to me. My whole life I worked for that sack of shit and never once did I benefit from it, it was all for him and I was just his slave.

"The reason we are debating on whether humans should live or not is that if humans are allowed in the new world they'll just recreate a world that is fueled by greed and they will create a civilization similar to todays, a world that is slowly decaying without a hope of light" Vincent said as his words began to make sense to me.

"We want a world where pokemon and humans can live as equals, we are tired of being at the bottom of the classes, we have no rights and humans will make us work tirelessly for them to get money. Pokemon don't have a place in this world so we must create a new one that we can all coexist, but at the same time we don't know if that is possible, we truly do want a world where we can live as equals but it may not work out" Vincent said with a small frown on his face.

"So you seek a world where everyone can be equal" I then asked.

"Yes and we are afraid that it won't be possible with humans" Vincent then said.

"What about the pokemon we fought yesterday, they were trafficking their own kind to make money, pokemon can be just as easily be corrupted" I then said in an attempt to contradict his argument.

Vincent then began nodding his head at me "Yes corrupted by the money that humans made, studies have shown that area's with pokemon only have nothing like pokemon trafficking, simply because everything goes off the worlds natural cycle of life, not an economy or a government that is corrupt" Vincent retorted.

"I understand but how is it possible then to get rid of civilization" I then asked.

"I promise if you can earn our trust I'll explain everything to you as much as you want, but we are on a mission so let's start by finishing that up" Vincent said as he turned towards the quilava who was kicking a rock around on the ground.

"Merrick we're ready" Vincent called out towards the quilava and he then kicked the rock as hard as he could and sent it flying and he looked at Vincent with a smile. "Let's go then, this'll be fun" Merrick said with a toothy grin. Merrick then reached into the bag he was carrying and revealed a couple sticks that were in a bundle and appeared to have a timer on it.

"Go set the charges, I'd like to show Stark something" Vincent said as he directed me to follow him. Vincent had me follow him to the middle of the warehouse in an opening. In the opening I could see a small blood stain on the floor along with tools scattered everywhere as if there was a chaotic fight here at one point.

"There" Vincent said as he pointed at a crate that looked a lot newer then the other crates. The crate had a big lock on it which was chained around the crate securely so no one could get in it without the right tools.

"What's in it" I then asked as I observed the massive cargo crate.

"Look for yourself" Vince said as the red gem on his head flashed a bright red and the lock on the cargo crate exploded and the chain slid off the cargo crate. The door then slowly cracked open and revealed stacks of money stacked on top of each other that filled the entire crate up. My jaw instantly fell at the infinite sight of money that must have been millions at least.

"H-How much is in their" I said in amazement as I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't just seeing things.

"More than anyone could ever count. I'd estimate at least ten-million dollars and there is also a few other crates like this hidden throughout this warehouse as well" Vincent said as he looked at the money in disgust.

"How do they make all of this money" I asked.

"They make pokemon like you that are superior to others and then they sell them on a black market for a lot of cash" Vincent said as he continued to eyeball the money with spite "Money that is used to make pokemon suffer when they should be with their families and friends enjoying their life."

"The dark science's Genesis does is taboo, that is why they are an underground business but that is also why they get paid so much got their specimen" Vincent then said.

Merrick then came out of nowhere and walked up to the crate that was filled with money and gave a big smile "Oh I've always wanted to do this" Merrick said as he eyeballed the money and licked his lips as if he was looking at a tasty meal.

The quilava then took in a deep breath and launched a big flamethrower inside the crate and cremated the money completely as he let out a hysterical laugh as he watched the money burn in bright orange flames.

"Oh that felt good, I love pissing on Genesis's profits" The quilava said as he laughed.

"Are the charges planet" Vincent then asked in a serious tone.

The quilava then stopped laughing and looked at the espeon with a serious glance "Yep, we got about seven minutes to get the hell out of here before this place goes boom" Merrick said as he started walking towards the exit. Vincent then followed and I did the same since I didn't want to end up like the money he just burned into nothing.

Once we reached the exit my eyes burned from the sunlight that I could never get used to, Merrick and Vincent continued walking away from the facility as I continued to follow them. Once we were across the street from the facility Merrick then signaled us to stop walking and the quilava turned around and stared at the facility with excited eyes.

"Light the fuse bitches" Merrick then yelled out with a lot of enthusiasm.

A few seconds passed by and nothing happened and I started to wonder if he set the bombs up right. Then my eyes were blinded by a bright flash of light as the facility had a huge explosion go off in it that caused the entire left side of the building to collapse to the ground. Then a few seconds after that another one of the bombs went off in the center of the building and started a domino effect as they all set off each other in fiery explosions. The building completely collapsed on itself as it was engulfed in flames. Merrick let out a hysterical laugh as I heard civilians in the area scream bloody murder and run for their lives at what they probably assumed was a terrorist attack.

"We should leave" Vincent said as he began to walk away and didn't bother to wait for us. I agreed with him and followed and Merrick followed us with his hysterical laugh that made me want to just punch him in the nose until he realized how annoying his laugh was.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Everyone eventually woke up and Alex got us all going with his usual peppy attitude and we were now on our way towards Cyllage city. We continued to make our way down the beach of route eight as everyone engaged in entertaining conversations. Gray and ebony appeared to really be the only two who weren't talking. I always wondered if Ebony was going to ever socialize with any of us or if she was going to just stay like that forever. Although I decided I would give her space since she was going through a lot at the moment and I didn't want to bring up her sister again or any other harmful memories.

Hesh was now educating Black on all the movies that he had watched in his days although Black looked really confused on the subject and just made sarcastic remarks to everything Hesh said. Obviously Hesh knew Black's humor so he wasn't offended by his odd humor.

Kana on the other hand was just trotting along with Hesh and Black and she added her insight to the conversation here and there. And then that left me, I didn't really have anything to do other than remember my dream from last night. It was so realistic and it could have even been mistaken as real.

It was just so bizarre and real and I just couldn't help but want to make something of it. I mean could it have been a vision of some kind or was it just my imagination being overly active. In rare cases fennekin's have been known to unlock parts of their brains that allowed them to use psychic abilities but never before has a fennekin predicted the future.

"It doesn't make sense" I then blurted out loud in frustration and everyone just looked at me as if I was insane.

I then realized how much of an idiot I sounded like and I instantly just wanted to undo that "Sorry… Go back to doing your things" I said as I put the palm of my paw on my face and attempted to rub off the embarrassment. I then just continued walking in silence as I pondered the thoughts

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well this chapter had some things I could only imagine would have been interesting, or so I'd hope or I'm a failure as a writer XD. Now Flares dream can mean many things and I'm always a strong believer in dreams meaning stuff. We'll all have to see how things roll out later on with that.

Now on to Vincent and Stark's discussion on the economy and stuff. First I'd like to state that I'm not leaning this story towards Government conspiracies and stuff like that, but I'm more getting into how humans (That's US!) play a huge role in destroying the world (Also I'm not a hippie XD) and I thought that topic was interesting for a pokemon who see's no value in money and economies and see's humans as creatures who are destroying the world they all live in. I do hope all of that made sense and it will most certainly not be the last time that topic come's up. Maybe now more of Crimson's motives are revealed and you guys/gals can start to make out what kind of pokemon they are. Well I think that was a chap with a lot of content and hopefully you all loved it because I sure as hell did lol. Thanks for reading and thanks to all of those who support my story in any way, and I know I say this after every chap but I have to since I don't want to sound ungrateful ;P.

Thanks Again and if you got any questions about stuff you don't understand feel free to ask.


	37. Cyllage City

**Welcome readers to the next chapter! Well this chapter has some really good info in it. Anyways I do try some attempts at making things more humorous in this chapter, haven't had many chances to try humor since things have been dark previously in this story until recently and I am trying not to make this story flat out depressing 24/7. So maybe I made it good enough to put some smiles on your face's or maybe not. Anyways if anyone has good tips on making stuff more humorous please shoot me a PM that'd be awesome because I'd like some advice lol. Anyways thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 37: Cyllage City**

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I was now finally alone and Vincent and Merrick were off doing their own thing while they left me to wonder around Luminose city until they needed me again. I wasn't really a fan of them just dragging me around on their errands especially when I wasn't really of any use to them at the moment. Memories of events that happened around me recently began to flow through my mind as I tried to understand them. What was project Kurokami and why did my body act up earlier were questions that flooded my mind.

I then walked into an ally and decided it was time for me to contact Genesis and see what the hell they actually wanted me to do for them "Hey you said someone was monitoring me twenty-four-seven and that they could communicate. Now start talking" I said out loud as I realized how silly I must have sounded talking to myself like that "Hello" I said again with frustration.

I then let out a sigh of stress "Asshole's aren't even doing their job" I said out loud to myself doubting that they were even listening.

"I'm here" I then heard a voice call out and I instantly recognized it as Zero the asshole that enslaved me to Genesis. The voice actually managed to make me jump a little since I wasn't expecting it and I had my guard down.

"Have you been paying attention to me the past twenty-four hours" I then asked the voice in my head.

"Yeah I've seen most of the good stuff" Zero replied through the technology that was most likely located in my ear drum.

Then I realized all the money I let Vincent and Merrick burn as I just watched and never really tried to stop "Hey umm, sorry about yo-" I said before I was interrupted. "It's fine, it's a small price to pay if you can actually gain their trust" Zero replied not really sounding like he cared.

Now was the time to get down to business and I wasn't going to waste any time "You heard them mention Kurokami right" I then asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah things are as bad as we thought" Zero replied.

"Then what does that mean and what is it" I then asked.

"As to what it is I can't tell you now, and them having project Kurokami could easily mean a million things. They can technically do anything if they wanted" Zero replied in a dark tone.

"Do anything?" I replied in confusion.

"Disregard that and just continue getting their trust."

Before our conversation ended a thought popped into my head that contradicted everything I was doing "Hey why am I doing this, you said you had another spy. Who and why can't he or she do what I'm doing" I asked with anger.

"Because Stark" Zero said with annoyance in his tone "Our other spy isn't technically one-hundred percent with them. He was more of a mercenary that we loaned them and he did their dirty work and spied on them. He has actually never seen Mandus or got anywhere close to them. As of right now he is doing the same thing as you, getting their trust and so far you are making a lot more progress since your you."

"And what's so special about me" I asked.

"You may have noticed Crimson isn't the biggest fan of humans. They know of your past and the things you've done. They probably think you are a potential ally" Zero then said.

"And how much do they know about my background" I then asked.

"Everything" Zero quickly replied and I then could feel a vein bulging out of my head from the thought of them knowing my business. Although I honestly knew I was just more embarrassed that they knew I was manipulated like a damn puppet my whole previous life.

"Hey I have a question" I then asked as dark memories flooded my head.

"And what would that be Stark."

"What ever happened to my old trainer" I then asked as I remembered the scum that broke me.

"Your old trainer?" Zero questioned.

"Yeah" I responded in a cold voice.

"I haven't kept tabs on him but he's still out there doing what he does, last I heard about him was that he assembled a new pokemon team to continue his work."

"After all of this is done you are going to help me track him down" I then demanded.

"And what could you possibly want from him" Zero said in a voice that sounded as if he was entertained by what I was getting at.

"I'm going to kill him as slow as possible" I said in a dark voice as satisfying thoughts of my old trainer suffering entered my mind.

"Find out more about Kurokami and I'll bring him to you" Zero replied.

"Fine I'll hold you to that then."

* * *

**Point of View Black**

After many hours of walking nonstop down route eight with the sun beating down on me we finally made it to Cyllage city and we were now staring at a sign with big letters that I couldn't read. I strained my crimson eyes on the words in an attempt to understand the strange thing humans called literacy.

"How the hell do humans read this crap" I barked out in frustration.

"It's just a welcome sign are you that du-" Gray began to say before he stopped himself from insulting me, which was odd to me since he always jumped at the chance to insult me and belittle my kind.

"Then how do you know" I asked curiously to how he knew such things.

"Because they have signs like this outside of every city, its common sense" Gray said with obvious annoyance in his voice.

"What do you all say we head in to Cyllage city" Alex said in a peppy voice as he raised his hands up in excitement.

"Sure" I replied dully to my trainer.

"That's the spirit" Alex then said excitedly towards me.

"No it's actually sarcasm buddy" I then replied. I didn't really know why I had such a negative attitude towards him when he was nothing but nice to me in the past. But then again it was also just my personality, so was I wrong for always having a sarcastic attitude?

We all then began making our way into the small city that had grown much over the years, as we made our way into the city and walked along the sidewalks. The city had some descent sized building but still fell short compared to Luminose. Despite the fact it wasn't as big as Luminose it was still just as lively and had pokemon and people everywhere doing their own tasks. The main road of the city was occupied by cars that were driving by at consistent speeds that allowed them to get to point A to B in a reasonable time. Then it snapped in my head.

"Hey guys" I asked out loud.

"Yeah" Everyone asked but Gray and Ebony.

"Why don't we use a car instead of walking everywhere" I asked in a confused voice.

"Because then it wouldn't really be an adventure, plus Alex probably doesn't want to pay gas and all that" Flare replied.

"Gas" I then asked in a confused tone.

Then Gray shot me a glare that showed he was sick of my dumb questions "Don't bother teaching a wild pokemon modern day culture. He's used to living under a rock his whole life, why bother telling him now" Gray said in a snide voice that I took offense to.

"Tree" I corrected Gray.

"Same difference" Gray barked in annoyance.

Flare then shot Gray a look "Gray what'd we talk about back in Ambrette" Flare then said as he stared Gray down.

"Oh come on your asking the impossible" Gray then spat out "I mean do you hear him."

"Just be civil okay" Flare then said with a sigh.

I then looked at the both of them awkwardly as I tilted my head a little at the conversation "I totally know what's going on" I replied sarcastically not knowing what Flare was talking about.

Flare didn't even bother replying to my snide remark and we just continued walking down the sidewalk. The more I observed the city the more I noticed everything looked the same. Every few buildings appeared to be food and the others all sold supplies and here and there I spotted a small commercial building.

"So when are we stopping to rest, it's hot out here" I then whined as my feet began to hurt from so much walking, which believe me days of walking nonstop with a wound that was still healing got tiring after an hour and I've been putting up with this for days.

"I don't know soon enough" Flare responded as we continued to walk.

"There we just need to cross the street up ahead and we'll be at our hotel" Alex said as he pointed up ahead and revealed the hotel we were going to be staying in. As I came up to the street that I was going to cross I noticed two white lines that were painted onto the black pavement and made a path I was supposed to cross. I then looked up and saw a electric sign that had a big red hand on it.

'Huh wonder what that means' I thought as I began to cross the street and I looked back quickly to notice everyone in my group not following and instead standing in front of the road.

"Black No!" Flare then yelled at the top of his lungs as I continued to walk across the street and I then heard the loud sound of a car honking at me and I then looked left almost instantly upon hearing the noise and I saw a car dramatically swerving away from me and the squealing noise of breaks. I then heard someone yell a few vulgar words my way as the car directed itself back on its normal course. I then felt Alex's hands grab my neck violently and I was then pulled back so hard that my feet lifted off the ground and he was holding by my neck and the nerves in my neck instantly screamed in pain.

"Ow let go" I yelled out in pain as Alex set me back down on the side walk next to our group.

"Don't do that again" Alex said in a serious voice as he knelt down to my level and looked at me with serious eyes that I've never seen him use before and honestly it kind of made me feel uncomfortable. I had no idea what I did wrong, but it made me feel guilty for something I didn't do. I mean I was just crossing the damn street!

"Don't do what" I then barked back in a defensive tone.

"Don't give me attitude you almost got killed… again" Alex replied in a serious tone as if he knew what I was saying.

"Flare what'd I do" I then said as I looked back at Flare who looked like he was about to laugh at me.

Then Gray stepped in my direction "Thanks for proving me more right Black" he said with a snide smile on his face.

"What'd I do" I then yelled out in frustration.

"Didn't your mommy ever teach you how to cross the street" Hesh then said with a big smirk on his face.

Then I put two and two together and I started to understand what that red hand on that electric sign meant "No my mommy never did" I then replied in a pissy tone from being laughed at by everyone.

"Can we just go now, and I'm not some stereotype dumb wild pokemon" I yelled in frustration.

"You have yet to prove me wrong" Gray then said in his usual grouchy voice.

"Oh Mew just kill me" I then said as I contemplated on running out on the street in hope that one of the cars would put me out of my misery once and for all. Then right before I came up with my decision the sign with the red hand switched to a picture of a person walking.

"Now you may walk" Hesh said with a small laugh.

I just replied by rolling my crimson eyes as I walked across the street. Once we crossed the street our hotel was then in front of us and we all observed the place we would be inhabit until we beat the gym leader. The hotel was average compared to the other's we stayed at. We then entered inside the hotel and once we were in I then noticed a desk with a lady occupying it. On the desk was many miscellaneous things such as that weird computer thing humans use and a few book littered the desk as well.

"Hi welcome to Cyllage city traveller" A young blond lady said with a big smile on her face that was beyond creepy and made almost everyone but Alex cringe a little. It didn't help that the lady never blinked either.

"Hi, I'll just need to rent out one room for a few nights" Alex replied with a big smirk on his face.

"Okay may I have your name sir" the lady replied in a cheerful voice with her smile that would make eevee's cry.

"Alex Hayter" Alex replied.

"One second please" The lady said as she started entering some info in her computer "Oh it appears your room was already paid for" The employee said with that smile on her face which was starting to creep me out. I mean seriously you'd have to have some strong muscles in your face to smile as big as this lady for that long, it almost gave her a demonic look honestly, like some psychopath you'd see in one of those horror movies Hesh never shut's the hell up about.

"What do you mean my room is already paid for" Alex exclaimed in confusion.

"Your room has been paid for a day ago, room two three one" The lady replied as she pulled a card out of an envelope and handed it to Alex

"Okay I guess I can't complain" Alex said as he scratched his head and accepted the card.

Alex then started making his way to the left of the desk and then he walked into a hallway as we all followed his lead. Then halfway down the hall Alex walked up to a silver colored door that had a slit going down the middle and he clicked a button and the machinery replied with a beeping noise and the slit actually turned out to be a sliding door and they opened up and revealed a room.

We all then crowded our way into a very small room. Alex then pushed a button and the two sliding doors closed and we were locked in a very confined space. "The hell is the point of this" I shouted out in frustration.

"Its and elevator Black" Flare replied in a dull voice as if he got sick of my lack of knowledge on human technology.

"An ele what" I said in confusion"

Then gray just had to add in his insight "You see you're a stereotype of a pokemon that's oblivious to the modern world" Gray said with his snide smile.

"Shut your mouth Gray" I then said in a stern voice.

"Make me you little umbreon" Gray then said, which his comment sounded pretty damn racist and he was about to see how crazy an ignorant umbreon can get when pissed off.

"I swear to Mew… I'm so close to having another break down, and you don't want to be stuck with me in a confined space when I'm pissed off" I said in a dark tone as I stared Gray down and made sure to add some bite to my tone. Gray then looked a little confused on how to respond and just stood there like a moron.

"Yeah that's what I thought buddy" I replied in a satisfied tone.

Then after a minute the door finally opened and revealed that the machine moved us to a new location "Whoa where did that thing take us" I said in confusion. Now before I make an idiot out of myself Gray was actually right, I hardly knew anything about modern civilization and when I was in Luminose I was only there for a short amount of time and never actually got to learn about human culture plus I wasn't too fond of them since they kind of ruin everything, so I preferred to keep my distance which I still do.

"Oh for the love of Arceus" Gray then said out loud.

I just ignored the absol that was a fur ball of negative energy and I just followed Alex down the hall in hope that the room we had was at least big enough for all of us since our team was at least doubled in size since the last hotel we stayed in. I just prayed that thing's don't end like last time I was in a hotel with Gray and I didn't end up with another huge scar on my body.

"This is it" Alex said as we were halfway down the hall. He then pulled out the card the lady at the desk gave him and he slide it in a little slit that seemed to just fit the card perfectly. After he slid it in there was a satisfying clicking noise and Alex extended his hand and grabbed the orb shaped door handle and twisted it and opened the door slowly.

The door slowly creaked open and once we went inside I could hear the faint sound of one of those TV's humans watch all day long. Alex then went in the dark room first that was only slightly illuminated by the light of the TV that was on. Then the light flipped on by itself and Everyone's face froze in shock as if they saw a snorlax doing something with its life besides sleeping.

Sitting on a chair with his feet lazily on a desk that was in the hotel room was Alex's dad that resembled a hobo. "Dad" Alex asked in disbelief.

"No the tooth fairy" Alex's dad teased with a small smile.

"W-What are you doing here, I thought you were on a business trip" Alex then asked as he walked over towards his dad.

"I was, but I took some time off to visit you. I knew you'd be in this area so I thought I'd surprise you" Alex's dad said.

"I'm happy you're here and all but why. I thought work was serious to you" Alex said.

Alex's dad then let out a sad glare as he looked at Alex "Well I wanted to spend time with you and I honestly felt bad for last time I saw you, because we got in that argument when Kana was in the pokecenter" Alex's dad said with a small smile "Speaking of which where is she" Alex's dad said as he looked in the big mass of pokemon that were standing in the door way.

"Here" Kana then yelled out loud as she pushed everyone out of the way and jumped up on Alex's dad and gave him the closest thing to a hug that her body structure would allow.

"Hey Kana, glad to see your doing well" Alex's dad said as he petted her head gently.

Alex's dad then looked Alex in the eyes "I took some time off so I can do what a real father can do and spend some time with you…" Alex's dad said as he looked down a little "I know I never really did that in the past after your mother… I've just been too busy trying to make a living to support me and you" Alex's dad said as he looked up and made eye contact with his son and created a rather touching scene.

Alex then let out a big smile "Then let's have some good father son time" Alex said as the smile on his face became bigger than the creepy lady at the hotel desk.

"That's great" Alex's dad replied as he stood up and stretched.

"What do you say we go out to dinner, I did some research and I found a place that we can eat at and your pokemon are welcomed" Alex's dad said and I then remembered that I hardly ate today and the idea sounded fantastic.

"Sure let me set down my stuff and we can all go" Alex said as he took off his backpack and got ready to leave. I on the other hand just watched as the human took his time and made something that should have been simple take forever. I just couldn't bear to wait anymore and I needed something to fill the hollow void in my stomach that was screaming bloody mercy for food.

"Alright ready lets go" Alex said as he and his father began leading us all out the door and to the restaurant.

* * *

**3rd person point of view, the previous night 3:07 AM**

It was now very late at night in Cyllage city as a man waited in middle of a park on a bench alone. The place was completely deserted and had no sign of life. The man just sat on the bench that was in middle of the park. The man was wearing a black trench coat and wore a red scarf around his neck even though the temperature was more than warm. The man had blue eyes and he had a trimmed beard that had hardly any length to his head and his face appeared to have no scars on it either. The anonymous man also appeared to be wearing a hat similar to what you'd see a mobster wearing.

The man continued to sit in the darkness until another man walked out of the darkness towards him. This other anonymous man wore a black trench coat as well, since it's pretty popular for shady people these days. The man didn't wear a hat though and instead had very long dark brown hair that was very messy.

"Ah you've arrived" the man with the mobster hat said.

"Sorry it took so long Jack, I tried my hardest to get here unnoticed, no one saw" The man with long hair said as he put his hands in his pocket and leaned against a tree.

"Don't keep me waiting again or I won't do shit for you got it" The man known as Jack replied.

"You won't be saying that after I pay you. So live with it or I'll hire someone who doesn't wine" The other man replied in a calm voice that showed he wasn't fazed.

"Okay so what'd you call me out here for, obviously you need something important if your taking a break from your job with Genesis" Jack asked.

"I need a few pokemon killed, I don't care how, but fast" The man with long hair said as he looked down as if he was disappointed in himself.

"Who you need killed" Jack said as he looked at the other man and took out a note pad to write notes.

The man was hesitant before he said anything and only silence filled the night air "I need" the man said before he stopped "I need you to kill five pokemon for me" the man said as he looked up and stared Jack dead in the face with a serious glare "Now you listen, it is critical that you kill only the five targets and that their trainer doesn't know no matter what. I don't care how, just make it fast, leave the trainer alone and the jolteon alone. If you even hurt one of them I'll hire people to hunt you down" The man said in a serious voice.

"Don't worry I'm a professional, what is the name of the two you don't want me to kill" Jack asked as he wrote down some info on the list.

"Do not, I repeat do not kill a jolteon named Kana and a trainer named Alex Hayter, don't even let Alex see this happen. I don't even want him to know what happened to them" The man exclaimed.

"Got it, then who do I kill" jack asked as he continued to write info down.

"Kill an umbreon named Black, he is your top priority Kill a fennekin named Flare, and an absol named Grayson and a pikachu I don't know the name of and an eevee that is named Ebony I believe" the man said.

"Okay got it" the man said as he finished writing and tucked his notepad away "Just one question if you don't mind" Jack asked as he readjusted his hat.

"What" the man said.

"I don't really care if I have to do this but why would you do this to your own son" Jack asked as he looked for a facial expression on the man's face.

Silence filled the air "Because I love my son and those pokemon are wanted by my organization and I will not let my son get caught up in all of this… I know it'll hurt him but it's better than him possible dying" the man said as he held his head low again to hide the disgust he felt in himself.

"Okay me and my pokemon will have them cleaned up very soon, just be sure you pay up. I know you Genesis scientists get paid almost better than me" Jack said as he began to walk away without making any form of eye contact.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well I hope no one really suspected that twist at the end. Anyways before I get into that I'd like to point out the 3rd person POV. I'm still experimenting on stuff so I was trying it out and also I didn't really want to create a POV for the two mean who were talking at the end since I want to focus POV's around the main characters and believe it or not I think I added to many POV's lol XD. (Kind of overwhelming getting all the POV's in without forgetting anyone). Anyways hopefully everyone enjoyed the end because it is interesting and may possible lead down some interesting roads later on.

Thanks for reading and feel free to shoot a review my way if you want to tell me your theories or maybe ask questions, I'm always interested to hear about what people think. And thanks a lot to everyone who follow's this story it means a lot honestly.


	38. Naomi and Stark

**Welcome to another chapter my fellow readers. Well this chap is a little different from the others in a way but I'll let you read it yourself to figure it out. I'd also like to apologize because someone pointed out that I was spoiling things in the author note's and I guess I wasn't paying attention on what I knew VS what the reader knows. So to those of you who hate spoilers I apologize and I did clean out some of the spoilers in the author note's. Anyways it'd be cool if I could get some feed back on this chapter. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 38: Naomi and Stark**

* * *

** Point of View Stark, one year ago**

I was now walking sluggishly down a hallway in a hideout me and my trainer choose to hold out in while we avoided the police and anyone who could turn us in. We were now hiding out in a scrap yard that was forgotten about years ago. I was now inside the poorly designed crappy office they built in this Mew forsake scrap yard. After I finished walking down the hallway I came into the small lobby of the office we were hiding in. It was a normal run down office. There was a worn out wooden desk in the middle of the room along with a computer that outlived all the dinosaurs in this world. In the corner was a plant that died long ago and in the left corner was magazine stand that held many untouched magazines.

I was now getting ready to finally leave on an errand to get supplies to help us hold out while the police looked for us for the next few weeks. I looked out through the glass windows which were now boarded up with rotten wood and outside I could see rain pouring down on the ground. The area outside was completely flooded and I couldn't say I was looking forward to getting wet and muddy out there. I then looked up at a clock and saw that it was late afternoon. I then let out a deep sigh as I began to walk towards the door so I could begin my errand for my trainer.

"Are you leaving already Star" I heard a feminine voice call out from behind me.

I didn't bother to look back towards the voice and instead I could feel slight annoyance accumulating inside of me "I thought I told you to not call me Star, its Stark" I then said back to the pokemon behind. The most annoying thing someone ever called me was Star and all she did was remove the K in my name.

"Yeah yeah I know, when do you think you'll be back" she then asked.

"Hopefully by nightfall, it may take a while if I have to take the back roads" I then replied as I turned back to see an umbreon sitting behind me. The umbreon stared at me with a small smirk on her face. She appeared to be a normal umbreon, black fur and yellow rings. The only thing that separated her from other umbreon's was her slim body and the fact she was a couple inches shorter than the average umbreon, she was scrawny umbreon although her lack in size was easily accommodated for with her compassionate and strong spirited personality which made her rather interesting compared to other's.

"Would you like me to help out" The umbreon that went by the name I knew as Naomi asked.

"It's too dangerous, besides I wouldn't want you risking yourself for someone as low as our trainer" I said as I thought of the horrible man we were forced to work for. For so long I just wished I could kill the monster and at least do something right with my life for once.

"It's not Jack I'm worried about, it's you" Naomi then replied as she walked up next to me "Now let's go" she said as she led the way.

"Hey why don't you just think about this for a second" I then said as I attempted to hold out a paw to stop her but she was already walking out the door by the time I responded.

I didn't bother to resist what she wanted since I really didn't mind her company and honestly I have been lonely lately especially with all the grim stuff going on around me and her company always made me happy. I then made my way outside and the first thing I noticed was the ice cold rain that soaked my white fur. I then let out a groan of annoyance as my body slightly shivered from the cold substance.

I observed my surroundings outside to make sure no one was watching us. The scrap yard had piles of scrap metal stacked on top of each other and a few junk cars here and there. The place also happened to reeked like a sewer and I could honestly say it wasn't pleasant since umbreon's have sensitive noses compared to humans.

"Are you coming" Naomi yelled as she looked back at me "Or are you finally dropping the badass act" Naomi said with a smile. I then looked at her for a second as I took in her joke. A smile then found its way on my face as I ran towards Naomi so I could catch up to her. Naomi was a good pokemon and I really wish she could have had a better life than with someone like me and Jack. Although I couldn't say I was complaining, I did enjoy having her around and if there was anyone I had feelings for on this planet it would be for her.

"So how long do you think we're going to have to be hiding" Naomi asked me as she made eye contact.

"Could be a couple weeks to a month, assuming we don't do anything to piss off the police more" I then said as I simulated plans through my head.

"Hey Star" Naomi said with that annoying nick name she gave me.

"Huh" I replied trying my hardest to ignore the nick name.

"Why don't we just leave Jack" she then asked.

"Leave" I questioned as I pondered everything that could go wrong.

"Me and you we can leave Jack" Naomi said in a desperate voice.

I then let out a sad sigh "It doesn't work like that, he's got trackers in us and on top of that he's an expert at tracking and he'd travel across the world just to kill us if we pissed him off like that" I then said as I destroyed the umbreon's hopes of freedom and living a normal life, which was something I took no pleasure in.

"What if we go out into the middle of nowhere, or always stay on the move… I don't care just anywhere away from him" The umbreon said eagerly as a tear began to flow out of her eye.

I then stopped walking and grabbed Naomi and pulled her into a hug "Don't worry" I then said in a calm voice.

Naomi didn't agree with me and instantly shoved me away "How can you say that" she then yelled in anger.

Naomi then looked at me with an angry glare "Look at us and what we've done Stark, were going to burn in Hell for what Jacks made us do and you tell me not to worry" Naomi yelled as more tears escaped her eyes.

I knew exactly how she felt and for a long time I felt the same about my life, but after a while killing just became something that didn't affect me "Sorry but I lost faith in Heaven and Hell long ago… I doubt such things exist so I can't fear it" I then replied as I looked away from her.

"It doesn't matter about your beliefs, look what that monster's made us become do you think this is normal or have you lost perspective of right and wrong!"

"Of course I know that…" I said as I tried to really think of how I felt and how Jack would want me to feel.

"Every pokemon and person you kill it takes you further and further away from who you want to be, do you want to die a murderer or do you want to live a free life where you don't have to wake up and wonder if it's your last day alive" Naomi said as tears continued down her eyes "Please Stark I can't do this without you and you're the only pokemon I feel like I can trust anymore" Naomi said as the tears continued to come out of her crimson eyes and roll down her cheeks.

I then walked back up to Naomi and pulled the crying umbreon into another hug and this time she didn't fight me "Alright… I'll come up with a plan but it'll have to be executed perfectly."

Naomi then looked up at me and her tears finally stopped "You'll run away with me" Naomi said in a cheerful voice.

"Only if you'll follow my plan" I said.

"Okay I promise" Naomi replied with a big smile forming on her face "What your plan" she then asked.

I then let her go and I took a few steps back "We'll get Jack's supplies so he's happy and doesn't need us. After that we'll make our run. But somehow we'll have to get our tracker chips out of us" I said.

"Okay that doesn't sound too bad" Naomi said.

"Yeah well if anything goes wrong or someone finds out were dead" I then said as I began having second thoughts on my impulsive decision.

"I don't care I'd rather die than to continue being a murderer for a monster like Jack" Naomi said with a serious voice that showed she was serious.

"Alright then let's finish our errand" I then said as a smile found itself back onto my face.

* * *

We eventually made our way into Luminose city and Naomi and I were now taking every alley possible as we tried our hardest to stay out of busy areas. Eventually we made our way into an ally with a shady looking man with a leather jacket on along with some leather pants to match. The man also had sunglasses on and had dark blonde hair that was very spiky and there was no doubt in my mind that this guy mastered the art of looking like a try hard douche.

Naomi and I continued to walk towards the shady man in the ally "Yo are you J's pokemon" the shady man called out in a deep voice that sounded fake and was obvious he was trying to sound tough. I just rolled my eyes at the douche and gave a nod to indicate we were Jack's pokemon.

"Kay just be sure dat that betch pay's up yo" the man said with as my brain cell committed suicide from his lack of proper English. The man then grabbed two big garbage bags that were obviously full of food and supplies and he threw them towards us.

"Great glad you came now" I said to Naomi as I walked towards the supplies and bit down on the garbage bag and started dragging it. Naomi followed my lead and began pulling the other bag of supplies as we slowly made our way back to our trainer.

* * *

It was now dark and we were finally managing to get the bags back to Jack. The office was now in sight and the rain was now pouring down and it was obvious that a storm was beginning to form as we heard thunder in the distance. After a few minutes of slowly dragging the bag's towards the hideout I heard a gunshot go off from inside the office. Naomi and I both stopped walking for a second and looked at each other and we both then began sprinting towards the hideout at full speed.

Once I reached the door I stopped and held up my paw to tell Naomi to stop moving. I then slowly opened the glass door and I walked in the dark building. I was now in the lobby and the only thing that was illuminating the room was the light on the ceiling which was flickering on and off rapidly.

Naomi followed really close to me but made sure to stay out of my way since I was better at this stuff than her. I eventually made my way towards the left towards the hallway and I began walking down the hallway slowly. Once I reached the end there was a door which led to the room Jack was staying in. Inside the room I could hear the sound of classical music faintly playing in the background which gave me an uneasy feeling.

I extended my paw and slowly pushed the door open. The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was a police officer lying face down in a pool of blood. There was not even the slightest doubt in my mind that he was dead. I then walked into the room a little more and to the right of the room was Jack sitting in a chair clenching a bullet wound in his shoulder. Jack was now wearing a black trench coat and a mobster hat on his head. Jack sat their clenching the bullet wound for a few seconds until he eventually got up and walked towards his luggage bag which was on the bed he slept on. On the night stand next to him was a radio that was playing classical music, which was something Jack seemed to like for some odd reason.

"Well shit I did it again, and the bastard called for backup" Jack said as he began to look through his luggage.

"The thing is though, he didn't confirm which one of us was here" Jack said as he took out a red scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

"And what is that supposed to mean" I asked even though he couldn't understand.

"Well someone has to stay behind and throw the cops off" Jack then said as he walked over towards the dead police officer. I then felt anger consume me because he would consider using us as bait so he could get away and continue living a decent life off out suffering.

My thought was then distracted as Jack looked over to Naomi "Hey why don't you stay behind and me and Stark will scope out the next area to hide at" Jack said as he put on some leather gloves and began searching the dead police officer's belongings and he eventually settled for the police officers hand gun.

Jack then looked back at Naomi who looked at him with rebellious eyes. Jack then gave Naomi a death glare and Naomi's strong glare was soon replaced with fear as she held her head low and looked away "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you" Jack said in a cold voice.

Naomi then snapped out of her fear and nodded her head at Jack in a no gesture. Jack's eyes instantly lit up with rage as he death stared the female umbreon. I just stood there not really knowing what to do.

I then made a logical choice and I shrouded my right paw in a dark aura as I began creeping up on Jack to kill the unsentimental bastard. "Stark don't" Naomi then cried out.

"If you kill him your no better than him" Naomi said towards me. Jack then looked behind himself and saw me standing behind him as I got in the position to kill him. Jacks eyes instantly widened as he saw me getting ready to kill him.

"You bitch" Jack yelled out as he sent a kick towards me faster than I could make a move. The kick struck me between the eyes and sent me crashing into the wall as my vision became blurry from the attack. I then stood up with my blurry vision and I made out Jack pointing his gun at me.

Jack then fired a shot towards me and I felt a bullet penetrate my chest and I instantly coughed up blood and my mouth had a thick metallic taste now. I could now feel myself struggling to breathe as I tried to bare the pain from my wound and I then fell onto the ground as I tried to cling to consciousness.

"To bad I thought you were resourceful, but now you can be my get away ticket" Jack said as he pointed the gun towards my head. I then heard the gun make a clicking noise as he pulled back the hammer on the gun and he pulled the trigger and the silent air of the room was interrupted by the loud noise of a gun shooting. Before the bullet could finish me though Naomi jumped in front of me and I saw the bullet penetrate her as she let out a loud whelp and fell on the ground and didn't move.

"Naomi" I yelled out loud in terror as I forgot about my pain and I ran straight towards Jack. Jack didn't waist anytime and he dived out of the way and got up and ran towards the exit. I tried to follow Jack but the pain in my body instantly caught up to me and I felt myself slowing down as I struggled to breathe.

I then looked back to Naomi who was still lying on the floor. I took a small step towards her as I just wanted to run and not find out what I already knew. After a few small steps I finally made my way to her. I looked down at her limp body and saw that the bullet penetrated her head right on the golden ring of her forehead and I then knew there was no chance she survived.

"Naomi" I said quietly as I felt my eyes become heavy.

"Naomi… why" I said as I remembered her saving my life "Why would you do that" I said as loud as I could before I spat out blood which covered my entire jaw in blood and dripped down onto the floor.

I then looked down at Naomi's dead body and I decided there was one last thing I was going to do for her. I then pushed my head below her stomach and I burrowed my body below hers until she was on top of my back. I then stood up slowly with Naomi balanced on my back.

"I promised we'd leave… let's go somewhere peaceful to die" I said as a tear escaped my eyes and I began to slowly walk towards the exit. Eventually I made my way out into the storm and I made my way through the scrap yard with Naomi. Every few minutes I had to stop to readjust her on my back so she didn't fall off.

The pain from my wound was overwhelming and I was now bleeding all over myself and the white fur on my chest was now stained a bloody red. I was breathing really heavy but I couldn't catch my breath and I was no expert on anatomy but I was sure that the bullet nicked my lungs.

After a few minutes of slowly walking I made my way out of the scrap yard and I was now in the streets of Luminose. The rain was heavily pouring down on me and washing Naomi's blood and mine off of each other. Off in the distance I could hear the sounds of sirens and I would have picked up my paste if possible.

Every step I took blood poured out of my wound and every time that happened it got harder to breathe. My vision was now so blurry that I couldn't even see ten feet in front of me and the rain wasn't helping either. Then I reached my limit and I collapsed onto the cold wet concrete floor with Naomi.

I was now lying on the wet ground and I didn't care. Naomi's face was now perfectly aligned with mine as I looked into her eyes. Even in death her eyes never lost that spark that set her apart from everyone else in this world. I then extended my paw out and touched her face gently and my paw slowly made its way to her eyes and I gently shut them so she could rest in peace away from Jack.

"See I-I got y-you away from Jack" I said as I struggled to breathe.

I then accepted that this was it and I finally realized that Naomi was the last pokemon I was ever going to speak to and there was so much regret I had about how I spent my time with her.

"Naomi…" I started to say as I started to black out from blood loss "I never did get the chance to-" I said before I had to take a second to catch my breath "I never got to tell you how I felt about you" I said as tears escaped my eyes and I wished I was honest with her before it was too late. The one time I finally wanted to talk about my feelings the only person who could listen was gone.

"I'm sorry I never told you how I felt… If there is a Heaven or Hell I just hope I get to spend it with you" I said as my vision faded to black and before I knew it everything was black and I didn't feel nothing. At this point I knew I was on the verge of death and before I knew it I wasn't even thinking of anything. Everything was just darkness. No happiness, no sorrow, no feeling, no Naomi, just nothing but darkness.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well I know I say this a lot but I really did enjoy writing this chapter. It touched up on some good loose ends on Stark. Anyways I liked this chap since it showed how Stark was a year ago and showed how much he's evolved since his reanimation (Being recreated as a clone). I also thought Naomi was a cool character to add in and I thought things were interesting because she was also someone who meant something to Stark and in the present time very little is known about Stark.

Lately it has been hard for me to find time to write since I'm starting back up on drawing again and I'm trying out digital art with a Wacom tablet I just purchased (if you happen to know any good tutorials for that stuff please share). I did give up my art time for this chapter and I still have to squeeze in my last minute home work. (If I'm not procrastinating with video game's its always something else XD, you've all been their lol) Anyways on top of that my mommy ur umm my mom gave me a part time job working at her office as well. So my point is that my writing time is getting more scarce, so updates will prob be randomly through out the week, when before I tried for Wed and Sat or fri. (Which usually I updated more than those, I still promise two updates a week though). Anyways I've procrastinated studying for my test enough so I'm going to stop myself here. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who supports this story and if you want to be awesome send a review my way and tell me what you thought of this chapter since it had some good emotions in it.


	39. Questionable Friendship

**Welcome to a new chapter. So things will go back to our main group this chapter and won't be a flashback. Anyways I'm kind of needing to make this fast since I have to be somewhere so I'll leave it at this. **

**Also thanks for all of the reviews and support I have gotten up to this point and I do look forward to writting later chapters :D**

**(Reply to guest reviewer) Also thanks Melody for leaving some review's. I was actually surprised by how you felt about some of the previous chaps and surprised to see what emotions they brought up and it made my day lol. Thanks for reviewing.**

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**Chapter 39: Questionable friendship**

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**Point of View Black**

It didn't take me long to realize how boring a restaurant could be. Literally all that has happened so far was that we were seated and some dumb waitress just brought us drinks. Alex of course had to order for us and I got some strange juice that tasted very sweet.

The scenery in the restaurant was pretty neat though. We were sat at a round table with a big bench that circled around the table. The bench was elevated enough for us all to be at eye level at the table. Off in the distance were many other tables that were the same as ours and in the middle of the area was a bar where alcoholic beverages were being sold to those who couldn't get through the night without a buzz. The cool thing about this place was that it has an outside section so we were seated outside so we could all get some fresh air.

It was now getting dark out and off in the distance of the sky I could see the moon slowly making its ascension to the sky. The moon appeared to now be in the late Waning Gibbous form, which is basically when you can only see three fourths of the moon. Me being me I knew everything there was to know about the moon, it's an umbreon thing.

After a few minutes of sitting around drooling on myself out of boredom the blue rings on my body started to react to the moon and the rings on my body illuminated and attracted the attention of everyone. Everyone in the area had to take at least a few seconds to notice how awesome I looked, although I have to admit it did get old after a few years of being seen as a living glow stick.

"Do people always stare at you like that, when your rings glow" I heard Hesh ask from across the table.

"Yeah" I said in a dull voice.

"I think it's cool" I then heard Kana say, which she was next to Alex's dad since them two seemed to be fond of each other.

"Eh it gets more annoying after a while" I said trying to act like I didn't care about the compliment.

"Yeah it makes your kind really stand out when your lurking through the shadow's" Gray then said in a snide voice.

Then I felt a vein bulge out of my head from what sounded racist to me "I'm sorry you want to repeat yourself" I said and I shot a pissed of glare at Gray who seemed to not be paying attention to me anymore.

Flare who was sitting right next to me then tapped me on the shoulder and snapped me out of my death stare "Hey just let it go" Flare said and I took his advice and ignored what Gray said to me.

Then Flare looked at Gray "And Gray not in public okay."

Gray then rolled his eyes "Whatever."

Hesh seemed to notice the tension in our talk and he stood up and decided to sit next to me, since I was now the center of attention with my glowing rings "Hey I hate to ask but do you two not like each other or something" Hesh whispered into my ear so Gray wouldn't hear me.

My ears instantly flicked up as those words intercepted my ear drums "No we don't" I said spitefully as I stared down the absol again who I could only describe with vulgar language.

"Care to share" Hesh then asked quietly. The moment he asked those words I got ready to tell him a long list of complaints. I then saw Flare out of the corner of my eye shaking his head quickly in a no gesture as he gave a nervous look at Hesh as if he wasn't supposed to ask. But honestly that gave me more reason to tell him about what kind of an asshole Gray was.

"Well where would you like me to start Hesh" I said out loud obnoxiously.

"The beginning I guess" Hesh said as he began to realize he opened Pandora's Box.

"Well for one Gray is a selfish asshole that is totally racist towards my species" I said not even bothering to keep Gray from hearing. Gray's head instantly cocked back and looked at me in a confused manner as his jaw dropped from the big scene I was creating in public. Along with Gray looking at me a few pokemon looked at me as well as they heard my inappropriate language.

"Oh and let's see, this snake shaped scar on my chest was given to me by none other than Gray" I said as the absol began gritting his teeth in fury and he used all of his energy to not snap on me.

"He literally thinks my species is in-superior and that we don't deserve to live" I then added in as Gray started to growl at me, but honestly I was enjoying pissing him off to much to stop. I mean it wasn't wrong after all, since it was all true and he shouldn't have done it if he would have been ashamed of it later.

"Oh and before I met you Hesh he actually tried selling me out to some pokemon who were trying to abduct me and he even assisted them in trying to capture me."

Hesh's face then winced as he tried to neutralize the situation "Umm on second thought you don't have to tell me anymore" Hesh awkwardly said as he scooted away along with Flare who was now slowly inching away as he got ready to run for dear life. Everyone else in our group who could actually understand just sat there and waited for something to happen.

Gray then stood up and gave me a stare that was actually pretty scary and made my heart rate jump up as I realized where this was going "Black, I'm going to give you a ten second head start" Gray said in a dark tone.

"Oh what'd I do? I just told him our background as friends that's all" I said in a snide voice. Alex and his dad then stood up as they realized the tension that was going on.

"You two pipe down a little where here for fun" Alex said in a stern voice.

"And the real fun is just beginning" Gray said as he jumped over the table towards me and I instantly dived under the round table that we were sitting at.

"That was not ten seconds" I yelled from under the sanctuary of the table. Gray then pounced towards me and tried getting under the table but couldn't due to his size. He then lied down and extended his paw under the table in an attempt to pull me out. I then saw a huge opening and I swung my paw straight towards his nose and planted a solid hit as he swayed back and clenched his nose.

"Son of a" Gray started to say before he stopped himself.

Alex then tried pulling out his poke ball as everyone in the room started to crowd around us to cheer on the fight.

"Oh shit, I forgot the pokeball's in my bag" Alex said as he realized his error.

"Think your safe under their" Gray said as he began charging an ice beam.

"Oh… shit" was all I managed to say before I had to dive out of my safety. The table was instantly blown into the air and landed a few feet away from its original position. Before I could recover from my dive gray jumped on top of me with his paw and held his other paw up in an intimidating way as I saw his claws shine from the light from the restaurant

"Didn't I say if you did something like that again, I'd leave a scar on your face" Gray said as I then started to realize how much I loved my face how it was.

My brain started to strain as hard as it could in order to find a loop around this gruesome scene about to take place "Wait what the hell is that" I then said as I looked off into the crowd with a confused look on my face.

"What" Gray said as he looked towards the crowd then looked back, but right when he turned pack I poked him directly in his eye with my paw and he instantly shot back in pain. I then struggled to my feet in surprise that he actually fell for the dumbest prank in the history of fighting.

"That was dirty" Gray shouted as he tried to get over the pain in his eye.

"Street rules bitch" I shouted with a toothy grin on my face. As the crowd cheered on our fight and Alex then moved in to separate the fight himself.

"Enough" Alex yelled in a really pissed off voice that I never heard him use. Gray then stopped making a big deal out of his eye injury and looked at Alex. Alex then walked up to Gray and grabbed him by his neck fur and started dragging him towards me. Gray slightly resisted as he wore a pissed off look on his face.

Then Alex walked up to me along with the absol he dragged along "You to Black" Alex said in an angry voice." He then reached down to grab me by my neck but I jumped out of his reach. There was no way in hell I was going to be dragged around like a child that was in trouble.

"Now Black" Alex demanded with a voice that sent shivers down my spine.

Flare then stepped in "Black just listen to him so things don't get worse for you" Flare added in.

"Hell no, he started it" I said as I rolled my eyes and began to walk away.

"Black you did start it and Gray had a little blame as well. Now just do what our trainer said" Flare said in a serious voice.

"Ha ha very funny, sorry but I'm not getting put in timeout by a human" I said as I picked up my paste and made my way towards some peace and quiet.

"Black seriously don't be an ass. I'm getting sick of your constant better than everyone else attitude" Flare said in an angry voice. Those words actually did set something off in me since Flare was always the nice guy and was never angry ever.

I then looked back at him for a second "Flare, stop acting like I have to listen to Alex. I survived two years on my own. I really don't need to be lectured by you" I said as I began walking into the crowd.

"Black come on seriously, its dangerous out here at night" I heard Flare yell before I vanished into the crowd. At this point I was just pissed, I was so sick of people getting on my nerves and I just needed some space and a walk in the moonlight was just what I needed.\

"I expected no less from an umbreon" a treecko that was nearby said in a snide voice.

I then instantly looked at him with a pissed off look "What'd you say" I then said as I gave a dark growl. The treecko instantly stumbled back and he lost his balance and fell on his rear-end and looked at me in terror as if I was about to murder him.

"Get lost pal" I then heard a deep voice call out from behind me I then looked back and saw a monferno standing behind me with an ember charging in his mouth.

I was literally about to kick that guys ass, but then common sense hit me and I realized that if this continued the police would get involved and worst case scenario I'd be put to sleep. "Fine" I blurted out in a pissy tone as I began walking around.

"That's what I thought you ignorant umbreon" I then heard the coward treecko from before yell in a cocky voice that made me want to turn around and kill him. I then walked off into the city to find a peaceful spot to calm down.

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**Point of View Flare**

We were all now walking home in the streets of the night "Shouldn't you look for your umbreon" I heard Alex's dad ask Alex.

"Yeah I'll look for him after I get Gray to his pokeball" Alex said as he continued to drag Gray by his neck down the street.

"Okay seriously I get it your pissed, just let me go" Gray said as he continued to struggle against Alex's strong grip.

Then something new happened for a change Ebony walked up to me "Is Black always like that" Ebony asked in a quiet voice. I then became confused on my answer and how I wanted to reply.

"Well… he's different. He has things bothering him, I just don't know if I can keep up with his drama" I said.

"Well if I was him I'd be upset to" Ebony said as she looked at me and I instantly questioned her logic.

"And why is that" I asked as I entertained the conversation.

"Me and him have gone through a lot with that Genesis thing and I do know his kind isn't really liked a lot" Ebony said in a sympathetic voice.

"Well yeah but he did instigate that fight" I then replied to the young eevee.

Gray then managed to add his input "Your damn right he started it" he said in annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be more sympathetic towards him" Ebony then said as she looked at Gray.

"I'm not talking about this with a kid, you don't understand this stuff" Gray said in a snide voice.

Ebony then looked Gray dead in the eyes as she stood up in a confident pose "No you don't understand, my dad was an umbreon and he was persecuted everywhere he went, and it wasn't his fault" Ebony then shouted out in anger.

Gray's eyes then widened from what she was saying and he looked like he had no idea on how to reply to that. "I always wondered why pokemon come out so messed up and then I see pokemon like you, you racist pokemon are the reason me and my sister lost our parent in the first place" Ebony said as her voice got more aggressive and Alex started to notice the tension but didn't understand what was going on.

"Okay seriously if anyone else fights I think I'm going to just give up on our journey now" Alex shouted in frustration as he wiped some sweat off his face. Everyone instantly sensed his mood and stopped talking. After that everyone quieted down and we were just walking in silence. I couldn't help thinking about what Ebony said. I felt kind of bad for her now that I learned her parent were killed and now her sister died and left her as the sole survivor. Or so she made it sound like they died.

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**Point of View Black (One hour passed since Flares POV)**

I eventually made my way deep into the city and I was now walking along a sidewalk. All the buildings had bright neon signs lighting up their business logo's and titles and out glowed the rings on my body. Which didn't bother me since I was trying to stay low right now. After a few minutes of walking through the city I eventually found a big open field of grass with a sidewalk going down the middle and some benches and tree's scattered around the field.

I decided this would be a great place to relax and enjoy my night in the moon. I walked out into the middle of the park and found a nice soft patch of grass and lied down. I instantly felt welcomed in this spot as I curled up into a ball and made myself comfortable. Even though I was trying to relax I couldn't help myself from thinking of what Flare said to me earlier.

'Was I really an ass?' Was a question that kept popping up in my head. I mean I knew I could have a snide attitude here and there as well as cocky, but I didn't really intend to ever upset anyone, or at least most of the time. Flare was a good pokemon and I knew for him to say something like that he had to really be upset. But to be honest I couldn't take Gray's racist comments anymore.

"I guess I should apologize" I concluded as I accepted that I was being unreasonable earlier. I then stood up and got on my four paws and started walking in the direction I guessed our hotel was in.

After walking through the open field of grass for a while I eventually made my way back into the city and started walking down the empty streets. After walking down the street for a bit I saw a blaziken walking down the street heading in my direction. I didn't pay much attention to him though since he looked pretty average.

Then the blaziken stood in front of my path "Excuse me but would you happen to be Black" the pokemon asked in a monotone voice.

"Yeah… who are you" I then asked as I took a few steps back.

"Oh I'm nobody" The blaziken said as he started walking away from me. I stood still as I watched the blaziken walk out of my sight. I found that very odd and I didn't like it and I really felt unsafe now. Once the blaziken was out of sight I turned around and started running towards our hotel as my heart rate picked up.

'please don't let him be Genesis or Crimson" I thought to myself as I started to turn the corner around the street. Right when I turned the corner I then ran into someone and we both tousled onto the ground. I then stood up and looked at the pokemon I accidentally ran into and to my surprise it was Flare.

"Flare" I said in surprise.

"Hey" he said in a dull voice as he got up onto his four paws and started dusting himself off.

"What are you doing out here" I then asked the fox like creature I ran into.

"Looking for you" he said in his same dull voice that showed he still wasn't in a good mood.

"Why" I asked.

Flares ears then flicked as I asked that question and he looked at me with an angry stare "Seriously your going to ask that, I'm here to find you yet again" Flare said with some attitude.

"Well I'm sorry" I said in a nervous voice.

"Yeah your sorry, and now Alex is pissed and you made a huge scene like that in public. Way to go Black" Flare said as he began walking towards the hotel not even bothering to look at me and he just expected me to follow him.

"I said I was sorry buddy" I said in an attempt to cheer him up.

"If you were really sorry then you'd stop getting pissed at everyone who say's something that slightly upsets you. First that charmander and now this" Flare said in anger.

"Gee I'm sorry I'm sick of being discriminated against" I said as I lost my patience with Flare's anger towards me.

"Grow up and stop making a big deal out of small comments. What Gray said was hardly even noteworthy then you had to make a scene out of it" Flare said with words that had bite to them.

"You know maybe if you were me you'd understand" I said as I looked down at the ground not even bothering to look at the back of his head.

"Black I really don't want to hear it today."

"Some friend you are" I replied in a voice that hinted that I was mentally hurt.

Flare didn't even bother to reply to what I said and I was really beginning to get annoyed by his silence. I tried thinking of something to break the silence but no matter what I thought of it always sounded out of character in my head and I eventually gave up on the idea.

"You know Alex is very disappointed in you right now" Flare said and the silence was broken.

"Thanks but I don't really care about what he thinks" I then replied in a cold voice.

Flare then let out another annoyed sigh "Okay that's another thing that's making me mad, why do you always have to give Alex attitude and say snide stuff to him?"

I didn't even reply to what Flare said since I honestly didn't know why, but half the time I was kidding and on top of that he couldn't understand me.

"Black what is even keeping you in our group" Flare then asked.

"Well I'm being held hostage here", not like I have any say" I then said.

"Black seriously Alex is a good person and you had countless chances to escape, if you don't want to adapt to our society and actually contribute to the team then your welcome to leave, no one is stopping you right now and your recovered so no worries about surviving on your own, after all you did it for two years all on your own" Flare said and my heart instantly hit rock bottom and my ears lowered along with my gaze.

"Thanks" I said faintly as I turned around and just started walking away from Flare.

"Black" I heard Flare call out from behind me. I continued walking away from Flare not really caring about what he thought anymore.

"Are you just going to leave" Flare shouted out. I found it funny now that I was leaving he was acting like he cares, although at this point it was to late and the damage was already done.

"Yeah" I said as I continued walking away from the fox.

"Is this really what you want" Flare then said as he began to try and catch up to me.

"No its not. you want to know why I choose to stay" I said as I continued to walk away from the fennekin.

"Why" Flare asked.

"Because I thought I was honestly making friends and I had a chance of having a happy life but what you just said now… A friend would never say that... ever" I said as I began to pick up my pace.

"I didn't mean it" Flare said as he tried to keep up with me.

"Just go away" I said as I continued walking away. I heard no response and that was odd to me since Flare was a persistent pokemon. I then peaked my head back and I saw Flare just standing still with his eyes wide open. The sight was very odd and I instantly stopped to make sure he wasn't about to drop dead or something.

"Hey are you okay" I said as I walked over towards the fennekin who now had a bit of drool escaping his mouth. I studied his face a little more and I noticed his pupils where extremely small. Flare then fell over and his eyes shut as he stood completely still.

"Flare" I shouted out loud. Flare didn't respond and only stood still.

"Wake up" I yelled as I began to nudge him with my paw.

"That won't work" I heard an unfamiliar voice call out from behind. I instantly looked back to see that same blaziken from earlier staring at me as he held a small tube like thing in his hand.

"What'd you do to him" I then said with an aggressive growl.

"This" he said as he raised the pipe in his hand towards his moth and blew into it. I dark instantly shot out of the pipe and it penetrated me neck. The instant it hit my body I felt numb and it felt hard to move. My vision was now beginning to blur and my legs were beginning to wobble and before I knew it they gave out and I was on the floor. It only took a few more seconds before I slipped into a deep sleep and Mew knows what that pokemon had planned.

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**Point of View Third person, later that night.**

Alex's Dad was now outside the hotel smoking a cigarette. He was completely alone and it was completely silent outside as the wind blew a nice soft breeze.

The silence was then broken by the sound of a cellphone ringing. The man then pulled out a cellphone and flipped it open and held it to his ear.

"We've captured the umbreon and fennekin. We'll be killing them as soon as we make some preparations, should be done by morning and They won't be awake for it so they won't feel a thing" A voice said from the other side of the phone.

"Good, just remember the rest of the list" The man said as he hung up the phone and put it into his pocket. He then took his cigarette and inhaled its toxic substances.

"It'll be over soon Alex" The man said to himself as he threw the cigarette on the ground and walked into the hotel.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **Well that was an interesting chapter, or maybe not. Anyways... Things seem to be picking back up again and I'm going to try my hardest to make this arc different from the others (In a good way). So I'm hoping this arc is leading in a good direction and everyone is enjoying it so far.

Now onto Flare and Black's little conversation. It appears their friendship is now having some trouble as their both upsetting each other. But now it seems there little argument is going to have to be put on hold due to the end of the chapter. Well we'll all have to see how that chapter rolls out. Now we are asked some bigger questions like how will they get out of the when their drugged and will anyone come to save them or will the pokemon who captured Black and Flare go after the rest of the group. Or the more important question is how pissed Alex is going to get now that Black has gone missing... yet again... a 3rd time... Lol, I'll try and keep that to a minimal in the near future.

Thanks to all of those who read and another thank you to anyone who takes the time to review and as well to anyone who supports the story in any way and I can't wait to see what you all think of later chapters!


	40. A Futile Escape

**Well here's chapter 40 and I think this one may be a good thrill for some of you. Anyways last chapter Our protagonist Flare and Black appeared to have a bit of a problem at the end and now things will pick back up from their. Thanks again to the reader and everyone that supports the story in any way. Also really quick I'd like to say I updated my profile to have character descriptions and I did make a link to deviant art which leads to a pic of Black I drew up on my new drawing table. (I'm still getting use to is so it's not pro level). And I knew I said that last chapter in the author note but I had to add that Author note later since I had to leave right when I updated that chapter. Anyways enjoy the chapter and I'd really love to here some reactions and thoughts on this one. **

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**Chapter 40: A Futile Escape**

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**Point of View Flare**

My head was now throbbing in pain as my eyes slowly cracked open. All I could quite remember right now was me talking to Black and then everything went black. Once I got more control over myself I took in the area I was in and I quickly realized that we were in the back of a vehicle similar to a van, one of the vans that you would here people being kidnapped in. Everything back here was dark though and the only reason I put those clues together was because I could hear an engine running along with me constantly bumping around from the rough ground the van was driving on. The windows appeared to have cardboard covering the windows but there were a few holes in it which allowed light to shine through and help me make out the area around me slightly. Besides the constant bumping noises from the van and its engine all I could hear was the sound of rain pouring down on top of the van.

After a few seconds of me trying to regain my complete consciousness I tried to move but I quickly noticed that I was tied up to something with rope and I couldn't move a single limb on my body and then on top of that I noticed there was a muzzle on my mouth so I couldn't yell for help or even talk. I then struggled to move my head enough to see what I was tied to and I saw Black out of the corner of my eye.

The umbreon appeared to be dead asleep like I was a few seconds ago and him and I were both tied back to back and it looked like he had no free limbs either. Realizing that I wasn't alone I then started squirming and trying to make movements with the few muscles I could use in an attempt to wake up Black so he could help me out of this. As I was constantly making movements Black and I then both slid to the other side of the van as the van made a very sharp turn. The downside to that was that I was the one who hit the wall of the van but then Black's unconscious body then pushed me against the wall and left me very little breathing room and at that moment I felt very Claustrophobic and I just wanted to be untied right away.

I then started letting out loud grunts which was the loudest noise I could make with the muzzle on my snout and I just wished Black would wake the hell up and help me get some room between him and the wall I was pried against. Then as I was grunting I then felt another force send us flying to the back of the van, but luckily for me Black was the one who absorbed the whole impact and softened my blow, which was good because if it was the other way around I would have suffocated since he is three times my size. Black then let out a pained groan put showed no sign of waking up.

I then noticed that the van was no longer moving and that the engine was off. Then I heard a loud creaking noise and the back of the van opened up. I couldn't see much since I was facing the opposite direction, but I struggled my head to look back and I could make out a blaziken standing by the door looking at us.

"Hmmf your not supposed to be awake, guess I didn't use enough tranquilizer on you" I heard the blaziken say as he grabbed Black and turned his body which I was tied to so he could see me.

I then got a better look at the blaziken who covered in nothing but scars which gave him a really tough look. Along with his scar's he also had a lot of muscle build which could only make him as tough as he looked. The blaziken also had a sling that went over his shoulder and around his body and went under his other arm and reconnected back by the shoulder. The sling had a lot of equipment on is such as a tube gun, a few ninja star's, some tube gun ammo and a really big knife that had a razor sharp blade. Now from what I could see from behind the blaziken was that we were no longer in Cyllage city and that it appeared we were in a forest in the middle of nowhere, which was never a good sign when you were kidnapped but then you add the white mini-van we were in and I just prayed that this wasn't what it looked like.

"How long have you been awake" He then asked even though I couldn't reply "Oh right your muzzle" he said as he reached towards me and grabbed the muzzle and began unlatching it off my snout.

"If you scream or do anything to draw attention I'll kill you right here" he then said as he took the muzzle fully off and my first reflex was to flex my jaw a few times.

"Let me go" I then demanded in a serious tone.

The blaziken then just looked at me funny as he pulled out his knife that was on the sling "I'm afraid that's not going to happen Flare" the blaziken said.

"How do you know my name" I then asked as I tried to recall who he was.

"You don't know me but I know you" he then said as he began to throw his knife up in the air and the blade did many flips and he caught it perfectly without even caring about how dangerous it was.

"What do you want from us, are you with those pokemon trying to capture Black" I then asked.

"No, I'm here to eliminate you and him" the blaziken said and my ears instantly dropped as I realized how serious the situation was.

"Wha-why" I then said as I began to panic.

"Listen just tell me where your friends are and I'll promise they won't feel any pain or even see it coming at all" the blaziken said as he continued to play with his knife not even caring about how inhumane this was.

"Your after my friends to" I cried out as I started to really worry about them.

"Pretty much everyone you know is on the list" Once I heard those words I instantly just wanted to jump up and inflict some serious pain on this guy for even talking like this in such a casual voice.

"You stay the hell away from them or I'll-" I began to say before he interrupted "You'll what? You're the one tied up and your death can be easy if you just cooperate" he then said as he sheathed his knife and focused his attention back on me.

I only replied with silence since I wasn't going to help someone as sick as him. "I'll tell you what, if you tell me where to find them I'll let you go since your not a high priority target" The blaziken said with an offer that I'd never consider taking.

"If I sell them out they'll all die and if they die I may as well be dead. I'm not selling them out" I replied with a growl.

The blaziken then let out a laugh that really pissed me off since he was laughing at such a dark situation "Good choice fennekin, I would have killed you either way" He said as he continued laughing obnoxiously.

"Go to hell" I snarled towards the laughing blaziken.

"Well is there any last things you'd like to say, maybe I can pass on your last words to your friends while I'm finishing them off" The blaziken said as he picked up the muzzle to put it back on me.

"No but I got something for you!" I shouted out as I shot an ember at him and spark's and smoke clouded the area in front of me and I couldn't see a single thing.

"Are you done" I then heard the blaziken say as the smoke from the attack cleared up. The blaziken was just dusting himself off from my ember as if it did nothing and there wasn't even any sign of damage on him.

"I was going to offer to put you to sleep so you didn't have to suffer but I'll let you watch as you slowly die helplessly" he said as he sent a strong punch between my eyes and dazed my vision. Then he grabbed me and pulled me towards him and strapped the muzzle back on me.

"I like you kid, you got spunk and your loyal to most of your friends, excluding your friend their of course" he then referred to my argument with Black from last night. I completely forgot about that and it saddened me that that was going to be out last conversation ever and I was going to die as an un-loyal pokemon that treated his friend horribly. The truth was I was just angry that night and I just needed to vent and Black just happened to be the pokemon I vented on.

"You know kid I do actually remember you from one other place" the blaziken said as he held his chin and reflected back to something.

I just sat there and stared at him as I wondered where he could possibly know me from. "Back in Geosenge around five years ago or maybe six" he said as he looked at me with a sly smile. My eyes instantly shot open and I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah I remember seeing you being brought out of that facility by the police, aren't you lucky though? Most pokemon in your situation were put to sleep, your only alive because they thought you had a chance of living a normal life" the blaziken said as he reminded me of horrible memories. I was now growling as best as I could with the muzzle on my mouth as I gave the blaziken a death stare in an attempt to tell him to back off.

"Why are you looking at me like that kid, after all you were able to live a good life after that from what I could tell? You were given a family, friends, a place you could be loved and call home. I could even say I'm a little jealous that someone like you got a second chance at a normal life" The blaziken said and my growl's grew more aggressive.

"Although you meeting that umbreon was a death sentence for you and your friends. Anyways I'll leave you with those thoughts while your still alive" the blaziken said.

The blaziken then shut the door of the van and I could hear him walking towards the driver seat "Okay this is it for you guys, hasta luego kid" the blaziken said as I heard the gears in the van shift and before I knew it I could feel the van moving on its own. Soon after the elevation of the van changed and I could tell we were rolling down a hill slowly.

As the van's incline changed Black and I then began sliding again then we both rotated and unfortunately for me I was smashed against the wall and Black again except for this time we were at an angle so I could hardly breathe or move. I was now beginning to panic as I frantically looked around the van for a way out. Then I spotted a piece of metal sticking out of the van wall and it appeared to be sharp. But it also appeared to be too high for me to but our ropes by a few inches.

An idea then snapped in my head and I began to wiggle and thrust our way towards the odd piece of sharp metal sticking out of the van. As I inched forward I could diffidently tell the van was picking up speed and I was starting to wonder where the van was going to end up.

After a few seconds of inching my way forward I then felt a strong force send me and Black flying into the air and I heard a loud splashing noise outside as the van slowed down a little. Luckily for me when we went flying the force put me closer to the metal I was trying to get to and I was now only a few inches away.

I then looked towards the back door of the van and I could hear the sound of water leaking into the van and before I knew it I felt a wet substance run down to me and Black and I then realized that the van crashed into a lake or something along those lines. Water was now slowly filling the van up and it only motivated me to try harder and I continued to try and thrust me and Black closer to the metal. Once I finally did reach the metal I realized I was correct and the metal was too high to cut the rope with and then I went with my plan B. I then lifted my head up as much as I could until my face was right next the metal and I then pushed the muzzle against the sharp metal and I began sliding the muzzle back and forth as I slowly attempted to cut it off me. The water in the van was now beginning to get a little higher and it was really close to getting higher than blacks mouth and if that happened he'd drown for sure.

I continued to slide the muzzle back and forth and then I took a second to check the water level and it was just now rising past Black's head and he was now probably drowning. I then picked up the paste and began sliding back and forth with a lot more speed and strength and then I felt the muzzle separate and the metal slashed the side of my mouth and blood began to trickle pot of a big cut that followed my snout to the nose. The cut hurt a lot but that was the least of my concerns at the moment.

I then repositioned myself a little a little so I could clearly look at the rope. The water levels where now very high and I was struggling just to keep my head above the water levels. I then inhaled a deep breath and stuck my head under the water and began chewing on the rope. After about thirty seconds the roped finally ripped and I was now free along with Black who most diffidently was at high risk of being close to drowning to death.

The van was now around half full of water and I didn't waste any time I swam to the bottom of the van and bit down on Black's fur and I struggled to bring him to the small air bubble at the top of the van. I continued to hold Black above the water and here and their me and him would both go under water and I'd have to use everything I had to pull me and him back up. The van was now probably around three fourths full and we were running out of time.

"Black wake up" I struggled to yell as I held him in mouth above the water.

After a few seconds of me struggling to hold Black up I realized that it was futile and there was no way that we were both going to make it out alive, I was a very weak swimmer after all and he was very heavy for me to carry. His head was below the water way to long and there was no sign of him even moving at this point. I hesitantly released Black's fur out of my mouth and I regrettably headed towards the door without him. I looked back for a second as I saw Black slowly descend towards the bottom of the van. The van was now literally almost completely full of water and my chances of surviving were very low.

Once I reach the door I took in another deep breath and I went back under water and tried to pull the lever that would open the door up. I managed to pull the lever and the door clicked indicating I could open the door. I then tried pushing on the door as hard as I could but it wouldn't budge.

After a few seconds I swam back up to regain my breath so I could try again. I was barely even able to fit my whole head in the remaining air bubble at the top and I only got two breaths of air before the van was completely under water and this was literally my only chance of escape.

I swam back down to the door and got some room between the door and I and I swam at the door at full speed. The moment I hit it the door opened with very little resistance and I was now free, before I swam out of the van though I looked back at Black for a quick second. He was just floating in the van unconscious still.

'I'm so sorry' I said in my head as I swam away as I felt my breath running out and before I knew it I felt like my mouth was going to burst open in an attempt to get anything relatively close to oxygen in my lungs. Right before I gave in though I finally reached the top of the body of water I was in and I emerged and the first thing I did was take in a deep breath of fresh air.

I then began to swim towards land. Once I reached the muddy shore I dragged myself onto the land with very weak and shaky paws and I looked back to where the van was under water. I couldn't believe this was happening and most of all I couldn't believe I choose to act so selfishly and leave Black to die like that.

"I'm so sorry" I said as tears began to escape my eyes as I instantly began to regret my actions of being a coward and not trying to save him.

"I'm so sorry" I then shouted out as I began to sob from abandoning my friend.

"Black…" I said faintly "I had no choice" I then yelled out as I fell to the ground in defeat and began sobbing and crying from my actions. I may have escaped with my life, but at the cost of leaving my friend to drown.

**To be continued… **

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** ... huge cliff hanger lol. So a lot actually happened this chapter and some good stuff was hinted in the dialogue between Flare and the blaziken. So as mentioned earlier in the chapter the blaziken mentioned something about Flare five to six years ago, I'd really love to here some theories on that lol. Now I'd like to explain some quick science that is relevant to this chap and could possible save your life one day lol. In the chapter you may have noticed Flare couldn't open the van door when the van wasn't filled with water all the way. But once the van was 100% full of water he opened it easily. It has to do with equal pressure from inside the van and outside the van. So in real life it will be near impossible to open a car door if your vehicle is completely under water. So you'd have to wait until their is equal pressure inside and outside in order to open the door. Anyways I just wanted to explain that since I did add it into the chapter lol and it is something that is handy to know. Now onto the end of the chapter. The end was pretty grave and is a pretty big cliffhanger and I'm going to leave you all hanging off that cliff until next chapter lol. So hang around until next chapter! (Pardon the cheap joke lol)

Thanks for reading and thanks to those who follow and fav'd the story and it'd be awesome to here some theories and opinions on some of the high points of this chapter.


	41. Right place right time

**Well maybe now I can give you guy's/gal's some closure on the cliff hanger from last chapter. How will all of this be solved you ask? Well maybe it will be solved or maybe not, you'll have to read and I'll let this chapter speak for itself. So brace yourself.**

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**Chapter 41: right place right time**

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**Point of View Anonymous, 10 minutes before the end of the last chapter**

I was now hiding in a patch of over grown grass that hid my entire body. I was in a forest far out in the middle of nowhere following a van that was being driven by a pokemon that knew something I needed to know. It was now pouring rain and it was early morning and the sun was just starting to come up from the night. My gaze was now directed onto the van that had just recently stopped and the blaziken I was tailing got out of the driver seat and walked to the back. The blaziken then walked to the back of the van and opened the back door. Inside the van there was an umbreon that was tied up and appeared to be unconscious. The van that the umbreon was being held captive in was parked on a steep hill and at the bottom of that hill was a lake.

I had no idea who he was or what he did to get in this situation but whatever his reason was he seemed pretty screwed. The blaziken then grabbed the umbreon and spun his body around and revealed a fennekin that was tied up to his back. The blaziken was now talking to the fennekin who appeared to have a muzzle on his mouth, so all I could get out of the conversation was body language and the fearful eyes the fennekin had.

The blaziken then grabbed the fennekin's snout and removed the muzzle that kept him from saying anything and he could now speak freely. Again I had no idea who these pokemon where but I found myself somewhat intrigued on why someone like him would be wasting his time on weak pokemon like that.

Although I guess I shouldn't judge the two since I appeared weak to almost everyone I had met in the past, but little did they know that I was actually a pretty vicious female umbreon for my size. I was one third smaller than the average umbreon and I could even be described as scrawny, which was something I hated being called since it made me feel anorexic or weak. Other than my small appearance I looked pretty much normal, Black fur and gold rings along with a scar on the ring on my forehead.

After a few minutes of watching the conversation the blaziken then put the muzzle back on the fennekin and started talking some more even though the fox couldn't even respond anymore. A few seconds passed by then the fennekin had an angry look on his face that looked as if he wanted to kill the blaziken, although I would feel the same way if I was tied up in the back of a van like that.

After a few more seconds of the blaziken chatting away he then said something out loud that I couldn't quite make out and he then closed the van door. The blaziken then walked to the driver spot and changed the gear of the van and the van started to slowly roll down a hill. I watched it roll away in silence as the blaziken just watched the vehicle roll away down the hill.

After a few seconds of the van leaving on its own with the two pokemon the blaziken started walking away. Once he wasn't facing me I started to follow the blaziken as I stuck in the shadows of the tall grass where I was invisible. Even though I had some serious motivation to go after that bastard blaziken I couldn't help but feel that I should help those pokemon. I mean in no way did I care about them but I couldn't just leave them to die, or I'd be no better than that pokemon and his colleagues.

"Dammit" I muttered below my breath as I turned around and started heading down the hill slowly where the van went. I would have sprinted after them if the blaziken wasn't still in the area and if I was to be compromised now I would have no chance of saving those pokemon.

After a few seconds of walking I got a view of a big lake which the van had rolled into and the van was completely under water by now "Great" I mumbled below my breath again as I got up off the ground and started running towards the van in a hurry to do my good deed for the day.

The shore of the lake was very muddy and it was really bothersome getting my paws covered in mud and Once I reached the water I stuck my right paw into the water to test the temperature and the instant my paw touched the ice cold water I retracted it almost instantly "Even better" I said in frustration as I took a deep breath and jumped into the water all at once and got over the cold temperature experience over with.

Despite the fact that it was extremely uncomfortable to hold my eyes open underwater I put up with it and I eventually made out the van sitting at the bottom of the lake as it settled to the bottom. I swam up to it as fast as I could in my quadruped form and I instantly went to the driver spot to see if there was an easier way in other than the back door, since I couldn't open it easily from the back since I had paws and no thumbs.

Once I looked in the driver spot I quickly realized that I did nothing but waste my time since there was no way into the back except through the back. I then felt my breath running out and I swam up so I could get a quick breath before I attempted to open the back door with my paws, which I had no doubt in my mind that it was going to be challenging.

Once I reached the surface I took in a deep breath and almost instantly went back under to try and help them before it was too late. Once I swam back down to the van's level I began making my way to the back door but then the back door opened on its own, which was going to make my job even easier if I was even needed at this point. Shortly after the door opened I saw the fennekin swim out as fast as he could, he didn't even notice me since he was in such a hurry to get out of there and get to safety, even though it appeared that he left his friend behind.

The fennekin may have escaped but luckily I was smart enough to notice the umbreon from earlier as I swam to the back door and made my way inside to save the straggler. The inside of the van was practically empty and very dark on top of that due to some old cardboard on the windows. My oxygen was now running out again and I could feel my lungs screaming for some mercy. The umbreon I came to save was now floating around in the back of the van unconscious or possibly dead, there was no doubt that he was going to need some form of medical attention after being underwater this long. I then swam in the back of the van quickly and approached the unconscious umbreon. I swam above him a little and I opened my mouth and bit down on the back of his neck fur so I could get a good grip on him. I then began to slowly swim back out of the van with him and then once we were outside the van I started swimming up.

Now at this point I was close to giving in to my need to breathe in oxygen and that's when something sparked inside of me and I started swimming up with him as fast as I could in a desperate attempt to get air. After a few seconds of going into overdrive mode I reached the surface and my first instinct was to take in some fresh air and reward my lungs for suffering that long.

I looked back at the beach to see the same fennekin from before lying on the beach crying his eyes out. I then began to swim to the beach with the unconscious umbreon gripped in my mouth. Once I did reach the beach the fennekin's head instantly cocked up as he looked at me with wide eyes as he saw me dragging his friend ashore to safety.

"B-Black" the fennekin shouted excitedly as he ran in my direction to help me. He then grabbed the umbreon in his mouth and helped drag him further up the muddy shore until we were safely away from the water that possibly killed him.

"Lye him on his side" I then said in a stern voice to the fennekin.

I then grabbed the umbreon's head with my paw and began to observe his condition "How long was he under" I then asked the fennekin.

"I-I don't know like three minutes or maybe four" he said in an unsure voice that was shaky and full of fear.

I then took my paw and opened the umbreon's mouth and I put my head against his chest to listen for a heartbeat but all I did here was silence and the fennekin breathing hard from the anxiety. That's when I decided to take immediate action and I flipped the umbreon flat on his back and lifted his head up so if he could breathe it would be easy.

"Hold him still" I then demanded in a serious voice. The fennekin instantly replied and he used all of his body mass to hold the umbreon down from his shoulders.

I had no idea if what I was about to do was even going to work and I've mostly only seen this in the very few movies I did see. I placed my right paw on the umbreon's chest and then I placed my left paw on top of my right paw and I pushed down as hard as I could on his chest and released the pressure off his chest. Due to the shape of my body it was very awkward doing this and I was now beginning to realize how silly this was for even trying. I then began to push up and down on his chest repeatedly in a steady rhythm in an attempt to get his heart running again.

"Is there anything else I can do" the fennekin said in a desperate voice as I continued to perform a failure of an attempt at CPR.

"I don't even know what the hell I'm doing" I replied bluntly as I continued pushing against his chest. I then remembered something else the humans did when they did CPR and in no way did I want to do this to a stranger but it was better than finding out I could have saved him and I never tried it.

I then took in a deep breath and I began to slowly put my mouth towards the unconscious umbreon so I could blow some of my oxygen into his lungs. I opened his mouth as wide as I could and I locked lips with him and the first thing I noticed was how bad his breath smelled, which made me even more hesitant about doing this. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the fennekin looking at me in a very confused manner as he released his pressure off the umbreon. I then blew all of the air I had in my body into the umbreon's mouth and I moved my head away from him and I took in another deep breath to try again. I then locked lips with him again and I blew all of my oxygen into the umbreon's smelly mouth. Then I heard a gurgling noise from the umbreon and he literally spat a bunch of water into my mouth and his eyes shot open and possibly created one of the most awkward scenes ever in my life as I jumped off him and I spit the water he released into my mouth out as I began to gag on the remaining water in my mouth and on top of that I felt like I was going to die from that actually happening.

The umbreon now wore a look of confusion and terror as he began to cough any remaining water out of his mouth. "Black" the fennekin yelled excitedly as he stood by the umbreon's side and tears began to flow down his eyes again.

"W-Was she just K-Kissing me" The umbreon said in a scared voice and he coughed even more fluid out of his lungs. Then my fears came to life and he misinterpreted mouth to mouth as me making out with his unconscious body, which I was not that type of pokemon.

The fennekin then let out a big smile and tackled the umbreon in a big friendly hug as tears continued to flow down his eyes. Seeing as my services were no longer needed I then decided it was time for me to take my leave before that umbreon accused me of doing stuff to his unconscious body that I didn't.

"Hey wait" I then heard the fennekin call out as I was walking away from the two.

I just stopped walking and looked back at him and waited for him to speak.

"You saved him, thank you" the fennekin said in a sincere voice.

"Just keep it down and get out of here now, that blaziken is still probably in the area" I then replied as I set my focus back on my original mission.

"Who was that guy, do you know him?" the fennekin then asked as he left the umbreon and started walking towards me.

"It's a long story that you have no business in knowing" I then said as I started walking up the hill in the direction that the blaziken left in.

"Well your right, but he did just try to kill me and Black and on top of that he's after my other friends. So you telling me what you can could save my other friends" the fennekin said as he followed behind me.

"If someone like Jack is after you, your best off just moving regions and praying to Mew that your not worth so much he'd travel across the world to get you" I replied as I started picking up my paste to get away from him.

"Wait please" the fennekin cried out. Then I heard a cracking noise in the tree's above me and I instantly looked up to see the blaziken I was after dropping down with a knife ready in his hands that was directed towards me as he fell at a high velocity. I instantly jumped to the side to safety easily dodging his surprise attack. The blaziken's knife was the first thing to make contact with the ground and the instant the blaziken hit the ground he stood up as if he didn't even fall that high.

"Who the hell are you" he then asked as he shot me a death stare.

"You don't know me but I know Jack and all of the monsters he's created" I replied with a growl.

"I asked who, not whether you knew the people around me" the blaziken piped up.

"Me? I'm a ghost from the past, someone Jack deprived of a future" I said with a dark growl that made the fennekin I was with take a few steps back and everything went completely silent as we both waited for each other to make a move and the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing through the tree's and the rain pouring down on us.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **So I guess things in the end did work out for Black, for now... So I actually did do a bit of research on CPR for this chapter since I didn't want to break the rules of life just to save him. It is possible to save someone after drowning for that long, its just harder and their is a chance they will have brain damage if oxygen is cut off to the brain cells for to long, and if that happen's someone will die. Although that doesn't mean their is 100% chance that the person will have brain damage. So I just wanted to justify Black's near death experience so you all don't think I just bull crapped it, next time someone almost dies in this story I'll have them brought back through the power of friendship XD JK I'd never do something that corny.

Anyways enough about Black and CPR stuff... Now onto the new character I introduced this chapter. Some key things you may of noticed is that the character is a female umbreon who happened to be at the right place at the right time. I'm not going to give up to much on her but I'd be curious to hear what you think is up with her and why she is following the blaziken. So that sums up this chapter and thanks for reading and I really do look forward to writing the next chapter as things keep getting more and more interesting.

Thanks to anyone who fav/followed/review'd this fic, you all have helped me a lot and motivated me to write as much as I do and this is something I truly do enjoy lol so its nice seeing people read this far into the story!


	42. Turning up the heat

**Hello and welcome to the next chapter, you've came a long way to get here like 160,037 words... Anyways thanks for reading this long and I'm glad people enjoy this story long enough to put in that time and it makes me happy that my story is at least that entertaining lol. Anyways this chapter will be continuing right from where our characters left off as the heat gets turned up this chapter! Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

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**Chapter 42: Turning up the heat**

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**Point of View Anonymous**

The blaziken and I were now waiting for each other to make a move as the world around us fell silent, minus the rain and wind that added to the scene. Off in the distance I could hear thunder crackling as it echoed throughout the sky and off in the distance I could see a giant wall of storm clouds coming our way.

"I don't know who you are but you are going to regret getting involved in this" the blaziken said in a cold tone.

I wasn't fazed by his taunts and instead I looked forward to inflicting pain on him for being associated with Jack "You are going to regret being born with legs" I snarled at him.

My gaze was then directed towards the fennekin who was watching the fight that was about to go down and I didn't really care for the idea of him being in the way of our fight "Fennekin, go get your friend and get out of here" I said with a serious voice.

"They're not going nowhere, I have a job to complete" the blaziken piped up and the fennekin got unto a defensive position indication that he wanted to try and contribute to the fight, or in other words get in my way.

"Go to your friend now, you are not needed here. I can take care of myself" I said as I got ready to attack the blaziken.

The blaziken then took a step forward and he extended his knife out and pointed it towards me "Umbreon this is the end for all of you, if I was you I'd be begging for them to save you, but instead you try and play the arrogant hero" he supposed and the knife he was holding ignited on fire and a blade of fire extended past the knife blade and the knife was now a flaming sword that was around three to four feet long and looked more than intimidating. The flaming sword was really intimidating and there was no doubt that it could do some serious damage to someone. Now the thing on the top of my mind was how I was going to kill him and where are his open spots that I could go for. I could only assume that the best way to fight him would be to keep my distance and wait for an opening for his jugular.

Before I could get to deep into my thoughts the blaziken lunged forward and swung his sword vertically towards me in an attempt to finish the fight before it even began. My eyes flinched from his speed and as I moved out of the way I could feel the heat of the blade sizzling past me barely missing.

"Fennekin leave" I yelled as I ran towards the blaziken who jumped in the air and attempted to impale me from above. I slid out away from the blades reach easily but the moment the flames hit the ground it caused a combustion of flames that made me jump back even more from the scorching flames.

"Damn" I yelled out in frustration to help me cope with the pain of being burnt, I wasn't injured it just burnt a lot for an attack that missed. I didn't have much time to vent since the blaziken was already making his next move for me and he threw his fire knife straight towards me. I ducked right under it and it seared right over me with a hissing sound as it cut through the air, the blade then impaled a tree but the flames on the knife died out before it hit the tree so there was no forest fire thankfully. Before I could actually get back up the blaziken kicked me right in the jaw and I heard the joints in my jaw crack and I went flying into a tree back first and then I heard the joints in my back crack. I let out a loud screech of pain and I slowly struggled to my feet with a very sore back and jaw. I then started making my way towards the blaziken.

"We haven't even been fighting for a minute and your already almost done kid" the blaziken said with a small chuckle as he moved faster than a blink of an eye behind me and retrieved his knife from the tree it was stuck in.

I didn't take him underestimating me to well since I had no plans on losing to a pokemon like him. Since I was now pumped up with anger I found the motivation to continue fighting and I began sprinting towards him in many zigzags that made my movements hard to read. The blaziken kept jumping back away from me in an attempt to keep his distance.

"Your pretty fast for an umbreon" the blaziken said as he kept jumping out of my reach right before I caught up to him.

Then a giant ember flew through the air towards the blaziken and his eyes widened from the unexpected ember that the fennekin shot towards him. With only a split second to spare the blaziken slashed the ember with his knife which caused it to blow up in a fiery explosion which sent the blaziken tousling across the ground. The blaziken then got ahold of himself while sliding along the dirt ground and he rolled onto his feet and held his knife up and lit it up in flames again.

"Not too shabby kiddo, but your going to have to use bigger flames if you want to scare me" the blaziken said as he jumped onto the side of a tree and then jumped off of the tree and landed on a tree branch that was high up. The maneuver he just did was actually pretty impressive and similar to something you would see a ninja doing.

"It's time to turn up the heat!" the blaziken then stabbed his flaming knife into the tree and the tree began igniting on fire.

"Holy Shit" the fennekin said as he took a few steps back and his leg began to tremble. I myself was pretty worried since I wasn't too fond of the idea of burning alive in a forest fire.

The blaziken jumped out of the tree at light speed and he swung his sword at the fennekin who barely moved out of the way in time. The fennekin let out a loud whelp of pain as he moved out of the way. I soon noticed that the blaziken did hit him and I saw that he nicked the fennekin's ear slightly leaving a small slit that was on the left side of his ear and was around an inch long of a cut.

"Are you okay" I asked in concern as I ran to his aid. Although I don't know why I cared since he was just getting in the way on the most part.

The fennekin then shook his head "Yeah I just did that out of reflex" the fennekin admitted as he began to charge an ember in his mouth. The blaziken just stared at the fennekin with fearless eyes as he stood his ground. The fire that the blaziken originally started was spreading to other tree's and smoke was slowly beginning to cloud the area around us as a few sparks from the tree's made their was yo the ground. The fire was slow to spread though due to the rain that was pouring down.

The fennekin then released his ember towards the blaziken who didn't even bother to dodge it and the ember made solid contact with him and exploded against his chest. The blaziken's upper body flinched a little but he didn't even take a step back and instead started walking towards the two of us.

"Nice try kid, but your low quality flames aren't going to burn someone like me" the blaziken said as he began to laugh while walking towards us. The blaziken then lunged towards the fennekin at a speed so fast I couldn't even react and everything slowed down as I saw the blaziken's knife about to puncture the fennekin's throat. I tried running towards him to help but I was too slow. The fennekin's eyes just opened wide and his pupils got small from the shock of being so screwed in just a split second.

Then there was a giant explosion of dark matter around the blaziken and he went flying into a tree. Behind the blaziken was the umbreon I saved earlier, which I was slightly impressed on his timing and it was almost as if he purposely waited for his friend to almost die before saving him. I wondered if it had to do with the fennekin leaving the umbreon behind earlier.

'Did he just use shadow ball' I then asked myself in my head, knowing full well that only murdering umbreon's could use such a move 'who is this person and why does he have that ability.'

I didn't have much time to pounder that though as the flames that the blaziken started began to spread and it was now getting really smoky, leaves where falling off the tree now and the fire was now beginning to spread rapidly as ash covered the air and made it almost impossible to breathe at ease.

"We need to leave now" the other umbreon yelled in a serious voice as he ran towards us on wobble feet. It was obvious he was still very weak from his near death experience and I was surprised that he was already up and moving, then again some umbreons are almost indestructible and not even a pissed off charizard could be enough for the right umbreon.

The fennekin then decided to add in his input "He's right where going to die if we stay here" he said.

"You two go I'm not done with this guy" I said as I eyed the blaziken who was just now recovering from his injury from the shadow ball.

The fennekin then yelled something at me as I began to spring towards the blaziken "Come on it's not worth it if you die" he yelled in a concerned voice. For most pokemon he would have been right but if I couldn't set things right then there was no point to living for me. All that matters is that I kill Jack.

I then jumped towards the blaziken who was still trying to get to his feet and I had my fangs directed straight for his throat. When I was in mid-air the blaziken threw something at me that I couldn't quite make out, but I instantly felt a strong sharp force penetrate my right shoulder and I went flying back and hit the ground. I let out a loud scream of agony as I saw my blood spill all over the ground and my vision became blurry. My eyes slowly shifted to my shoulder and revealed a ninja star that was covered in my blood sticking out of my shoulder.

"Nice try" the blaziken said as he picked me up by my throat and began squeezing it so hard that I couldn't breathe.

"Let her go" I then heard the other umbreon call out from behind me. The blaziken's eyes then looked behind me to where the umbreon probably was standing. Seeing that he was distracted I took my one and only chance of survival and I bent my neck just enough to bite his wrist as hard as I could. Blood instantly squirted out of his wounds and he dropped me onto the floor and clenched his wris as he groaned in pain.

"Son of a bitch" he yelled out loud in absolute anger. The area around me was now really smoky and I could hardly see and I could hear branches falling off the trees and when I looked towards where the fire started I could see fiery colors through the smoke growing bigger every second.

"We'll have to settle this later, better watch the shadow's kids because I'll be watching from the darkest corners of the night" the blaziken said as he turned around and ran away like a coward. The umbreon and fennekin instantly began to run towards me to help me. Before they reached me though I rolled over and attempted to get onto my paws but the instant I even tried to stand a pain shot through my shoulder which made me scream in pain and I instantly fell down on the ground and my whole body shot up with agonizing pain that almost made me want to cry, too bad I haven't cried in almost a year or so.

"Are you okay" the fennekin asked me even though the answer was pretty obvious.

"Oh I feel fantastic I feel healthy, the weather's great and this forest is fucking burning down, how the hell do you think I feel" I shouted sarcastically with a lot of anger built up in my words.

The umbreon on the other hand just stared at the blood coming out of me with a weird expression that made him look really out of it and he looked as if he's never seen blood before and it was really beginning to piss me off that he was just watching me like that.

"Should we take the ninja star out" the fennekin then asked in a frantic voice.

At this point I was too tired to respond to his idiotic question and I felt myself slip into darkness from blood loss.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I stared at the blood that was now coming out of the female umbreon's shoulder really fast. The blood made me feel very light head and uncomfortable. Out of all the times for my hemophobia to act up now was not the time and I needed to get over it and help or she will die.

"Black" Flare then yelled and snapped me out of my thoughts about how much I hated blood "We have to get out of here now" the fennekin said as he coughed from the smoke that was polluting the air. I myself was having a hard time breathing and almost drowning to death not too long ago wasn't helping.

"Yeah" I then replied in a faint voice and I began to walk up to the unconscious umbreon and I faced my fears. I looked at the ninja star that was stuck in her shoulder that was now covered in red thick blood and I bit down on it and pulled it out of her body as gently as I could, when I pulled it out I could really feel every muscle in my body just wanting to go limp. I wasn't really sure if that was the right move to do since right when I did that more blood started leaking out of her body and that's when I felt like I was going to vomit everywhere.

Seeing as she wasn't moving I put my snout right below her stomach and pushed my head below her whole body and then I stood up which when I stood up she slowly slid from my neck to my back and she was now safely slung over my back asleep. Luckily she was pretty small for our species and that was good because I wasn't in the mood to carry a bunch of wait right now in a burning forest.

"Let's go" I said quietly as I began to run with her on my back. I had to run slow though since if she fell I'd have to do that all over to get her on my back and we had no time for that at this point or we'd be burnt alive with the forest fire and that wasn't quite how I planned on exiting this world.

Flare followed behind as I ran through the flaming forest. Smoke covered all of the air around us and made it really hard for me to breathe and to make things better for me my unconscious friend's blood was dripping all over my body and it felt really unsettling for me. I tried my hardest not to think about it but all I could think about was the crimson blood that was slowly dripping down my body and it didn't take long for my whole chest and right side to be covered in her blood.

"Black are you okay" Flare then asked noticing how uncomfortable I must have looked.

"Yeah I'm fine" I replied really quickly as we ran through the forest that was on fire. I would tell him that I had a fear of blood but I really didn't feel like being made fun of now out of all times.

After a few seconds of running I heard a loud cracking noise and I instantly stopped in my tracks as a tree came crashing down in flames in front of me, ashes and sparks went flying everywhere as me and Flare both covered are eyes. 'That was close' was all that ran through my heads as I thanked Mew for me not being a few seconds ahead when that happened.

Flare and I both ran around the fallen down tree and continued running as fast as we could out of the forest of hell. After a few seconds of running I saw a light at the tree line and I quickly realized that it was the sun's rays and we were almost free from this hell hole. Flare and I both exchanged glances as we picked up out paste and we both heard the sounds of tree's falling over behind us. Once we reached the tree line we both didn't stop for a second as we ran out of the forest that was on fire and into a big open field of grass that was a nice change of scenery versus the forest of hell that was all doom and gloom.

"Holy shit we made it" I yelled at the top of my lungs in surprise.

"Hell yeah we did" Flare yelled in response, which was very out of character for him since he never cursed, it was a more of a me thing to be a potty mouth.

Off in the distance of the field we could see Cyllage city which was where we were originally at. "We need to hurry and get her to a pokecenter" Flare said in a concerned voice as we kept running.

"Yeah I agr-" I said before I was interrupted by the supposedly unconscious umbreon on my back "No don't take me their" the umbreon said in a very weak voice that I could hardly hear.

"What why not" I yelled out in annoyance.

"Just drop me off in an alley somewhere and I'll take care of myself" she said quietly.

"We can't do that, your going to die like this if you don't get help" Flare then piped up in a concerned voice.

"Please… just don't" the umbreon struggled to say with the little energy she has. I exchanged an odd glance with Flare and I wondered what the hell was this pokemon thinking, I carried her out of a forest fire with her bleeding all over me just to hear that.

After running down the grass field for a few minutes we eventually made our way into the city and we were now running down the busy rainy streets of Cyllage city. Everyone who saw us looked at us oddly and some people stopped what they were doing as they saw an umbreon carrying another bloody umbreon through the streets. Must have been an odd sight, or maybe they all found it amusing since none of them even considered trying to help.

"Black if she won't go to the pokecenter then we can get Hesh to help her, he saved you after all" Flare said, which actually was a good idea in my book was.

"Alright that sounds good, plus where closer to him than a pokecenter" I replied to Flare.

"How are you holding up, does it hurt too bad" Flare asked the umbreon who was barely clinging to life at this point. I don't know what kind of dumb question that was though, she just took a ninja star in the shoulder I'm sure it felt great, the only upside to a wound like that was bragging rights of saying you survived something like that.

"Pain is an illusion created by the mind" The umbreon replied faintly in a pained voice. This umbreon had some weird logic in my opinion first not going to the pokecenter and now she's talking about this crap, whatever she was on I wanted to know.

"Just because it's in your head doesn't mean it's not their" I replied as I kept running to our hotel. The umbreon didn't reply and I just assumed she blacked out again or she was just too tired to respond.

After a few minutes of running down the streets we finally reached the hotel that we were staying at. "Flare go in and get Hesh I'll take her behind the hotel where we will have some room to help her" I said as I went my separate way from the fennekin who did as I asked almost immediately. Off in the distance I could hear the sound of sirens which was probably from the fire trucks that were going to the forest fire we survived.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I was now inside the hotel running at full speed down the hall towards our room which wasn't on the first floor. Sadly for me I didn't know how to operate the elevator so I had to run up the stairs. Once I was halfway down the hall I recognized our room number and I stopped running and began knocking on the door aggressively nonstop.

"Come on open up now" I yelled loud enough for the whole hotel to hear me. A few seconds passed by before the door finally opened revealing Hesh who opened it, which couldn't of been more convenient.

"Flare where the hell have you been and where's Black" Hesh said in a grouchy voice.

"Hesh… we need your medical expertise" I said in an awkward voice.

"The hell… is Black almost dead again" Hesh said in annoyance as he put his palm to his face.

"Just grab Alex's first aid kit and come with me now" I demanded in an anxious voice. Hesh then ran back into the room and invaded Alex's personal belonging in his bag and grabbed the first aid kit I spoke of and he ran back to me with it, him going through Alex's bag also meant that he threw everything that wasn't a first aid kit somewhere random in the room which created a big mess I'm sure Alex was going to enjoy seeing whenever he got back from wherever he was.

"Alright let's go save Black again…" Hesh assumed as I led the way to the injured pokemon.

Once we were outside I directed Hesh towards the back of the hotel like Black said he'd be. Once we reached the back Hesh and I saw Black standing up on all four paws waiting for us. Then on the ground was the other umbreon with a pool of blood forming around her.

"What the He-" the pikachu started saying before he ran to the dying umbreon and opened up his med kit. Hesh instantly pulled out bandages to help stop the bleeding as he reached it towards the lethal wound in her shoulder. But right before he reached it the female umbreon extended her paw and smacked the bandages out of Hesh's hand.

"I told you I don't want your damn help now go away" the female umbreon yelled in a weak voice.

"Are you sure you look pretty rough right now" Hesh asked in a concerned voice as he picked up his bandages off the ground.

"Take a hint and go away" the umbreon said with anger in her voice "You already screwed everything up for me."

Hesh then looked at me and Black as if we did something wrong "Flare… Black… Did you-" Hesh started to say before Black stopped him right their "No" Black said in a defensive voice.

"Listen if she doesn't want my help I have no right to" Hesh said in disappointment as he packed up his medical equipment.

Black then decided to add his input "Listen lady I don't know what your problem is but you saved me back there. At least let us help you for helping me" Black said in an honest voice that showed he really did want to help.

"Fine" she then scowled in irritation.

Hesh then began to take out his medical supplies again and he took out a bottle of rubbing alcohol to disinfect the wound. "This may sting a bit" Hesh said as he unscrewed the cap.

"Yeah, yeah just do what you need to do to help your friend sleep at night" the umbreon said with attitude and Hesh began to poor the wound disinfectant on her and she winced in pain. Hesh then grabbed a bandage and applied pressure on her wound to slow the bleeding down before he did whatever else he needed to do.

"So do you have a name" Hesh then asked to pass the time while he was applying pressure to the wound.

"Please… I really hate small talk" the umbreon then snapped.

Hesh's eyes blinked a few times in amazement to how ungrateful the umbreon was being for us helping her. I couldn't believe it either, I know she saved Black's life but we saved hers as well and now she was just being flat out rude and disrespectful towards us when we didn't have to do anything for her in the first place.

"Well sorry, I'm just trying to pass the time" Hesh said in disappointment as he nodded his head in distress.

"Nia" the umbreon then replied, which made me wonder if she actually realized how ungrateful she was being.

"Nia that's a nice name" Hesh said as a smile formed on his face and he continued applying pressure on her.

I then decided I wanted to ask my own questions even though she'd probably bite my head off for asking "So do you mind me asking why you where after that blaziken" I asked. Hesh instantly looked back at me with a confused glare.

"Don't worry about it" Nia replied in a grouchy voice.

Despite her grouchy voice I wasn't stopping there since this may actually help me figure out who was after us "You mentioned a person named Jack earlier, does he have something to do with that blaziken" I pried.

Nia's eyes instantly became filled with rage as she growled "Back off, what part about don't worry about it don't you get" Nia said in anger.

Then something snapped in me "The part where everyone I know is in danger and you know about the pokemon after me and your info could save lives, this isn't about your personal vendetta" I then yelled in anger.

Hesh then looked back at me with his jaw wide open "Whoa what'd you just say, some ones after us…"

"It's a long story…" I then replied knowing that I was going to have to tell Hesh everything now, which obviously I was going to have to tell him at some point I wasn't just going to keep this from him and everyone else.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well that ends that chapter. So now we have a name for our new umbreon in the story. Nia was a name I pondered on for a while it was that or Sarah and some other name I couldn't quite remember. Anyways I think Nia is a cool name for a character like her. So Nia personality seems like she's pretty stubborn pokemon lol. I like that about her, she's not stubborn like Gray she's just kind of got a lone wolf personality from what you guys/gals can tell so far. Which of course their will be more development on her and their is a million different things I could do with her lol, like just randomly killing her off with in the first paragraph next chapter lol jk I wouldn't do that, maybe in two paragraphs XD. Anyways now onto the blaziken, when I think of him I think of a ninja lol, an ass kicking ninja with fire powers. From what we've seen so far is that he's pretty talented at fighting and pretty quick on his feet. Anyways I'm going to stop myself here since I could go on all night about the stuff going on in this arc lol so I'll end this with a thank you to everyone who show's any form of supporting this story and I appreciate it. Although I say that every chapter so my thank you's probably mean nothing at this point lol.


	43. Proving Loyalty

**Welcome to chapter 43, anyways things are as they usually are drama, action and violence lol. Anyway's I'll let this chapter do its job and thanks to all those that read.**

* * *

**Chapter 43: Proving loyalty**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It only took flare a couple of minutes to finish his anecdote on the events of last night to this morning. Hesh was now finishing up on Nia's wounds and he was now wrapping a bandage that went over her shoulder, over her neck and under her chest and went back up above her shoulders, the bandage was wrapped around her many times and Hesh tied a knot so the bandage wouldn't come undone.

Hesh was speechless from the story Flare just told "S-So all of that happened when you went to look for Black last night" Hesh said in an unsteady voice. Flare and I both nodded our heads to confirm what he said.

"A-And a blaziken with a fire sword and ninja star's" Hesh then said and we just continued to nod and I couldn't help but feel he wasn't buying into this, although it wasn't often you heard of blaziken's kidnapping people in the night and then the blaziken turns out to be an ass kicking ninja with a fire sword and ninja stars.

"What you don't believe us or something" I then asked the rodent who had a baffled look stuck on his face.

"No it's not that" Hesh then responded as he tried wiping some blood off his hands, which made my stomach curl from the sight. "It's just kind of farfetched… Obviously I believe you since Nia is evidence of the story happening but you may want to work on your presentation of the story when you tell everyone else, and Black you should tell it not Flare… He was a little to energetic when presenting it" Hesh said as he wiped Nia's blood onto the ground. Flare just looked down at the ground in disappointment that Hesh didn't like his story telling skills.

"Oh and Black" Hesh then said and redirected my attention back to him again "You need a bath your covered in blood" Hesh then reminded me of what I tried so hard to forget.

"Yeah I know, I'm wanting some food right after that though" I then said as my stomach growled in agreement to the idea.

"Sure we can do that" Hesh replied with a small smile.

Nia then began to struggle to her feet even though her wounds were fighting her. "Hey take it easy and relax a minute" Hesh suggested as he gently made the umbreon lye back down on the wet ground.

"Seriously how long do you plan on keeping me here" she then whined.

Hesh then crossed his arms and gave Nia a funny look as his ears flicked up and he turned his head slightly "Just give it some time, those pokemon aren't going anywhere and you have better chances of finding them with us since their after us and not you" Hesh then said.

Nia just rolled her eyes at the suggestion "Listen will you just let me go I'm in no mood for this crap" She hissed as she tried to stand up again but Hesh held her down. Nia then let out a yelp of pain and instantly fell down as she clenched her eyes and teeth shut and blood began showing through the bandages that where just applied.

"I told you to be patient, now it's going to take longer to heal" Hesh said as he threw one of his paw's up into the air.

"Just be quiet" Nia then demanded as she coped with the pain she inflicted on herself.

"Okay Nia what can we do to get you to stay still so you don't make your wound worse" Hesh then asked with a kind voice.

Nia took a second to ponder the offer Hesh was kind enough to give "I need you to grab something for me… it's important that I get it fast" Nia said quietly as if she already regretted asking.

"What is it" Flare then blurted out. I myself was curious to what was so important that a pokemon like her would actually ask us to get it, I could already tell she wasn't the type to ask favors and I had no doubt in my mind she took no pleasure in asking us for help.

"It's a bag with my medications" Nia replied.

"Oh so is that why your in such a hurry to leave then" Hesh said as a imaginary light bulb went off in his head. Nia replied with a small nod that was hardly noticeable.

"Okay tell me where it is and I'll go get it" Hesh offered with a smile.

"It's in an alley right by the pokemon trainer supply store, the one that's on the east side of town. It's behind a dumpster in a brown sack you can't miss it if you look behind the dumpster"

"Okay you got it, I'll be right back. Flare keep an eye on her and Black take a freaking shower or something while I'm gone you're a mess and If Alex see's you like that he'll flip shit or something" Hesh reminded me of the blood that made me feel so uneasy and I was getting sick of being reminded and he also made me somewhat curious on where Alex and everyone else was, although I wasn't in a hurry to confront my trainer anytime soon.

"Yeah yeah just go get her stuff" I replied with an attitude and without any warning Hesh began making his way out towards the supplies Nia spoke of.

Hesh was right though I needed some form of cleaning myself that was effective and their was no way I was licking it off like some wild pokemon do when they have no form of water to clean themself "Hey Flare I got an odd question" I asked as I braced myself for Flare to laugh at me for my lack of modern technology.

"What would you like to know?"

"How do you work that shower thing humans always use" I asked in my awkward voice. Flare then let out a small chuckle to my silly question. Which I wasn't in the mood for since I was almost killed in so many ways today and me almost dying was starting to become a bad habit that I wanted to break so bad.

"You want to shower" Flare continued to laugh.

"Hey I'm covered in blood okay and I don't want to be seen like this" I yelled out in frustration.

Flare then stopped yelling and took a second to actually think of how it works "Umm I think you just turn the knob all the way to the side with the red on it" Flare said with an unsure voice.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

So I was now walking down the streets of Cyllage city being the badass I knew I was. It was now around nine in the morning which no living organism should be forced to get up that early and then on top of that it was sprinkling outside this not so lovely morning, which it should be noted that charmander's absolutely hate water, I shouldn't have to explain why... Accompanying me on my sucky walk in the morning was Juda the bulbasaur that I was forced to be on a pokemon team with by that annoying women Erica. Not that I had anything against the guy I just wasn't enthralled about the whole cliché journey of beating the eight gym leaders and putting up with a lot of physical abuse.

The bulbasaur and I continued our walk down the semi busy streets of Cyllage. Most of the people that did wonder the streets had umbrellas and along with the few people where very few pokemon that where going to their own destinations. Our walk was mostly silent since I wasn't quite too fond of talking to pokemon that abduct me.

"You know you haven't really said much since we've caught you" Juda said as he looked at me in an attempt to get some eye contact from me.

"Oh It diffidently not because you kidnapped me" I replied in a snide voice.

"Man you're a grouch. Calm down and be a little more optimistic and enjoy life a little bit" Juda said with a smile.

"Ha what a load of tauros crap, enjoy myself. Are you that brain washed where you actually enjoy being a hostage and maybe I was enjoying my life before you kidnapped me" I said which was a lie my life was hectic before I was captured by these morons.

"Listen buddy I'm no hostage and I actually love me life and at least I'm not constantly thinking of how much my life sucks like you when you actually have it pretty good compared to others" the bulbasaur snapped at me.

"You say something" I then replied in a snobby voice pretending that I wasn't even listening to the moron.

"Gahh just forget it" Juda replied in defeat.

A few seconds actually passed before I decided to actually socialize about something that wasn't offensive to the bulbasaur "So Erica said we were going to meet up with that one umbreon's team later right" I asked in an awkward voice. It was mostly awkward since I just talked down to him in a really poor manner and now I was just expecting him to be nice and talk to me.

"Yeah we were actually going to meet up with them tomorrow to train for the second gym, but didn't you and that umbreon have something against each other" Juda asked.

Thoughts of my argument with Ryder or whatever the hell his name was popped back into my head and the image of him being very aggressive was etched into my mind "Yeah he's kind of a douche" I replied to the bulbasaur.

"Well whatever you do don't be yourself tomorrow… You know so they don't see how much of an ass you really are" Juda said with words that had bite.

"Excuse me bub" I snarled.

Juda instantly winced a little as I snapped on him "Well I-I just want to get along with the pokemon where going to be training with and well how do I put this… You got a… snarky personality..." Juda said in a nervous voice that was inconsistent and full of stutters.

"The hell is that supposed to mean, you saying people won't like me" I barked at the lizard creature.

"N-No umm I'm just telling you to be c-calm and to watch your vulgar language a little" the lizard said in a nervous voice that was full of stutters.

"Watch how I talk, everything I say is freaking poetry and poetry is art and you don't change art kid" I yelled in a cocky voice. The bulbasaur didn't even respond to what I just said and he even stopped walking as he looked at me as if I was some crazy charmander that had an ego too big to ram down my own throat.

I then became self-conscious of what I said as I realized how silly it sounded "I was kidding and you know that" I quickly replied to the confused bulbasaur who was in shock of my poetic words, not everyone can handle my touching words of art.

"Yeah… right" Juda said in a confused voice as he continued walking down the streets of Cyllage city with me.

To be honest though I really could have escaped so many times since I ran into that umbreon on the beach but the truth was they planned on meeting up again and it was my perfect chance to do that stuff for that white espeon and once I'm was done with that I'm am so going to bail from these losers.

"So what kind of torture do we have to endure tomorrow" I then asked curious to what I was going to have to undergo in order to make everyone happy so I could get their trust and then later betray them and that kind of stuff.

The bulbasaur just sat there and thought to himself for a few seconds as he tried to come up with an accurate answer "I'd imagine stuff like running, drills maybe some duels."

"Perfect I'll try and not incinerate you this time" I added in. I never told Juda this but I found our last team battle with Ryder's team absolutely hysterical, that fennekin pulled an awesome move and Juda was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I was now on my way to regroup with Vincent after we split up for quite some time to run personal errands, although since I was recently brought back as a reanimation I didn't really have many things to do other than to try and plot my escape from Genesis which was practically impossible since I'm supposedly under twenty-four hour surveillance. I was now walking down the streets of Luminose towards a scrapyard Vincent wanted me to meet him in along with Merrick. Rain was now pouring down on Luminose city and the rains unwelcoming temperature did a good job at keeping people inside their homes and off the streets and most importantly away from me.

After around a half-hour of me walking down the empty streets of Luminose I finally reached my destination. Chills ran down my spine as I entered the scrapyard. There were piles of junk everywhere and the dirt on the ground was now nothing but muddy slop that was very unpleasant to walk through, especially when the majority of your fur is white and it did nothing but absorb the filthy colors in my fur, but the thing that set my teeth on edge the most about this place was the fact that this was where I lost someone very important to me a year ago and not only that this was where everything went downhill for me and later led to my untimely death.

"Vincent, Merrick" I yelled out as I walked through the scrapyard with uneasy feet that didn't want to step foot in a place like this.

"Where here keep your voice down" I then heard the white espeon call out from a distance. I looked around for a bit until eventually and I spotted the white espeon sitting on top of the hood of an old ran down car that was rusted to the bone. Merrick was leaning against the car with his back flames flickering from the cold rain that fought to put out the fire on his back.

"Out of all places you choose to meet why here" I said to the espeon with a small growl in my voice.

"Why are you so tense, do you not like scrap yards" Vincent said followed by a yawn.

"No it's just a bad meeting spot" I replied while trying to hide my true emotions. I wasn't going to get into what happened here with Vincent of all pokemon, especially not the pokemon who killed his entire family for some sick twisted plan.

"Stark if you'd prefer we can change locations if scrapyards bother you that much but if not can we just get down to business" Vincent proposed as he got up and stretched and jumped off the car he was comfortably rested upon.

I truly did want to leave but I wasn't going to show any sign of weakness in front of someone like Vincent and Merrick since I did consider them enemies since I wasn't truly on their side and that doesn't mean I'm on Genesis's side either "Just say what you got to say."

"Excellent then I won't waste too much of our time" Vincent said and he waited for someone to say something but no one said anything so he took his chance to speak "Stark the reason where here is because we want to know if we can truly trust you and we want to know what your truly willing to do to prove your loyalty to us" Vincent said in a serious voice as he stared me directly in my blue eyes with his blood red eyes.

"What do you mean, I haven't proved myself yet" I replied back with a calm voice trying not to set him off that I was actually doing exactly what he was wondering.

"You have proven to be resourceful but how do we know that you are not just one of Genesis's pawn's and your conspiring against us with them" Vincent said as he began to pace circles around me and Merrick just continued to lean against the car while he stared at me and watched every muscle on my body.

"Are you accusing me of being a spy" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"There isn't any proof that you are not a spy and if you truly want to join our organization and contribute to the new world you are going to have to prove it" Vincent said in a dark voice as he continued to circle around me like a shark circle's around its prey waiting for them to make the wrong move.

"Don't let up your ground and don't fall for his mind games" I heard Zero say from the earpiece that was invisible to the average eye and probably within my eardrum. Obviously I knew not to let up my ground without him saying that so now I was going to have to weasel myself out of this situation and pray to Mew he wasn't as smart as I thought he was.

"I can sit here and try and talk my way out of this all day, so let's just cut to the chase. What do you want me to do" I said as my eyes followed the white espeon.

Vincent's eyes then lit up as he gave out a small smite "That's what I like about you Stark, you know these games and you already knew what I was hinting."

"What do you want?"

"I want your consent to check every single memory in your head to see what has all happened to you since you were reanimated along with some previous memories, it should only take a few hours" Vincent said as he stopped circling me and stared at me and awaited my response. The quilava then got off the car he was leaning on and he looked as if he was ready to jump me. I could already tell they didn't have a lot of faith in me, which they shouldn't.

"Do it" Zero then said from inside my head "You should be safe just trust me" Zero said. Now I have no idea what the hell was wrong with this pokemon, I had memories that would compromise everything and there was no way around that and I knew for a fact that if they found those memories they'd try to kill me without hesitation. I mean I'm dealing with a guy who killed his family, I doubt he'd care about killing me.

"Well" Merrick then said in an inpatient voice.

"Well… I would but… you are aware that its impossible for psychics to invade an umbreon's mind right, were only vulnerable to certain psychic abilities and you going through my mind isn't one of the few that works on us" I said and I prayed that I just talked myself out of this.

"Impossible for average psychic's but my abilities surpass even some psychics that you would see in the elite four" Vincent replied and that's when I realized that Genesis just killed me.

"And how is that possible, I've never heard of that before" I said truthfully, I was curious about it but it was also a good way to stall before he actually tried forcing an answer on me.

"It's very complicated. Some pokemon you can read their memories and thoughts like an open book, some you have to do a lot of digging and searching. Now an umbreon has a firewall around their brain and that makes it very tricky and complex to break into." And that's when Vincent lost me.

"A firewall" I said in a confused tone probably taking what he said to literal.

Vincent then let out a sigh "It's a human technology thing, but I'll put it like this. Umbreon's have a giant barrier around their brain which I'd have to intercept, there is many different ways to intercept the barrier but there is very few ways to intercept the barrier without causing severe brain damage. Most pokemon try and break that barrier by forcing it open and when that happens it usually ends up frying their brain and killing them or leaving them mentally disabled" Vincent said and I took a deep gulp not liking the idea of him breaking this barrier he spoke of.

"So you want me to risk you scrambling my brains" I barked out in a defensive tone.

"No I said that's how most pokemon do it. I will enter your mind with a different and safer method, assuming you don't resist me that is."

"And your method is…" I asked.

"I'm going to search around the barrier and find the weakest spot and then I'm simply going to send psychic waves into your brain that will manipulate your brain into weakening the barrier enough for me to breach it and then I'll mentally enter your brain. Then I won't have to risk damaging your brain, there is a lot more to the process but you don't have to worry about the rest" Vincent said with a small smile "Now I need your answer."

"Say yes" Zero said from inside my head.

"If you do anything to my mind I'll-" I started to say before Vincent stopped me "You have my word" he said as he extended his paw to shake on it.

I extended my paw out and shook it and with that I agreed to have the sanctuary of my mind invaded "I just warn you, you may find some unpleasant things within the domain of my mind."

"It's not like I'm an angel myself" Vincent replied.

"So how do we do this" I then asked. I have actually never had someone read my thoughts before or intercept the privacy of my mind since umbreon's are blessed with that nice little perk of having a mental barrier which I just learned about.

"Just relax and close your eyes and before you know it, you won't even know that it's begun" Vincent said in a really soft voice and I followed his instructions and closed my eyes.

"Just relax and clear your mind of reality and have an open mind and don't fight it" Vincent said in calm and relaxing voice.

"Don't think of anything just have a blank state of mind and know that there is nothing to worry about" Vincent continued to say as I began to grow impatient with him trying to make me fall asleep with that voice trick human's use on each other.

"It's not working" I said in frustration and I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that I was in a black void of darkness and I instantly looked down to see what I was standing on but to my surprise I found out that I was just floating around in darkness. It turns out it was working…

"Do not panic Stark your just inside your own mind, think of this as a lucid dream" I heard Vincent's voice say from an unknown location and on top of me not knowing his location I had no idea what the hell a lucid dream was and part of me didn't want to know.

"Right now I'm making your brain weaken the barrier and right now you are in a blank state of mind due to the fact that I'm hypnotizing your brain to let down its barrier so I can enter, so you are temporarily in empty brain space so you don't mess anything up for me" Vincent said from an unknown area and for some reason I began feeling this tingling feeling in my head that made my brain feel numb and I just prayed that he wasn't damaging my brain in anyway or all hell would be let loose.

"How long is this going to take" I then asked the disembodied voice.

"A couple hours at least" Vincent replied bluntly.

"Hours" I yelled back in frustration "Your telling me I have to sit here for a couple hours in a dark void."

"It may go faster if you let me concentrate, you are in a blank state of mind just play with yourself."

"Gross" I replied in an uneasy voice since he'd even mention something like that.

"No what's wrong with you… you are in your own mind right now, just imagine something to entertain yourself, like I said your basically in a lucid dream" Vincent said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay and what the hell is this lucid dream thing you speak of" I questioned.

"Being self-aware that you are in a dream and basically you are in a dream right now, it's just everything is blank so just imagine something to pass the hours and let me concentrate on this so I don't harm you" Vincent said with anger beginning to show in his voice along with a descent reason to why I should let him concentrate.

What Vincent just told me was actually pretty interesting and honestly I've never heard of anything like this before so I was interested in giving it a try and plus I never did really get to do anything fun nowadays since I had such a grim life and maybe this would be something that'd make me at least a little happy.

I then stared off into the dark void and wondered how the heck this would even work "Umm I want a floor" I said bluntly as I realized how stupid I sounded. I started imagining the floor and before I knew it a floor was appearing out of nowhere and then I had something to stand on finally. I actually couldn't believe that worked and honestly I was impressed with this dream thing Vincent told me about.

Then I thought about a tree. I tried specifically thinking of specific details on the tree such as the rough tree bark and the leaves that heavily populated the top of the tree. Then before I knew it a tree appeared out of nowhere in front of me, the tree looked too perfect to be real and it was obvious that it was fake, although I didn't care this was actually pretty cool and I almost couldn't believe it.

"Oh this is going to be a fun few hours" I said as I revealed a big toothy grin. This was interesting in my opinion and if Vincent did find something to hold against me at least I could say I enjoyed my last few hours alive before he fries my brain to the point that I'll be drooling all over myself for the rest of my days.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **So the end of this chapter may have been a little weird to some of you but I'm looking forward to continuing stuff around that subject. Hopefully It all made sense and didn't sound silly or to far fetched with the mind stuff and Vincent intercepting his mind, I think it sounded good but if it sounded a little weird don't hesitate to tell me because I'd actually like to know. Anyways everything seems to be compiling nicely so far in this arc and I'll look forward to writing the next chapter. Thanks to all the viewers/fav's/follow's and reviews I appreciate it.


	44. Inception

**Welcome to the 44th chapter! So things are beginning to compile nicely in this arc as more and more things are revealed about our new characters. The real question is what characters will play important roles in this story or if any will. Yeah I meant to upload this wed but I ended up busy and by the I mean I was to busy procrastinating... Lol then when I start to edit it today my mom say's "Yo homie where getting some dinner, lets go fool" and here I am now at 9:42 editing this chapter... Anyways I guess I'm going to start replying to guest reviews in the author note since I do want to reply to many of you and show my appreciation for your reviews and you taking your time to share opinions and insight :D**

**Guest review replies **

**Melody: Thanks for the review and also thanks for telling me that the process makes sense I was unsure about it and I wasn't sure if it made sense since I came up with it lol (Hope that itself made sense XD)**

**Majestic Llama: Thanks for the review and I'm glad to see your emotionally invested in the story, it brings manly tears to my eyes to see my hard work bringing joy to other's. So thanks your review motivated me to get off my but and work some magic lol.**

* * *

**Chapter 44: Inception**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

So I was now stuck babysitting Nia on this rainy day outside the comfort of the hotel we were staying in since there was no guarantee that she would sit still while Hesh went out to get her stuff and Black went to clean up a little since he was covered in Nia's blood. Nia was mostly quiet and she set off a really dark aura with her negative attitude that made it very uncomfortable to be near her since I felt like she constantly wanted to tear me to shreds. Although I still needed to learn more about that blaziken and the pokemon that wanted to kill us and I was willing to pry if she wouldn't cooperate.

"So are you ever going to tell me about those pokemon, or are you just going to leave us clueless after helping you" I asked the umbreon who was now lying on the wet ground that was covered in the rain that continued to fall as she attempted to take a nap.

One of her eyes then peeked open slightly and she shot a glance towards me that the grim reaper gives when he's about to reap your soul "Are you ever going to shut up and I didn't need or want your help" She grimaced as she closed her one eye that was opened. 'Mental note, umbreon's like their sleep' I thought to myself.

I then let out a sigh and I rolled my eyes at the umbreon that was very difficult to get along with "Well you'd be deceased right now if it wasn't for me and Black" I retorted to her bitter comment.

Nia's eyes then both shot open and her head rose as she let out an atrocious growl "The only reason I got hurt in the first place was because I choose to save your umbreon friend and now your just harassing me. Do you have the slightest clue of how hard it is to track someone down without leaving a trace when there is hardly any traces to begin with" the umbreon began to enlighten me with a very hostile attitude. I had no clue what this girl's problem was but she had some serious anger issues and in a way it reminded me of how angry Black got when I tried asking him personal questions.

The truth was I didn't know how hard it was to track those pokemon down that she was looking for and honestly I had no idea of anything about them other than the fact that one of them tried to kill me and had even darker future plans in store for us "No I don't, how long have you been looking" I asked in an attempt to slowly get her talking about them, which was a tactic I've used countless time to slowly work my way into the conversation.

"Long enough for me to be pissed that you screwed everything up" she replied as her voice slowly went from angry to a voice that sounded like it was full of regret.

"Well whatever your reason is don't you ever just wonder if it's not worth it. I mean their pretty dangerous is your own personal reasons really worth risking your life for" I inquired.

Nia's ears flicked up at the question and her eyes looked towards the ground and she avoided eye contact with me "It's all I live for at this point… The thought of Jack dead is all that is keeping me going at this point" Nia continued to say as she spoke in a bitter tone that was full of many emotions.

"Do you really want to go through with murder though? I know these pokemon are bad but is it really worth stooping that low to get back at this Jack guy you speak of" I asked her.

Nia then let out a small breath and looked at me with her red eyes "I'm already a demon and I don't think it'll make a difference if I kill one more person" Nia said and my heart stopped beating as those words hit my ear drums. I had to take a few seconds to actually ask myself if I heard that correctly and if I was just hearing things.

"Y-You're a k-killer" I said in shock hardly even able to speak from what I've just heard.

Nia then avoided eye contact with me once again "Yeah" she said silently.

"I-It was in defense right" I then asked hoping that we didn't just help a cold hearted killer.

"No" Nia said as she shook her head slowly.

I was speechless now, I couldn't believe she was a killer and on top of that we saved her "W-Why would you ever want to kill another living being… How could you even do such a horrible thing" I said to the umbreon who was now struggling to her feet.

"I don't expect someone like you to understand. Pokemon like you have it good even when your lives are at your worst. Its pokemon who fall into the hands of the greedy and the wicked that live in a life that is Hell" Nia said as she slowly stood up on wobbly paws and breathed heavily from being exhausted from having no energy after being injured so badly.

"Well make me understand… I don't want to think you are just a monster" I yelled at her as she began to limp away as she avoided using her right paw so she didn't put any pressure on her wound.

Nia then stopped limping but she didn't look back at me "I don't expect you to understand my pain… Only one person ever understood my pain and he's…" Nia started to say before she stopped talking and just continued walking away from me.

"What about your medications" I then shouted at the umbreon who shouldn't even be standing right now.

"Just leave it here and I'll get it later." At this point I didn't know what to do to stop her and I didn't really know if I wanted to have anything to do with someone like her. I mean she openly admitted she killed pokemon and didn't even try to justify it slightly.

"Your not going anywhere" I then heard Hesh yell out at Nia as he walked into sight from behind a building and he cut Nia off so she couldn't walk away. In Hesh's right hand was a brown sack that appeared to be full of items.

"Give me the bag" Nia then growled as she stared at nothing but Hesh's eyes and didn't take her eyes off him for nothing.

"We had a deal I thought, if you stayed put until you healed I'd grab your medications. Now sit your ass down" Hesh yelled at the umbreon with a vein bulging out of his forehead and there was no doubt that he was a little upset, just a little though... (Sarcasm intended)

"Give me the bag" Nia snarled as she clenched her teeth tightly and looked as if she was about to rip someone's throat out with those sharp teeth of hers..

"Then sit down and recover and It's yours" Hesh said as he held the bag out to taunt her.

Nia's growl only grew louder after hearing that and I could see her red eyes glowing with evil intentions "Don't make me ask again" she said with a very dark voice that made the pikachu drop the tough guy act and he realized how serious she was getting over the bag.

"Won't you just sit down and recover" Hesh said as he was consumed by the umbreon's dark glare.

"I'm leaving now, so don't get in my way, I have things to do and I'm done sitting here trying to make you all feel better about being in danger."

"Listen I'm just asking that you reconsider thi-" Hesh began to say before Nia lunged forward and bit down on the bag and tried to pull it away from him. The instant Nia bit down Hesh pulled back away from her in an attempt to stop her but he was too late and it resulted in the bag tearing open. Everyone stared at the contents of the bag as they spilled all over the ground in what felt like slow motion.

"Are those… drugs" Hesh said in confusion as he looked towards the umbreon who was now picking one up in her mouth. She then took off running as fast as she could with her wound along with one of the syringes that fell on the ground but she left the rest here with us.

"Dammit" Hesh yelled out as she ran away.

"What are those" I then asked as I looked down at the syringe that had no labeling, just a small tube that contained a liquid and a needle at the end to inject the liquid. The injections had a dark red liquid in it that filled the whole syringe capsule.

"I don't know I'm no expert in medicine" Hesh said as he observed the needle. Those needles falling on the ground opened a whole new door of questions about the umbreon we just met and I was starting to realize that it was best to leave it at that and understand that she was very complex and probably had a lot more flaws then her anger problems.

"I wonder what it does" Hesh questioned as he continued to observe the injection as he turned it and tried to come up with a reasonable answer. "It has no labels, no stickers proving that it is legal in anyway so it's obviously under the counter drugs, I just don't know what kind of substance this is."

* * *

**Point of view Stark**

The dark void I was in was now a quickly expanding city with many different forms of organic life walking around everywhere pokemon and human. The city I created using my imagination was mostly a rip off of Luminose but it was still impressive since I created everything with my mind. The humans and pokemon that inhabited this city seemed to be walking around aimlessly and had no real objective other than to simulate the environment I created and on top of that they lacked any real facial expressions and some of them even had very little details on their face that almost made them look fake and they only did other tasks when I looked at them and I started to question their objectives, almost as if they were aware that I knew they were doing nothing.

"Quite the scene you created" I heard Vincent say from behind me. I instantly angled my head so I could see the white espeon standing right behind me.

"Your in my mind now" I asked and I then felt really uncomfortable with the thought of another living thing in my head, especially one that could kill me any moment with very little effort.

"Yeah I'm in your head in a sense of speaking" Vincent said as he looked at the spectacle I created.

"Not a bad creation for someone who's is a novice at this stuff" Vincent complimented.

"Uh huh" I replied dully that he was only somewhat impressed with my artistic creation. "So do you do stuff like this all the time" I questioned Vincent.

"Yes but on a much higher scale" Vincent replied not even sounding like it was a big deal.

"What do you mean on a higher scale" I asked the espeon.

"Well you've seen me do it before, all this is, is an illusion created by the mind. None of it is real but your mind tells you it is real and it's almost believable", Vincent said in a know it all voice that really killed my ego from creating this city within a few hours.

"What do you mean" I then asked since I had no idea what he meant completely.

"Remember back when we fought those pokemon traffickers" Vincent asked as the world around us continued to go on normally, but I noticed as my attention was redirected the people and pokemon in this world began walking slower and in more unrealistic manner. My only guess to why would be that I wasn't focusing on keeping the dream realistic since my attention was divided.

"Yeah" I said as I started to get what he was getting at.

"You may also remember me dying but then it turned out I was alive" Vincent continued to say and I shook my head in response. "Well what I did back there is similar to now, I created false illusions like in here, except their brains showed them the illusion and they thought it was real and they saw it through their eyes or so they thought they saw it" Vincent said and I tried to fully comprehend his illusion trick.

"Do you understand what I'm saying" Vincent asked.

"No, but go on" I said.

"I trick the brain into believing a fake mirage that is only in their head, although like in a dream if you realize that its fake or the illusion becomes so farfetched that you catch on the brain will naturally make sense of the deception and it won't work and will be more like a thought in the head versus something they perceive as reality, I distort their perception on reality and that's what I did back in the sewers, they truly believed I died" Vincent said and then the speech he gave slowly made more sense as I put two and two together.

Then a question popped into my head that kind of contradicted everything I saw that day "Then how did I see all of those illusions, I'm an umbreon and where practically immune to that stuff" I asked the espeon.

"That isn't what's specifically hard. An umbreon isn't immune to thoughts being put into your head. The barrier around your head protects you from specific psychic attacks, such as me frying your brain, reading your thoughts and me coming into your mind like now, although some talented psychics such as myself can somewhat overcome the barrier in your head but it isn't nearly as effective of course" Vincent enlightened me. "Think of it like this, I was able to put the thoughts into your head to get your mind to weaken the barrier so I could invade your mind, similar to the way I put illusions in your head, it's very complex and requires a lot of insight on stuff such as neurons, cell's, psychology and a lot of mental control" Vincent said and at this point I just didn't care about the logic in how the brain of an umbreon works, science wasn't exactly my strong spot.

"Can we just do this mind interrogation thing" I then said in an impatient voice cutting off Vincents next lecture he was about to give. I swear this guy could talk all day about how the mind works and I'd still be clueless. There was no doubt that he knew his stuff.

"Sure we can start now, I'll just need a second to get access to the frontal lobe of your brain" Vincent said and then things got freaky and another Vincent walked out of Vincent's original body which made an identical copy of himself that looked very alive unlike the creations I made previously.

"What the hell is that" I yelled out in confusion and surprise to Vincent's double.

"I'm multitasking" Vincent said and his clone floated up into the air and disappeared into nothing.

A few minutes passed before anything significant happened and then before I knew it the world I created disappeared in the flash of an eye and a new area started creating itself in front of me. A forest of trees began to spawn around us along with a dirt floor that was slightly muddy and damp. The rays of the sun shined through the leaves in the trees and some of the leaves where falling from the tree's and the leaves where a fiery orange color along with some brown leaves which indicated that winter was coming and the palled colors created a picturesque spectacle. Along with the beautiful tree's was a stream that ran through the forest and let out a harmonic flowing sound of water that soothed the mind of any stress.

"Where am I" I asked myself in confusion as I looked and around and felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

"I'm projecting a simulation of one of your memories in here, since this is all empty brain space it won't do any harm and I can take memories from mind and here we can project simulations of that exact memory and watch them play out, think of this as a movie theatre and I'm just projecting the memories here" Vincent said as he looked around the forest as if he was looking for something.

Then without any warning I heard a cracking noise off in the distance and both me and Vincent looked behind each other and saw a wartortle running through the woods with a limp as he inhaled and exhaled frequently struggling to get oxygen into his lungs. Before the wartortle could get any further I saw another white figure that wasn't Vincent run up to the wartortle and tackle the turtle to the ground and pinned him down onto his back. Standing on top of the wartortle was me. I was watching a memory of a job I had to do, a job that required me to do the only thing I was good at.

It didn't take long for the fake me to finish the job and his paw was engulfed in dark matter and he shoved it through the wartortle chest cavity and the wartortle let out a loud gasp of pain but almost instantly stopped moving and he fell limp.

"Why are we watching this" I then asked Vincent.

"Because part of me knowing if we can trust you is also me getting to know your personal life a little and I doubt you are really big on talking about that" Vincent said as he shot a quick glance at me and then looked back at the scene that was occurring.

"Just don't dig into my personal thoughts" I said in a cold voice as I dreaded the thought of reliving memories that still haunt me to this day, memories I tried so hard to forget but at the same time part of me yearned to relive those days.

The memory version of me was now just walking away from the crime scene as if he did nothing and as I expected he didn't really give much thought to the fact that he just committed murder. Then before I knew it the area I was in began to disappear again and almost instantly after the forest disappeared a new area began to load up in front of me, although this time a city was spawning in front of me and I instantly recognized it as Luminose city, the city where practically everything bad happened at. We were now in an opening between a bunch of building in a really dumpy area, in the middle of the opening was a barrel with trash burning inside of it and a circle of hobo's surrounding it. The buildings that surrounded the barrel looked really shady as well and had bars on the window and to top all of that off it was snowing out and it was night, so that fire was the hobo's life.

"What memory are we in now" I asked Vincent who was still standing next to me.

"We'll see" Vincent replied as he observed the scene.

After almost a minute of watching the homeless people trying to stay warm from the winter night I then saw the past me walk into the scene along with a riolu by his or my side. The riolu's face had a giant scar that went down diagonally and went over his right eye and down to his chin. The riolu also had very tired yet angry eyes on his face which gave the pokemon that most humans found cute a very dark and aggressive look that was far from the lovable riolu most people rived about. Along with his dark looks he also had a mini ninja sword on his back, since he was a smaller pokemon though it was about a normal size for him.

"And who might that be" Vincent asked me as he observed the memory.

"A partner in misconduct" I said as memories of me and that riolu killing and doing so many illegal things together for our trainer, things that I wish I never had to do, things that broke me and destroyed my set of morals.

The past me and the riolu both continued to walk towards the circle of hobo's and once they got around two meters close to the hobo's one of them that had a black winter jacket on along with some dirty jeans turned around and revealed a man with a slightly overgrown grey beard and an old looking face that had big bulging eyes. Like most stereotype homeless people he was missing more than a few teeth and the few he did have sent the women around him running in tears. Along with his unacceptable hygiene problem he was covered in dirt and his close where very ripped up.

The man looked at the riolu and white umbreon and he reached both of his hands into his coat pocket quickly and pulled out two pokeball's and opened them and a bright red light flashed and a pidgeot and a ninetales appeared in front of the riolu and the umbreon.

"Pidgeot use gust and Nine use anything that can burn the hell out of em" the hobo yelled in a raspy voice that made him sound like a heavy smoker. Once the fight began the other bums all stopped focusing on their bond fire and observed the pokemon battle that was going on completely unaware that this wasn't a fun little battle. This was a battle for life or death.

"Let's go" the riolu yelled in a cocky deep voice as he jumped in the air and withdrew his ninja sword and swung it at the pidgeot who was now taking flight into the snowy sky. The blade hardly even missed the pidgeot as it flew out of the riolu's reach but took a few feathers off of the bird. My double on the other hand was making his way towards the ninetales who was now shooting embers at him, but he jumped out of the way each time with ease as he slowly got closer between each dodge and made his way towards the kill.

The pidgeot then shot a giant gust straight towards the memory version of me right before he got too close to the ninetales and it forced him to retreat a little and give the ninetales some room to attack some more. The riolu on the other hand took the pidgeot's distraction as his chance and he threw the sword straight towards the pidgeot like a harpoon.. The pidgeot let out a loud screech noise right before it was impaled and the bird instantly fell while spinning out of control to the ground. Right after all that happened all the other hobo's realized what was going on and began running for dear life, some of them where screaming and some just ran as they exhaled oxygen out of their raspy lungs.

"One down" the riolu said with a toothy grin as he took his ninja sword out of the dead pidgeot body and swung the blade really fast to get the blood off the sword.

"You bastards" the ninetales yelled in an aggressive voice. The person my memory self was fighting on the other hand was still sticking with his pokemon but he wore a nervous look on his face as sweat dripped down his face and he clenched his fist and watched the battle hardly even blinking.

"Run" The past me just said bluntly to the ninetales.

"What" the ninetales growled in confusion.

"If you run now I won't kill you" The old me said as he began walking towards the ninetales who was now charging an ember in his mouth and didn't consider his life.

"I'm no coward" the fox growled at the two. Then he shot his ember straight towards the white umbreon and he slid under it with ease and his whole entire body was then covered in a dark aura that I was very familiar with to this day. The past me then tackled the ninetales who gave out a pained scream as the dark aura burned him like a fire would burn. The ninetales then fell to the ground as the old Stark walked over to finish the fox off.

The riolu was now walking towards the hobo who fell to his knees and gave into despair. The riolu then punched the man in his stomach and he fell flat on his face and then the riolu touched the back of his neck with his sword which made a very small incision and blood trickled down the back of his neck. The old me was now walking back towards the riolu with blood covering his entire right paw and there was no doubt that he killed the ninetales. The man was now trembling in fear as he watched the two pokemon that were holding his life in their hands.

The riolu then took his sword and finished his mission with the past me and after that the two walked away as if they didn't do anything bad. The opening in the court yard was now full of blood from multiple pokemon and a human and created a really horrific scene that the media would love.

"Your quite the killer" Vincent said and the world around us started to disappear again and a new memory started to reappear before us. I wasn't really sure how much more I wanted to see the wrong's I've done in the past. Not that I was feeling guilty in any way, I've never felt guilt for what I've done and I was more than use to killing by now.

* * *

**Point of View Hesh**

Flare and I were now putting the strange drugs we found in that umbreon's bag into a new bag that wasn't ripped. Once we got all the syringes into a new bag we both let out a sigh of relaxation and without any words we both made our way towards the hotel so we could get some rest.

"So where is everybody" Flare asked me.

"Everyone went to the store to buy supplies for the week, apparently we'll be here awhile since were going to be doing some training to prepare for future gym's" I said in response to Flare's question.

"Why are you the only one here" Flare then asked me, which was a good question because I wouldn't have minded getting out of the hotel.

"Alex's father recommended that one of us stayed behind to wait for you guys if you came back while they were gone" I said. 'Speaking of which how long are they going to be gone" I asked myself mentally.

Flare and I eventually made our way to the front of the hotel and entered in through the door and made our way to the stairs and made our ascension to the top. Once we made our way up stairs we entered the boring hallway that was painted a bright tan color along with some red striped every half meter.

"You" my ear's flicked up as I heard someone say that with a growl. I instantly looked back along with Flare and standing right behind us was black who had a big frown on his face along with an unstable look in his eyes that made me question out safety at the moment.

"What's up" Flare then asked in a nervous voice, which was when I noticed that black was now clean but he head wet fur that was drenched and water was falling out of his black fur and onto the carpet.

"Do you know what it's like to have the nob on the shower turned all the way to the red side" Black then growled as he stepped forward.

"Umm hot I'd imagine" Flare said nervously.

"It's actually scorching hot… I had no idea how to work that thing and you told me to turn the nob all the way to the red side. That makes the water above fifty-million freaking degrees! Do you know how much that burns" Black yelled out in anger to the fox who was now taking steps back as the umbreon walked towards him with murderous intentions.

"I-I'm sorry I don't know how to work stuff like that to well honestly" Flare said as he continued to keep his distance from the furious umbreon.

"Sorry…. your sorry" Black said historically.

"Okay let's not rip each other's throats out over this, okay" I then added in and Black shot me a glance but his angry glare then disappeared as he gave out a big exhale to help relieve his anger.

"Oh and Hesh what the hell did you guys do to that room while me and Flare were gone, the place is an absolute mess, did Alex's dad already pig up the place that fast" Black said and I scratched my head in confusions not really knowing what he meant.

"What do you mean, the room is practically spotless" I replied.

Black then nodded his head "No everything is like knocked over in our room, is that your definition of clean" Black said.

I didn't even bother responding and I started running towards our room with a theory in my head. The door was left cracked open so we could get in and out since none of us had a keycard and on top of that it was hard for quadruped pokemon to open doors.

The instant I glanced in the room I knew exactly what Black was talking about, the night stands that were by the bed where knocked over, the bed mattress was practically pulled off, all the drawers were opened and the contents of those drawers where all over the room, but the worst part of all was that someone stole our junk food! This placed looked as if it was ransacked and I never tolerate someone stealing my junk food, friend, foe or family.

"What the heck, this room was just clean a minute ago" Flare yelled out from behind me.

I then walked into the room completely and I observed the scene that someone created "Do you think it's possible those pokemon you said were after us did this" I proposed.

"I don't know, we just know they exist and their motives" Flare answered.

"Well great Alex is going to be so pleased when he gets back" Black said in his pissy voice and the umbreon just kicked a piece of trash with his paw to the other side of the room.

"Don't make it worse" Flare yelled at the umbreon as he pointed his paw at him.

"Maybe if we clean this up in time nobody will kn-" I started to say before I heard the elevator down the hall make a ring noise indicating someone was entering this floor of the hotel.

Everyone froze as we all stood completely still. Black was the closest to the door at the time and the umbreon peaked his head out into the hall as little as possible and the moment he looked out their he retracted his head very slowly as if he saw the grim reaper of pokemon coming for him.

"Oh shit" Black gulped. "It's over… I'm going to die before I even got a girlfriend… umm I mean another girl friend…" Black said awkwardly "just shut up" Black said before anyone could say anything as he took a few steps away from the door and turned around and tried to get some distance between our trainer that was coming and himself.

"Lame" I yelled at Black as I laughed my ass off from the accidental comment he made to himself.

"Hey Hesh were back" Alex yelled and I instantly stopped laughing and my face froze with a pig frown as Alex came through the door and the moment he entered the door with that big smile on his face he just stopped and his mouth just fell open and after a second of viewing this priceless spectacle he redirected his vision to the three of us. Flare was by my side and Black was a few steps behind us but the moment Alex walked into the room he froze in his tracks and didn't even move a muscle as if time had frozen for him.

Standing behind Alex was his dad, Kana, Ebony and Gray would have been there to but he was in his pokeball since he was in trouble for what he did the previous night. "Why does god do this to me" Alex said as he smacked his face with his palm "Who did this" Alex said as he watched the three of us. Every single one of us acted out of impulse and pointed to the first pokemon we could find. I pointed at Black and Black pointed back at me while Flare also pointed at Black which made it two against one, which wasn't purposely done it just happened and we weren't trying to single him out or anything, I guess Black was just not having a good day, or month on that note.

"Oh what the fuck" Black then said in a grouchy voice as he saw the two of us pointing at him and his paw slowly fell down to the ground.

"Black did you do this" Alex asked in an accusing tone.

"Yeah Alex I'm the reason for everything bad in this world, I'm the reason children can't sleep at night on top of that" Black said sarcastically. Alex obviously didn't understand his tone and didn't recognize his sarcasm either and he just instantly pulled out his pokeball and held it out.

"Fuck my life" Black muttered as he was sucked into the prison and didn't even attempt to fight back. I honestly really felt guilty for that since I didn't really mean to push that off on him, if only Flare didn't point at him, then it would have made a big triangle of us all blaming each other and would have confused Alex and maybe the blame would have been distributed equally.

"Wow this place is a mess" Kana said as she walked into the pigsty of a room. Ebony walked in behind the jolteon but due to her shy nature she didn't say anything and instead her cringing spoke for her.

"Yeah…" I replied back not really knowing what to say about this situation. This was going to be very interesting once Black got out of that pokeball and all I knew is that I didn't want to be around for the powwow when he was out, although Black getting in trouble the previous night didn't really help either and only made things worse. I just prayed that everything would work itself out but knowing Black's luck things will go south for the unlucky dark type.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

** Author Note:** So when I was writing Stark's part of this chapter all I could think about was the movie inception lol, which is how this chapter got its name lol. If you haven't seen inception please put your life on hold and go to the nearest video store and rent it. It is an amazing movie and will really confuse the living hell out of you lol. Anyways on to more story related stuff. So I'm hoping everything in Stark's part of the story is making sense right now with all of the memory and mind stuff. Some of it I did research briefly and I pray to Mew I wrote legit info. If any of it make's no sense or is wrong it'd be awesome if you warn me because I'm cringing right now since I'm always worried something won't make sense.

Now onto Nia's part of the chapter. Mostly more character building and you have to ask yourself what is up with those syringes? Anyways thanks for viewing and thanks a million times to all the reviewers and anyone who supports this story in any ways! (My thank you's have to be so worn out by now...)


	45. Who I am doesn't matter

**It took me a little longer to get time to write this than I wanted lol. If it wasn't friends it was school lol. Then when I did have time I just wasn't in the mood and I didn't want to force myself to write or this chap would prob suck. Anyways on to the story I guess, things are continuing to progress as more and more stuff is revealed. Hopefully this chapter is enjoyable.**

* * *

**Chapter 45: "Who I am doesn't matter"**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

So yet again I was stuck in my prison that resided within the cursed pokeball. Everything in this world looked the same as last time I was here, tall hill in the center that I was on with grass, tree's here and there and a never ending plain of grass. Along with the boring scenery there was also an artificial moon in the sky that didn't give me any form of energy like the normal moon would.

"This sucks" I pouted to myself as I lied down and yawned. I may as well get comfortable since I was going to be here Mew knows how long. I was still pretty annoyed that Hesh and Flare teamed up on me and got me in trouble, wouldn't it have been fair if we all split the blame equally even though none of us deserved it in the first place. Regardless I was now stuck in here for something I didn't do and I couldn't imagine Alex's opinion on me at this point. I mean seriously something bad with me comes up on a daily bases and I'm sure he's noticed by now.

"What a load of shit" I said to myself as I continued to relive the events of me getting in trouble a moment ago.

"So I see things have been going smoothly for you lately" A voice called out from behind me and my ears instantly pricked up and I slowly turned my head to reveal that jolteon that always haunted me at the worst times.

"You again" I growled at the creature that took the form of my dead brother Kaz.

"You seem disappointed" the jolteon said with a fake frown.

"Disappointed would be an understatement" I responded. The jolteon's frown stayed on his face as he nodded his head in disapproval.

"What do you want from me now?"

The jolteon instantly stopped frowning and looked at me with a serious look "Things are getting more serious and your barely getting by I've noticed" the jolteon said.

"Thanks for reminding me" I snarled at the jolteon who took little offense to my upset attitude.

"Oh well maybe you don't want my help" he said as he turned around and didn't face me and acted as if he was about to leave.

"Help" I questioned.

"Yes I was going to offer you help but if you keep up the attitude I don't see any point in helping a ran down whiney little umbreon" The jolteon said as he turned his head back at me to see my response. I did not approve of his little comment and I practically had to use all of my self-control to stop myself from killing him.

"And what would you be able to help with and why should I listen to you" I asked the lightning type.

The eevee evolution then let out a smile as he faced his entire body towards me and sat down "Because I know a thing or two that may help you."

"I'll listen but first who are you, I thought you were just a hallucination of my brother at first and I was crazy… but your not" I asked as I sat down as well.

The jolteon then shook his head "No, I'm afraid I'm not Kaz" the jolteon responded.

"Then why do you look exactly like him and why were you pretending this whole time" I asked as I let out a small growl of anger since he played me the whole time and I fell right for it like a idiot.

"I'm no jolteon and my true form will remain confidential for now" the liar said.

"Then what's your real name, I don't approve of you stealing his form or name" I said with spite.

"And your any better, you took his name and went by it for two years anyways back on topic of me helping you" the jolteon said.

"Right" I decided to cooperate even though he dodged answering my question.

"So as I've noticed you are pretty popular, you got Genesis trying to kill you, those assassin's and Crimson's trying to abduct you on top of all that" the jolteon reminded me.

"Get to the point" I said impatiently eager to get him to leave me alone.

"Calm down, my advice to you is to get better control of your abilities" the jolteon recommended.

"My evolution disorder ability" I asked.

"No" the jolteon responded instantly "You should never depend on that its only good one night out of a month and even then it can do a lot of damage to your body since your body isn't made for that stuff" the jolteon lectured. "I recommend learning how to use dark matter, you got some of it down with that shadow ball attack but that's nothing and even that attack is poorly done."

"Oh goodie are you going to teach me that stuff because I sure as hell know a lot of pokemon who know that stuff or maybe your referring to that murdering bastard umbreon from ambrette town" I said as my mouth drooled with sarcasm and somewhat misdirected anger

"I just wouldn't recommend going near pokemon like that guy, although I'm sure your bound to meet him again and if you do you won't luck out like you did last time" the jolteon said.

"So how do I learn this stuff then?"

"That umbreon you met today Nia, she too can use dark matter" the jolteon said.

"She can" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, umbreon's that have killed can use it as Stark once told you and she fits the bill" the jolteon said.

"She's… killed" I questioned in a shocked tone. Those words came to be a surprise to me, I knew she was kind of a bitch but I didn't suspect her to be a killer. That really changed my whole opinion of her.

"Yes and I know she can use dark matter."

"How do you know all of this" I then questioned the jolteon.

"I have my ways" the jolteon replied in a sly tone.

"Okay so you want me to ask her of all pokemon to teach me that" I asked as I cringed at the thought. Or on second thought he still is a hallucination and I'm just about to make a crazy ass fool of myself.

"Correct."

"But… She's kind of a… bitch" I said as I recalled her attitude problem.

"She's actually a really sweet girl once you get to know her. You just caught her at a really bad time and you will need to understand that she is actually a lot like you" the jolteon enlightened me.

"How is she anything like me" I asked in slight irritation that he would relate me to her of all pokemon.

"Your both head strong, both have emotion problem, both are very secretive about your lives, your both-" The jolteon was saying before I stopped him "Okay I get it" I growled.

"One more thing Ryder, she's not dumb and she knows that only umbreon's that have murdered someone can use dark matter" the jolteon said and my face instantly froze in place as my mind froze up as well.

"If she asks I'd recommend coming up with a really believable lie" The jolteon said. The instant he brought up that topic my ears slumped low and I looked down towards the grassy ground.

"Y-You know… but how…" I said in a terrified voice as I thought of all that could go wrong with someone actually knowing about this kind of stuff.

"I know everything there is to know about you Ryder and don't worry I'm not going to tell anyone" the jolteon said.

"Who are you… No one should know about that… no one does know about that" I said as I looked at the jolteon and I could feel my eyes growing heavier from the tears that were forming. No matter how much I didn't want to cry in front of him I couldn't help it and one by one tear's started escaping my eyes. The more I tried to stop crying the worse it made it and I instantly felt disgusted in myself.

"Like I said, who I am doesn't matter but I do promise you when the time comes you'll see" the jolteon said. "I'll give you some privacy since you are no longer mentally fit to have a conversation" the jolteon said and his body broke down into little black specs of matter and disapreared as they flew into the night sky.

Despite him being gone now I still felt extremely unsettled that anyone knew about that. People knowing about my family is one thing… but someone knowing that is something completely different and I have tried my hardest to make sure it stayed a secrete forever. Now some magic random pokemon that is an imposter knows my darkest secret.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

After watching many memories of me killing pokemon who deserved better Vincent and I were both growing tired of watching the pitiful life I led. Most of the memories were just murder and when you watch them all back to back like a movie you really start to realize how bad of a person you are. I wasn't feeling guilty or nothing I just knew I was bad by the standards of an average pokemon or person.

"How many people have you killed" Vincent exclaimed in surprise.

"More then I should have" I replied as the next memory started forming in front of us. This memory appeared to take place in a parking garage, one of the parking garages with multiple floors and was made out of mostly cement. The parking garage was very worn down and had about a one inch thick layer of dust covering its floor. It appeared the memory took place on the second to top floor of the parking garage and it was now night outside and the outside also appeared to be Luminose city. In the middle of the parking garage there was a small pile of trash burning with a few pokemon surrounding it. On one side of the fire was a riolu with a sword that was sheathed sitting next to him on the ground and to his left was a raichu. On the opposite side of the fire I spotted myself sitting there with a rather bored expression on my face as the past me dozed off. Then my face nearly froze as I saw the pokemon sitting next to the past me.

"N-…Naomi" I said in a pained voice as I stared at the umbreon who was looking down at the ground with eyes that were longing for freedom from Jack. My eyes were locked on nothing but her now and I began walking towards her. Vincent followed behind me as well to see what I was doing.

"So Stark any good jobs lately" the raichu I remembered as Raiden asked.

The past me then snapped out of his daydream and looked up at the raichu with bored eyes "Killings just killing, nothing to note about it" The memory Stark replied.

The riolu then let out a big toothy smile as if he was remembering some exciting memories "I had a hell of a battle earlier this week. I got to fight a charmeleon who was actually not too bad" the riolu exclaimed.

"You don't say" the raichu responded.

"Yeah but he wasn't a match against my swordsmen ship" the riolu said as he glided his fingers along his sheathed sword.

"And you Raiden" the riolu asked the electric rat creature.

"Hmm, as stark said, killings killing and I don't get all gitty like you do when I put my life on the line like that" the raichu replied.

"Nothing makes me feel more alive than a good ol fight" the riolu said as he let out his toothy smile.

"Well at least someone is happy with this life" the raichu said as he looked at Naomi and noticed how she stared at the ground with a rather sad look on her face.

"Naomi you have hardly spoken since you've been caught by Jack is there something on your mind you'd like to say" the raichu asked with a friendly and caring tone. Naomi just kept her glare low and didn't make any eye contact with the group of killers.

"I don't want any of this" she said.

The raichu then let out a frown as he realized the umbreon's mental state "I know it's hard, but after a while you'll get use to this life and killing will be as easy as anything else" the raichu said.

Vincent and the real me continued to watch the memory, the nerves in my heart were being plucked one by one as I watched the horrible life Naomi was forced to live because of me. She deserved so much better and in the end I hesitated to kill Jack and it cost her life.

"I don't want to get use to this life… I just want to go home" Nia shouted out as tears began to escape her eyes and fall onto the concrete floor and began forming a puddle of sorrow "I can't do this" she continued to cry as everyone including the past me looked at her cry, although none of us but the raichu were fazed by her emotions.

"What a load of shit" the riolu piped up as he stood up and looked at the umbreon. "You can't kill? Everyone can kill you just have to tap into your inner instinct's and soon you'll realize we were all born to kill one another" the riolu shared his theories.

"That's enough Sam" the raichu yelled as he stood up and electricity started to spark on his cheeks. The riolu then let out a smile of joy and he kicked his sword at an angle and it flew into the air and he caught it and held the sword handle in his right hand and the sheath in the other.

"Everyone is a born killer, you just don't know because of all this world peace shit they feed you. Who knows maybe she'll even learn to enjoy this life like me" the riolu said as he started to withdraw his sword slowly.

"Your not helping you bastard, just lay off her and let her get use to this stuff before you spew more of your dumb theories" the raichu yelled in anger.

"I'm going to enjoy this, I've always wanted to see what your made of Raiden" Sam said as he completely withdrew his sword and swung it towards the raichu who dodged it with ease. The riolu then thrusted his sword forward in a stabbing motion. The raichu clapped both of his hands together and caught the sword right before it met between his eyes.

"Wrong move Sammy" the raichu said as he sent an electrical current through the steel blade and the riolu's body was instantly full of active electricity that made every muscle in his body tense up. The riolu then let go of his sword and fell to the ground. He didn't stay down for long though and almost instantly jumped back up on his feet and got into a position to fight hand to hand.

"This is going to b-" The riolu started saying before he was interrupted "Enough" Yelled the memory Stark as he stood up and walked over towards the two.

"We have a job tomorrow and the last thing I need is for you two to be worn out or dead, kill each other on your own time" The past me said with anger.

"Who put you in charge" Sam said as he pointed the tip of his sword towards the past me. The past me didn't even blink and he just stared the riolu in the eyes with a serious glare that showed no sign of fear or weakness.

Same looked at the white umbreon a little longer but quickly realized that the past me wasn't screwing around "Fine, asshole" Sam said as he picked up the sheath of his sword and sheathed the blade.

"Thanks Stark" Raiden said with a smile but the past me didn't even acknowledge him and instead made his way back to the fire in the middle of the parking garage.

Naomi was now in shock as she just watched two pokemon about kill each other over such a small argument. I continued to watch Naomi sit there in shock feeling nothing but remorse for the life she had to live because of me.

Everyone was just now sitting there in an awkward silence not knowing what to say after that little scene. Naomi was trying her hardest to hold in more tears but every here and there she'd let out a sniffle and a tear would escape her red eyes. It really tore me to pieces to see her back then and I just wish I could rewrite this scene to have me actually try and comfort her instead of being cold hearted.

Seeing her in pain I extended my paw to wipe the tear off her face but the instant my paw made contact with her face it went straight through her as if she was a ghost. Despite me putting my paw through her face the memory continued on normally and I wasn't acknowledged.

"It's a memory you can't change how it's replayed like that" Vincent said from behind me. I didn't care though and I just continued to watch Naomi hold in her tears.

"Stark" Vincent spoke as if he had a question. I turned back to face the white espeon who was shocked to see that I wore a gloomy face that actually showed emotions.

"Do you have feelings for her" Vincent asked. I then redirected my glance back at Naomi "Can we just change memories" I replied in a faint voice.

"Yeah I'll just skip to the memories we really came here for" Vincent said. Everything around me then disappeared one by one. I extended my paw towards Naomi one last time but right before I could try and feel her one last time she disappeared into nothing. Vincent and I were now sitting back in the empty void within my mind.

"Stark, would you like to talk about something, holding in your feelings in unhealthy and as your colleague I do care about your mental state and this is unlike you" Vincent said.

"She was possibly the one pokemon I ever cared for" I replied coldly and I felt for empty than the dark void we were in. "In a time when all I knew was killing and I felt nothing inside I was stuck with her. She was naïve and had no chance at living the life of a murderer, she was to gentle for that life" I started saying.

"Something about her though… It made me feel alive… She made me happy" I continued to say. "I don't know if it was her gentle personality or the fact that she held on to who she was and never gave into despair… Something about her sparked something in me" I said as I remembered the great pokemon she was. The pokemon no one could compare to in my eyes.

"So she made you feel alive" Vincent asked.

I responded with a nod.

"What happened to her" Vincent asked and I recalled the memories of her untimely death.

"Her and I were going to escape together, but right before we did something came up with Jack and he wanted to leave Naomi behind as bait so he could get away. She was useless to him" I said as I remembered the events one by one. "I was behind Jack and saw my chance to kill him but right before I could Naomi yelled at me and said it'd make me no better than him, I don't know why but those words coming from her made me hesitant as if killing was weighing me down for once. Then the next thing I know my muscles wouldn't cooperate."

"So what happened" Vincent asked.

"Jack saw me trying to kill him and he shot me, the shot didn't kill me though. Right before he could deliver the finishing shot Naomi jumped in the way of the bullet and…" I then stopped myself as I remembered the way she jumped in front of me and I saw the bullet penetrate her skull.

"You get the picture… After words I carried her body out into Luminose and I eventually gave into my wounds and that's when I died originally" I said.

"So that's how you died" Vincent said as he processed the story.

"Yeah" I replied bitterly.

"So I have to ask, did you have certain feelings towards her" Vincent pried.

"I don't know… I've always felt different about her I never did understand that emotion until I was on the brink of death and it was too late to be honest with her"

"Okay well sorry to bring up painful memories, I'll look through what I need to see really quick and I'll give you the privacy of your head back to you" Vincent said.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **So now we got a view at Stark"s old team when he was still with Jack. I couldn't help but notice all the names I've chosen for those character where all from the game metal gear rising (If any of you are familiar lol) Literally every name except Stark lol. Not that I copied the names lol I just thought it was a funny coincidence. Anyways I choose the name Raiden for the raichu for a reason, it just means thunder god and I thought that was a cool raichu name. Anyways onto Black's part in this chapter. You have to really ask yourself just who the hell is that jolteon. I'd be interested to here some theories if anyone wants to share lol.

Thanks to all those who support the story in anyway and a double thanks to all those who take the time to review I really do like hearing what a lot of you have to say :D So until next time.


	46. Imperfect Duo

**So here's the next chapter in the story. I decided to write this one up since its memorial day and I have no school (Thank God) and I have nothing better to do and I'm actually really in the mood today. So happy Memorial day to all of you and I hope you all enjoy your day out of school or maybe even work :D Anyway's don't forget to be thankful to all those who have sacrificed serving for your country (Even if its not U.S.) Anyways now onto the story. I like this chapter and I really look forward to what it leads to later on. Read and find out for yourself :D**

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**Chapter 45: Imperfect duo **

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**Point of View Flare, the following morning**

It was now the morning after Black was put into his pokeball. Everyone on our team was now walking in the city streets heading towards a park so we could train for the day. According to Alex this park was a meeting area for different trainers to meet and practice and what not. So everyone on our team was either really fired up like me or nervous like Ebony or Kana. Although I guess I couldn't say I was as fired up as I wanted to be due to the lack of sleep I got last night. Not only was I worried to close my eyes but thoughts of me leaving Black to die back in that van were now catching up to me. It took a while to click in my head but if Nia hadn't showed up Black would be dead right now. I did nothing to help him and in the end I choose to be a coward and I was going to have to make this up to him somehow. Hesh and I made the decision of waiting until Gray was outside of his pokeball to tell everyone about the assassins after us, due to the fact we didn't want to retell the story over and over. As for Alex's dad he was out running an errand so he wasn't accompanying us today.

"Where here" Alex yelled out loud excitedly and disrupted my train of thought. In front of us was a big open plain of grass that had a few tree's scattered throughout. Along with the tree's there was a stone trail that went through the park and had some benches following along it. In the middle of the park there was a stream of water that went through the trail so they added in a wooden bridge which was quite a nice design. Off in the distance I could see the sun slowly rising over some buildings and within a few hours it would be noon or in other words lunch. There wasn't many trainers here yet and it appeared there was only two other groups a guy and a girl who I actually remembered. This girl was actually the one person that was Aiden's trainer. Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Alex let out a wave to the girl "Hey Erica" he yelled to the female who then noticed him and replied with a lazy wave that lacked enthusiasm. The trainer known as Erica looked the same as last time. Long brown hair that went a little past her neck and down to her back, Erica was now wearing a light green tank top along with some dark jeans and on her hands she had fingerless gloves. Her arms were also covered in armbands and bracelets and whatever else that stuff is that female humans decorate themselves with.

Alex walked up to Erica and greeted her "hey how's things been since last time" he asked her with a smile on his face that showed his friendliness.

"Eh alright I guess, not much happened to be honest" she replied. "So did you ever find your emotional umbreon" Erica then asked reminding all of us about Black's break down on our way to Cyllage.

"Oh umm Black, yeah I got him" Alex said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. I on the other hand didn't appreciate the teen insulting Black when she didn't know any of the stuff he has been going through, I couldn't really blame him for being a little dramatic at times although I couldn't lie either it did get tiring after a while.

"Yeah well just make sure he doesn't have a mental break down again" Erica then added in.

"Yeah sure" Alex responded in a voice that sounded a little offended but he just took it.

Every one of us stopped listening to the boring conversation at one point that is until one of them asked a question of interest "So would you be interested in a rematch" Erica asked Alex as a small smirk made its way on her face.

"You know it" Alex replied excitedly as he reached on his belt and grabbed two pokeball's. Erica did the same and grabbed two pokeball's of the three on her belt. Both trainers threw their pokeball's at the same time and red lights blinded everyone as the pokemon of choice where released.

"He can't really be doing this can he" Hesh then spoke up as the form of and absol and an umbreon appeared in front of him.

"Oh no… this is going to be interesting" Kana then added in as Gray and Black both realized they were released. On the opposite team stood Aiden who looked pretty lazy and his bulbasaur friend that I beat last time.

Aiden shot a glance at Black who wasn't really paying much attention at the time. I wonder if they'd still be a little cold about last time or id they'd get along.

**Point of View Black**

I now stood in an open field of grass. In front of me stood two very familiar pokemon I couldn't say I was glad to see, to my left stood Gray who I was even less excited to see and could do without. This was weird, why was Alex releasing me and why did this look so much like we were about to begin a pokemon battle?

"Alright listen up you two" Alex said as he grabbed me and Gray's head and dragged us closer than any two men should be and made us face him. "You two are going to focus on teamwork today, if you can't prove to me you can work together then I'll handcuff you two together until your best friends" Alex threatened.

I slowly looked over to the absol who cringed at the thought "Listen Alex buddy I think you don't understand-" I started saying before I was cut off "Good glad you agree" Alex interrupted completely failing to understand me.

"Okay listen up, your both at a slight disadvantage since both of their attacks are rather effective against your types. But your attacks are also good against them as well so it may balance out" Alex lectured as the other team got their lecture as well.

"Okay Gray stick with ice attacks and use them on the bulbasaur also it wouldn't be a bad idea to watch the vines. Black just hold off and wear down the charmander until Gray can assist you" Alex said and I took immediate offence from his strategy.

"Why do you automatically assume I need help beating a little lizard" I said which sounded a little racist.

"Because you're the one who's always in the hospital and last I recalled I beat you in a fight" Gray said in a snobby voice towards me. I instantly let out a growl towards gray and I already knew this wasn't going to work out.

"Hey that wasn't even a fair fight and I was winning until Flare knocked me off you and second that was a hate crime asshole" I growled at Gray as I got ready to pounce on the racist jerk. Right before I could do anything I instantly felt a strong tug on my ear and I let out a loud yelp in response, the one holding me was Alex and he did not look to happy.

"Black I swear to god you make a fool out of me in public again" I Alex said in fury and gave me a look that actually terrified me. Which I wasn't too happy about since I wasn't fond of the idea of being exactly obedient to humans, after all I am somewhat of a rebel.

"Ha ha" Gray said in a mocking voice in an attempt to piss me off more. This was absolute crap, sure I started that fight the other night but you know what he has done far more to me than I did to him and now I look like the bad guy! I was growing sick of this very fast and I was about to snap as I fought my anger from reaching its snapping point.

"I don't care if you win or lose but if I don't see some cooperation between you two I'll handcudd you together and you'll sleep, eat and crap together" Alex said in a serious tone.

"Gross" Gray and I said on sync to the idea.

"I'll chew off my paw before I spend a minute handcuffed to you" Gray said as he shot me a death glare.

"Sure and I'll help you ass face" I snarled at him.

Everyone's attention was then directed to the female trainer's team "Are you two ready" she yelled across our battle ground.

"Ready" Alex yelled in response and me and Gray faced our opponents who looked pretty ready to go all out. I was actually pretty nervous about this fight, I had no doubt that I could beat that dumb charmander and his little buddy, but the real question is if Gray can pull his own weight and not screw things up for us. I guess this will be a trial of luck.

"Ready" Erica began to say. "Get set, Go!" Erica yelled from across the field and the battle begun.

Gray and I both sprinted at the two pokemon we were assigned to fight. The other two pokemon made their way towards us as well. The charmander known as Aiden let out a toothy grin "Suck this" he yelled as he faced his snout towards me but right before he shot it at me he turned and faced Gray and launched it towards him. The absol didn't even see it coming since he was so focused on getting the jump on the bulbasaur.

'Should I warn him' I thought to myself 'Nah he'll be fine' I concluded. The ember then collided with Gray's hip right before he reached the bulbasaur and his eyes got really wide as his body was filled with pain. Gray went flying to the side but right before he could hit the ground the bulbasaur grabbed the injured absol with his vines and wrapped them around him so there wasn't a free limb.

'I'd hate to be tangled up in that situation' I thought of a cheesy pun.

"Watch out" I heard Alex yell to me" I turned my head really quickly towards the charmander but all I saw was a fireball making contact between my eyes and I went flying back onto the ground. I was pretty dazed and I let out a pained groaned as I tried to recover from the devastating blow that burned like hell. Once I got over the burning pain I started getting back up but that's when I saw their next move and nothing could prepare me for the next attack.

Hurling towards me was Gray who was now screaming as he uncontrollable flew towards me, I responded with a loud yell as he collided with me and crushed my body that was a dwarf compared to his. Sadly for me Gray was on top of me and I could hardly move let alone breathe. Once Gray got ahold of himself he planted his paw on my head and used it for his support to help him up. I didn't like him stepping on me so I took my right paw which was my only free paw and I gave him a good shove. Gray instantly lost his balance and fell of me and onto the floor.

"The hell Black" Gray snarled at me as he got back up again.

"My face isn't a stepping stool" I replied back as I tried getting up and I quickly noticed how soar my ribs were after Gray getting chucked at me like a child's ball.

"Well be more considerate and grow up" Gray yelled back as he started walking towards me with his teeth showing as he growled. Then an ember hit gray's side and he went sliding across the ground with a new burn mark on his body. I hysterically laughed at the scene but I was quickly silenced when I felt a tentacle like thing wrap around my body.

"What, oh Mew please no" I shouted as I was lifted off the ground and got a bird's eye view of the area below me. I could see Alex looking up at me and I could tell he was disappointed on our performance as a team. I then looked over and saw the bulbasaur holding me with his vines. The charmander on the other hand was laughing his head off at the scene of our miserable failure.

"You guys suck" Aiden yelled at me from the ground.

"Gray give Black a hand" Alex yelled at Gray. The absol quickly got up and started running towards the bulbasaur in an attempt to actually help me, which was really surprising since I thought he'd help them kill me.

"Oh I'll help him" Gray said with a sly smile on his face and that's when I began cringing on what he really meant. Gray quickly dodged an ember that the charmander sent towards him. Once Gray was close to the Vines that held me he shot an ice beam at the vine and froze it solid. Then he jumped towards the vine and shattered the part that was frozen, which was cool and all except for the fact that I was about twenty feet high when he did that. The vine that was wrapped around me fell limp and before I knew it I was falling towards the ground.

"Gray catch him quick" Alex yelled as he ran towards me in an attempt to catch me even though he was too far.

"Oh no, I'm not taking the fall for this one" Gray made a cheesy pun that wasn't even remotely funny.

I let out a loud scream of terror as I extended my paw forward to take the full blow of the fall. The moment I made contact with the ground I instantly felt my whole right arm shatter along with a disgusting cracking noise that stuck in my head. My whole right arm shot up with pain but quickly after the rest of my body shot up with pain as it collided with the ground and made a loud splatting noise. Everything became really slow and my head was now ringing.

I instantly let out a loud scream from the agonizing pain of landing on my arm like that and that is also when I realized it may have been better to distribute the impact. I now lied on the ground and I was moaning in pain as my arm screamed bloody murder.

"Stop the battle" Alex shouted and he ran towards me along with everyone else on our team.

"Crap I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to happen" the bulbasaur said as he ran up next to me and looked at my arm. Everyone looked down at my and cringed at the sight of my arm so I decided I was going to take a quick peak. I hesitantly looked towards my throbbing arm and the moment I saw it I let out another scream. I was no expert at anatomy but it didn't take a genius to figure out your arm wasn't supposed to bend like that, especially when it wasn't even bent at a joint...

"Are you okay" Flare yelled out in worry. I just sat there and moaned in response not really knowing how to cope with the pain that dominated my better judgment.

"Everyone give him some room now" Hesh yelled out as he gestured for everyone to back up.

"I need to get him to a pokecenter now" Alex said frantically as he tried to figure out how to carry me with my injured arm. I looked around for a few seconds with the little attention I could use that wasn't directed towards the pain and I noticed Gray was nowhere in sight. Which was good for him because I was going to get him back for this.

Alex wrapped his arms around me and cradled me carefully not disturbing my arm anymore than necessary. "Tell me if this hurts" Alex said as he stood up completely with me in his arms. The pain was unbearable and I just wanted the throbbing pain to go away just for at least a moment, so the only way my body could cope with the pain was through tears, tears where something I was never proud to show but at this moment I just wanted help or something.

Alex was now running at full speed in the nearest direction of a pokemon center. Each step he took sent a shockwave of pain into my arm and the pain was really beginning to grow unbearable.

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**Point of View Flare**

Everybody just stood in the park in silence. No one had anything to say or knew how to break the silence after watching Black get injured like that. I looked over at the bulbasaur who had a sad look on his face, I knew he was probably beating himself up over this but the truth was it wasn't completely his fault and he didn't seem like such a bad pokemon from what I've seen.

"Hey bulbasaur" I said out loud as I walked over to the lizard creature.

"Look man I'm sorry I didn't mean to" the bulbasaur said in a shook up voice.

"No I just wanted to say don't beat yourself up over this, I know you didn't mean any harm" I said in a reassuring voice.

"Thanks but I really shouldn't have been fighting like that, I should have realized it was unsafe" The bulbasaur said.

"Yeah it was a little dangerous but it's still a cool move but I think the blame belongs to someone else" I said as I walked away from the bulbasaur and looked for a certain absol. I looked around the park a bit and I spotted him next to the stream of water that went through the park. I sprinted on over towards the absol who I believed was the cause of Black's injury.

"Hey Gray" I yelled out towards him in an angry voice. The absol didn't even bother to look at me even though I knew he heard me.

I got even closer to him and tried again "Gray I'm talking to you" I yelled again. This time Gray looked back at me. I continued to make my way towards him and I stopped once we were only a half meter apart.

"Why'd you do that" I didn't waste any time and I accused him right away knowing full well that he could have caught Black if he wanted to.

"Okay I did purposely attend for that to happen, I just didn't expect him to land like a complete moron and injure himself that bad" Gray replied back with very little attitude surprisingly.

"Well you know he's being rushed to a pokecenter right now right?" I asked.

"Yeah I kind of realized that when he started screaming" Gray said.

"So what you realized he was seriously injured and you just walk away and don't try and help him a little" I replied back with anger showing my voice.

"No, I just realized I screwed up that's all" Gray replied back.

"Well Gray I asked you to get along with him and you showed hardly any attempts of getting along with him, when does this hatred of yours stop and why can't you just get over it. Your actually pretty lucky he didn't break his neck or something" I screamed at Gray in absolute anger.

"He is impossible to get along with remotely and on top of that he's constant trouble" Gray retorted.

"You are the only one having trouble getting along with him. And yeah I know he has his flaws but maybe if you took some time to get to know him you'd understand him better" I yelled back at him.

"What is there to understand about him! He's and umbreon that is rude, snide and is going to get everyone around him killed eventually" Gray yelled back at me in anger. Right when I heard those words I felt something snap inside of me and anger just built up in me so much I couldn't bare it. I then looked Gray in the eyes and punched him directly between the eyes as hard as I could. Gray instantly flinched back. Sadly I wasn't exactly that strong so he was able to recover right away and brush it off like it was nothing.

"What the hell Flare" Gray yelled at me. Honestly I didn't care if it made him mad and I really hoped that it hurt like hell.

"You know what Gray you had that coming and I'm sick of your hostility" I snarled at him.

"Flare don't test me, I'll lay you flat" Gray replied.

"Oh what you going to give me a scar now, or maybe your going to break one of my bones now" I retorted as smoke exited my mouth from the anger accumulating.

"Flare I'm warning you, I've always liked you but if you don't step off I'm going to kick your ass" Gray growled at me.

"Bite my ass" I responded.

"Why do you care about him so much" Gray shouted at me.

**Point of View Gray**

"Because he's my friend and he doesn't deserve your hatred" Flare shouted at me. I couldn't believe him, why does he think there so close. There was nothing special about that umbreon and I don't ever see them two talking heart to heart ever so why does Flare act like they have some special bond.

"Flare nothing you say will change my opinion on of him, I'm going to hate his kind till the moment I die and there's nothing you can do to change me" I replied coldly.

"If that's true then you need mental help."

"Piss off" I replied with anger accumulating.

"Make me. I'm not going until you get that tree out of your ass" Flare replied back.

"You know what if you want to fight then do it I'll put you right next to Black in the pokecenter" I provoked a fight.

Before I could even think of what he was going to say next Flare shot an ember straight towards my face. I quickly fell to the floor since it was the fastest way to dodge it, although that wasn't the best move for me to choose. Flare then ignited his whole body on fire like he always did in a serious fight and he jumped right on top of me. Getting burns on top of previous burns never felt to good and my white fur was really starting to lose its pure white color and turn into a dirty brown.

I quickly punched Flare right in his jaw as he stood on me and he went flying into the air and smacked onto the ground with a thud. I then jumped up onto my feet and I planted my paw right on his throat before he could recover from the punch. "Having second thoughts yet" I asked Flare in a final attempt to get him to back off. Right before Flare could respond I felt something solid hit my side and electricity shot through my entire body and every muscle in my body tightened up.

I fell to the ground as I struggled to regain control of my body. Standing right next to me was kana who had a few jolts of electricity circuiting throughout her body. Along with kana came everyone else who circled around me as if they were vultures. Hesh then walked up to Flare who was still on the ground and helped him up to his feet and guided him to safety.

"Gray I don't know what your problem is but this will stop here" Kana said in a dark voice I've never heard her use before and it was rather chilling seeing a gentle spirit like hers talk like that to me.

"Gray let Black get hurt and he intended for him to fall like that" Flare said as he pointed at me. Everyone quickly shot a glance at me that showed their disapproval.

"Yeah but I didn't expect him to get hurt that seriously" I replied back to anyone who was willing to listen to reason.

"Gray what the hell is wrong with you" Hesh said as he shook his head in dissatisfaction. "You know I don't care that you don't like Black but he didn't deserve that" Hesh continued to say. I just sat there and gritted my teeth as everyone incriminated me.

"I don't expect any of you to understand how I feel about him" I growled at everyone as I stood up and faced the mob around me.

"No I don't think we can understand how bat shit crazy you are" Flare yelled at me.

"Yeah Gray that was really cruel" Kana added in.

"I'm done here" I growled as I walked towards the crowd. "Move" I yelled at them and they complied and let me pass through.

"And where are you going now" Hesh yelled at me.

"Away from all of you, I'll see you asses later" I yelled back at them as I walked away to escape there anger towards me.

I was now on the streets of Cyllage all alone without my team. I can't believe they all teamed up on me like that. Flare goes on and on about how I need to understand him but has he ever considered understanding me. My hatred isn't misplaced, every umbreon deserves to be punished for the horrible monsters they are, they may not see it but I do. Black is a time bomb and it's only a matter of time before something he does gets us killed and no one will listen to reason. So instead they act like I'm some horrible monster that just has misdirected hatred.

"They don't understand anything about me, none of them" I muttered to myself as I walked down the busy streets of Cyllage city.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** So theirs the end of that chapter. So I hope I didn't jump to the training to fast I just felt like most of the stuff in between wouldn't have really been the most interesting and that skipping right to the morning would be better. So we got to see more of Gray's racism problem this chapter and as we can see its really catching up to Black. Also it seems Black may be nominated for world's most unlucky pokemon. As he said before this isn't his month and we'll have to wait for his status. So I can't wait to write next chapter and I'm sure a lot of you are going to like next chapter and it will help this story a lot. So till next time!


	47. Grayson

**So things left off rather interesting last chapter and I think this chapter is the chapter many of you have been waiting for, for awhile. I'm not going to spoil to much but I will warn you this is one of the longer chapters and I still didn't get everything in I wanted to so I'll have to pick up the rest next chapter XD Anyways this chapter does have a little more language than usual but knowing our day and age I'm sure its nothing new. ANyways thanks for reading and I hope this chapter begins to answer some questions.**

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**Chapter 47: Grayson**

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**Point of View Gray, nine years ago**

My eyes slowly cracked open and the first thing my groggy vision could make out was the warm rays of the sun practically blinding me. After my eyes got over the blinding light I got a perfect view of a picturesque view. I was on top of a big grassy hill and from up here I got a perfect view of the forest that went on for almost as far as the eye could see. The sun was now at its peak in its cycle and I could feel its warm rays heating the world around me creating a comfortable sensation. Off in the distance I could see a flock of pidgy based pokemon flying off into the distance. This was a rather nice spectacle to wake up to and made life worth living.

"I thought you were going to sleep all day" I heard a voice call out. I instantly pinpointed the sound and looked behind me and saw my good friend Aaron who was a male flareon around my age. I looked back at the flareon with a small smirk showing on my face.

"It doesn't matter it's a good day to be lazy, besides nothing significant is really happening" I replied to the fire type who was now comfortably sitting next to me. "Besides my horn detects danger so it's not like I wouldn't know" I said as I pointed to the sickle shaped horn on my head.

"True but it's always when we let our guard down that something bad happens around here and I don't want anything happening on my watch" the flareon said with ambition.

"Eh you worry too much just enjoy the day and besides you need a break or your going to lose your sanity" I proposed to the flareon.

"Yeah and if you were in charge of WPA (World Peace Association) would never get anything done" the flareon lectured as he stood up and flexed his body out. He was probably right though, I was pretty lazy. Although everyone in the WPA are kindred spirits all working together for a brighter future.

"I'm going to scout out around route fifteen outside of Laverre City if you actually want to contribute" the flareon said with a playful smile on his face.

"Yeah sure I guess I should get some blood flowing" I said as I got up on sluggish feet and happily followed my partner. Over the few years I have actually been a part of the WPA I have seen our organization flourish with many pokemon and humans working towards maintaining peace within Kalos and we all had the dream of spreading our organization worldwide. The nice thing about WPA is that it's all voluntary work so it would be nearly impossible for some corrupt crook to ruin our dreams with his or her greed. It was nice working for this association it gave my life meaning and not only that it was nice seeing hundreds of pokemon and humans working together in a variety of voluntary work. Aaron and I were both a part of a six pokemon team, although we mostly traveled in two man cells. Our job was to basically roam Kalos and stop the wicked such as groups like Team Flare or those who seek to do immoral things that upset the balance of peace, groups such as traffickers, abusive pokemon trainers, Team Flare and etcetera.

After me and Aaron made our way down the hill we entered the forest and made our way to the route he spoke of. The forest had a lot of pokemon in it, although most of them didn't bother us since our organization was actually pretty well known throughout Kalos and we were pretty respected by most, excluding those that seek to harm the innocent and resented us.

"So what do you plan on doing this weekend" I asked the flareon as I walked alongside him.

"Sleep" he replied bluntly. Knowing him he wasn't lying he put way to much work into WPA and he was practically a zombie by the end of the day.

"Could always sleep on the job like me" I joked as I gave him a small nudge on the shoulder.

"And watch the world around us fall apart no thanks" The flareon joked back.

"Well hey if you feel like it we should hang or something" I asked the flareon. The flareon took a second to process the invitation and let out a smile.

"Yeah sure I guess we could, what did you have planned to do" he asked me.

"I don't know eat maybe go play a sport or something. I don't know I just know you need to get out more and enjoy your life" I said honestly to him.

"I'll take that into consideration, we haven't hanged out in some time besides work" he replied. We continued to walk through the snaggy forest for quite some time as we tried to avoid vines and thorns and what not. Then out of nowhere the sickle shaped horn on my head got this weird sensation that made it feel odd and gave me a bad vibe. There was no doubt that something in the area was wrong. As to what the problem could be could vary from natural disasters to someone doing something sinister.

I stopped walking as I tried to get an idea on what I should be looking for, Aaron instantly took notice and he pretty much knew the look I got when my horn senses were tingling. "What is it" Aaron asked me.

"I don't know" I said as I tried to read the vibe, which it should be noted it is hard to actually read the vibe of the horns and most of the time it was too late by the time one would make sense of it.

Before I could ponder it much longer Aaron and I both jumped at the sound of a loud feminine scream off in the distance. We both shared a quick glance and we both sprinted at full speed in the direction of the scream. We both kept up our speed as we jumped over logs and ducked under branches. Every here and there I would make the mistake of running through a patch of thorns but my priorities were too high to pay much attention to the small cuts I received.

After a minute of running towards the voice Aaron and I both stopped running and jumped in a bush as we heard the sound of a human talking. "Stop resisting" I heard an upset pokemon trainer yell in fury. The human was just some fat pig who hardly fitted in the white t-shirt he wore along with some shorts a person that fat should never wear. In front of the man was an arbok that appeared to be his pokemon. The snake creature stared at a victim with evil intents.

"Just leave me alone" a nidoran yelled as she curled up into a ball to protect herself from any harm. The sight made me sick, a bigger pokemon and human gaining up on the weak. Believe me I wasn't a fan of pokemon getting captured by humans that is unless the pokemon wanted to get captured or fought a trainer out of their own freewill, then that's on them.

"Let's go" I said with a growl as I got ready to serve some justice to the two sick twisted monsters that tormented the innocent pokemon. I then got out of the bush I was hiding in and approached from behind the arbok and he failed to notice me. A sneak attack would have easily did the two idiots in, but I wouldn't stoop down to their level.

"Hey, you two are having fun" I said to the backs of the Arbok and human as they both turned around and saw my cocky smile. "How about I show you boys a real opponent" I taunted the two. Aaron appeared to still be lurking in the bushes probably waiting for his chance to strike if he was needed.

"An Absol, you'll make a good catch" the human said with a piggish laugh as he pulled out another pokeball and threw it and out came a scizor that was already in battle stance. What a sad sight seeing a pokemon so hostile right when it comes out of its ball, it just assumes it has to fight.

"Looks like you choose the wrong fight darky" the scizor taunted with a racial remark as he clamped his claws shut and tightened his grip simulating crushing me.

"Actually your sorry ass choose the wrong fight, now get the hell out of here before I teach you a fundamental lesson on type advantages" I replied back as I showed a toothy grin.

"If your referring to having a type advantage against me it won't make a difference with a bug type on my side" the arbok hissed at me. The nidoran was now peeking her head out of the ball form she was curled up in but she wasn't exactly bright and didn't take her chance to run for safety. Oh well I just get to show her how weak these pathetic losers really are.

"Would you change your mind if I was here" Aaron said as he walked out of the bushes and stood on the opposite side of our opponent's right next to the nidoran.

"Wow theirs good catches everywhere today" the human said as he eyed me and Aaron up as if we were eye candy. Probably eyes up Twinkies like that as well.

"Whoa calm down porky don't eat us or nothing" Aaron taunted even though the fat ass couldn't here us.

"Catch this" I yelled as I charged up my favorite attack, an ice beam. I shot the crystal blue beam straight at the arbok who slithered out of the way. But before he could get a chance to breathe I sprinted towards him so I could land in some quick attack. I wasn't going to leave him a chance to think about breathing let alone countering.

Aaron also began his battle with the scizor, although I wouldn't call it a battle though since Aaron was about to cremate the bug type alive. Aaron shot out a flamethrower that covered a lot of ground. The scizor's eyes instantly went wide open as he watched the intense heat head his way. Sadly for him he wasn't as fast as scizor's were made out to be and he got a little burnt. The scizor was now lying on the ground still alive but burnt pretty badly. Aaron was sure not to use flames to hot since he didn't want to severely injure the pokemon and only teach him a lesson.

I on the other hand was delivering a series of quick attacks towards my arbok opponent who slithered away from each attack with precision. "Slippery little bastard" I yelled at him as he dodged my attack. As I was swiping my paws towards him nonstop I got careless and I felt my back left paw hit something solid and I hit the floor below me with a thud.

'Shit' was the only thought my mind could think of as I saw the snake hover over me and prepared to bite me with its venomous fangs. Aaron was too far to do anything but he still ran towards me in an attempt to stop the arbok.

I shielded my face from the incoming attack out of reflex since I knew there was nothing I could do and I had a habit of freezing up at the worst of times. But before the arbok could bite me I heard the snake release a loud grunt and I heard something hit the ground.

I lowered my paw that was blocking my face to reveal an umbreon standing defensively over me. This umbreon was another member of WPA and he went by the name of Eclipse. He too was just as dedicated to helping the world become a better place and I was glad to call him a friend.

"Come on Gray I know your lazy but its unlike you to lie around and get your ass served to you by a puny snake" Eclipse joked as he shot a serious glance at the snake. Then accompanying the umbreon was a female charmeleon who went by the name of Katherine, but everyone called her Kat for short.

"Yeah get with the program Gray" the charmeleon said as she grabbed me and forced me to my feet. Despite her not looking strong she was actually pretty strong, along with an attitude problem.

The scizor was now recovering from his injuries and his jaw dropped as he saw that our numbers have doubled since he was out of the battle. The arbok was now slithering back towards his trainer as the scizor limped his way back as well.

"Hey Arbok… I don't like where this is going" the scizor said nervously as he watched us nervously.

"What the hell, now theirs just too many of them" the trainer whined in a voice that a grown man should never use. Then for the first time the human made a rational decision and ran for dear life, but he didn't bother helping his pokemon, his pokemon instantly took notice and followed behind him running like hell.

All of us just watched the cowards run off with their tails between their legs. Aaron then directed his attention towards the nidoran who was now standing and had a nervous look on her face as well. I would imagine she was still pretty shaken up.

"Hey you okay kid" Aaron asked the nidoran.

"Yeah thanks… If you didn't show up those thugs would have kidnapped me or something" she said as she gave a small bow with her head to show her gratitude. "How can I repay this debt" she then asked curiously.

"Just stay out of trouble and we'll be square" Eclipse responded to the nidoran.

"Yeah I can try that" the nidoran replied in a nervous voice that sounded insecure. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you guy's" the nidoran asked us.

"We are the world peace association" Aaron replied with a lot of pride in his voice.

The nidoran's head then tilted a little "That's not that creative" she replied with a small chuckle, which I had to agree the name was rather bland and boring I would have preferred the peace corp or maybe angles of peace or something cool like that.

"Hey I didn't make the name, it was voted on by other members way before I joined" Aaron said.

"Others… You mean there's more" she said in surprise.

"Yeah over one-hundred in our organization and were still growing every day" Kat added in as she crossed her arms and showed little interest in explaining who we were for the fiftieth time this week.

"Well we'd best get going, take care" Aaron said as he waved goodbye and we all followed his lead as we all waved as well. The nidoran waved back at us in response with a big smile on her face.

"Thank you so much" she yelled as we walked away.

* * *

**Nine months later**

"Dammit" Aaron yelled out loud as he punched a brick wall as hard as he could. I watched Aaron's reaction as he just received news from a monferno who didn't stick around to comfort him for whatever reason he was upset. Aaron and I were in an alley checking the thuggish areas of Luminose city before we were interrupted by the monferno. I decided I wanted to learn the info that unsettled Aaron so much that he would punch an innocent wall like that.

"What's wrong did something happen" I asked the flareon who was gritting his teeth in frustration.

"It happened again" Aaron said as he exhaled a breath and his anger was replaced it with sorrow.

"What happened" I asked even though I had a good idea on what happened and I just wanted to confirm it.

Aaron looked up at me with shaky eyes that were soon replaced with anger again "More members were murdered a few days ago… that make's twenty-four members dead so far" Aaron yelled in anger. My heart instantly sank upon hearing the grave news. I was hoping that it was over but instead its continuing and even getting worse.

"Do we know who's doing it yet" I asked him.

"No, no one knows who. It could be a group that hates what we are doing or someone could be getting back at us or Mew knows what" Aaron stated some theories. "If this keeps up pokemon are going to get scared and give up our cause."

"Then that'll leave the truly dedicated" I responded with confidence. "Don't worry we'll get them back next time" I said as I placed my paw on Aaron's shoulder. The flareon instantly looked up as he saw me looking at him with confidence. I knew if we tried we'd catch the pokemon or people that did such a horrible thing.

"Your right… We are going to get them" he replied back with a smirk.

"Great, why don't we gather up our unit and we can work on tracking down the killer or killers" I suggested.

"Not a bad idea, I'll rally everyone back here and we can strategize a plan to end this" The fire type said as he took off running to fetch our team.

It took only thirty minutes until Aaron returned with our whole team. Now with us was Aaron, Eclipse, Katherine, Joel and Sarah. Joel was a houndour that was on our team, he wasn't too social and he mostly kept to himself but I knew he had his reasons for joining WPA. Sarah on the other hand was a buizel who wasn't really good at fighting but instead her intellect was what made her talented.

"So what did you interrupt our day off for" Kat asked in annoyance.

"I know it's every ones day off but this is an emergency meeting" Aaron said in all seriousness.

"It's about the pokemon that recently died isn't it" Eclipse asked. Aaron let out a nod in response.

"So it happened again" Sarah said with a broken spirit. I too was pretty devastated about this but I always made it a habit to keep a positive attitude even in the darkest of moments.

"Yeah…" Aaron said faintly as he looked down. Aaron then looked back up with a serious gaze "Alright everyone put your main duties on hold. We are going to hunt down whoever is doing this and see that they are put in a court of law" Aaron said with his serious tone. "Is there anyone who doesn't want to be a part of this" Aaron asked as he looked around to see an uneasy look in some ones face.

Aaron noticed every ones dedication and he let out a small smirk "Good glad to see your all true members of WPA."

"So where do we start" Eclipse asked.

"The murder did happen in Luminose, word is that everyone possible has been asked but there are no witnesses. This crime was performed by someone who knows what they are doing" Aaron said as he made eye contact with all of us.

"I want everyone to find a route and search the living hell out of it and ask every living organism questions. I will look around the city to see if I can find anything on my own" The flareon said.

"Sounds like a boring plan" I added in.

"That's not the point, there are lives on the line now and if we don't act there will be more victims" Aaron said back at me with slight anger in his voice.

"Yeah your right" I admitted.

"Okay let's move out every second we wait that killer could get away" Aaron yelled like a drill instructors commands his subjects. With those commands we all gave out a quick nod and sprinted towards our objectives.

* * *

**Four months later**

Ever since we started looking the murders have only increased. One by one I watched as our numbers dwindled smaller and smaller. I remember the first murder I heard about it was so shocking. Now I wake up in the morning and I find out another unit was slaughtered and if not that pokemon where resigning. The murders were only getting worse and our unit was getting nowhere on finding at least one clue that could give us hope. As Aaron predicted many members grew afraid and left WPA and with them our dream of a better world died off slowly. It's ironic how fast life can change, for so many years I have dedicated my life in helping this association in hopes that it would become successful. It is ironic how years of work was destroyed in less than a year and our hopes and dreams were gone as well.

Our whole team was now travelling in a forest outside of Laverre town searching in an area where one of the founders of our organization was killed. He was an awesome pokemon, he only cared about the world and he'd practically do anything just to make someone smile. Whoever killed him was going to pay and I was going to see to that if it was the last thing I did with my life. For quite some time we walked aimlessly through the forest without a single clue on where to look for our killer.

"We need to all talk" Eclipse randomly said and destroyed the silence.

"Yeah what's up" I asked the umbreon.

"These murders that have been going on… Our numbers are small and there is no doubt where next on the list-" Eclipse started saying before he was interrupted by Aaron "What are you saying we just give up and let everyone's death be in vein. You can leave but I'm not giving into the bastard that tracked down my friends and slaughtered them" Aaron yelled back at him.

"Listen Aaron I have a family back in the Sinnoh region. I was captured by a trainer and I was brought here you know that right" Eclipse started to say.

"Yeah and go back to them we'll understand" Kat said.

"Well no I don't think you understand… I can't go back due to it costing a fortune to travel across the world and its practically impossible for pokemon to make money in this world" Eclipse added.

"Then what are you getting at" Aaron asked.

"I want to go home and ever since I was brought here I have been trying to work my way out of here so I can return home" Eclipse continued to say as a tear rolled down his eye. "Listen you all need to renounce your loyalty to WPA right now" Eclipse then yelled really loud and everyone froze in shock to his outburst.

"I will never do that" Aaron snapped back.

"Anyone… Will no one listen to reason" Eclipse asked as he looked around. Everyone just stared at him as tears came down his eyes. Kat then walked up to him and stretched her paw out to give him a hug, but right before she touched him his eyes shot open and he jumped back from her.

"Don't touch me" he yelled back as tears continued to go down his eyes.

"What the hell has gotten into you" Aaron yelled at the umbreon.

"Please this is your last chance to leave before it's too late" Eclipse yelled in a shaky voice. Then that's when I felt something in my horn. I have never felt a vibe like this one before it chilled my horn to its core and made me feel uneasy. I didn't like where this was going and I felt the urge to get a lot of distance from this area.

"It's no use they've been completely brain washed into believing this world peace bull shit" I heard a voice yell out. Then out of one of the bushes came two pokemon, a white umbreon with black rings on his body that had cold red eyes. Accompany the white umbreon was a riolu who had a sword slung on his back along with an arrogant smile on his face that made him look blood thirsty for violence. The feeling in my horn only got stronger as the two approached us.

"Eclipse what the hell is this" Aaron yelled out loud in anger as he stared down the two new pokemon.

"I found the killers we've been looking so long for, at first I was going to try and kill them but as I watched the two for a couple weeks I only realized how outmatched we were" Eclipse said as a tear went down his eye.

"Your friend sold you out is what he's too scared to say" the riolu said as he and the white umbreon stood their ground.

Everyone fell silent as they heard those words. "Eclipse… I-I thought you were one of us" Sarah yelled as a tear made its way down her face.

"I'm sorry, I need the money so I can go home and return to my family" the umbreon said as he began sobbing. "I lowered our friends into remote areas so they could be easy victims… If I did that, they promised I'd have a chance to save you guy's if I could get you to leave WPA and they offered to pay my way to Sinnoh in exchange for my silence and assisting in this job" the umbreon said as he sobbed.

"You traitor" I yelled at him in shock as I stared at the pokemon I loved as a brother. Over the years I've known him I always trusted him and we had so many fond memories together. I thought I could trust someone like him. We may have not been a real family but everyone in WPA was like my real family and family never backstabs each other no matter what.

"So this is how it's going to end" Aaron growled as he got into a battle stance.

"I'm sorry… truly… But everyone was already going to die, I just didn't want to die without seeing my family one last time and this was my only way" the traitor said as he continued to cry.

"Why the hell are you two going around killing us off" Joel then asked as he let out a ferocious growl.

"You all have bounties on your head, going around making the world a happier place doesn't exactly make some people to happy" the riolu said as he let out a smile I wanted to punch so bad. What I'd give to smash his face until it wasn't even identifiable.

"Who put a bounty on us" The houndour continued to ask.

"You don't need to know that" the riolu replied as his partner just remained silent and just stared at us with those cold red eyes of his.

"Then why do they want us all dead" Aaron asked as he tried to control his temper.

"Kalos is becoming too peaceful for some peoples taste. It's hard for dogs like us to make a good living when the world is so damn peaceful. Pokemon and people need a world full of depression and reason's to hate each other in order for us to make our living, what your doing is just bad for our business. So multiple mercenaries are getting paid to clean you hippies up" the riolu said as he slowly began to unsheathe his sword and it made a screeching noise as it scratched against the sheath. "Although I don't care for talking so let's just see how peaceful you guys are when I'm hacking you limb from limb" the riolu said as he finished withdrawing his sword.

Eclipse took a few steps out of our reach and hid behind the mercenaries that were hired to do some wetwork against us. The other umbreon that had a pure white coat of fur then began walking towards us. The umbreon's right paw then lit up in a dark aura that made the horn on my head become numb from the cold vibe it gave off.

"This is for everyone that you've killed you mother fuckers" Aaron yelled as he shot a flamethrower that consumed the whole area where our opponents stood.

"Show me a good time flareon" I heard the riolu yell from above. I looked up and saw the riolu jump off a tree branch at light speed, how he got up their so fast was out of my comprehension. Then to the left I saw the white umbreon calmly walking towards us with that shadow paw of his.

"I'll take the umbreon" I yelled as I charged towards the umbreon and the houndour followed my lead. I had my own lethal attack I've only used on rare occasions. I concentrated my energy and shards of ice formed around me and shot at the umbreon at a high speed. The umbreon zigzagged around each shard without even showing a sign of struggle.

'Well that was useless' I thought.

Joel then released an ember towards umbreon, he didn't even bother dodging that attack and instead he punched it with his shadow paw and it created a massive explosion of smoke. Through the smoke came the umbreon at light speed. His paw was directed straight towards me and I froze up like I always did when something serious happened.

Right before my death came the houndour jumped in the way and clamped his jaw shut right on the umbreon's right paw just outside of the dark matter. "Move or your dead" the houndour growled with the bloody paw in his mouth. The umbreon just looked at him with a cold glare and his whole body lit up with dark matter. Joel instantly flinched back and let out a loud yelp of pain as he fell on the ground and held his snout. I gave a quick glance to his wound and his whole snout was burned by that dark aura the umbreon used. All I knew at this point is that this umbreon was a demon.

"What the hell are you" I asked the umbreon as he stared at me with no emotions. I took a split second to observe the riolu situation and I saw the rest of my team with cuts all over their body struggling to keep up with the riolu's godly speed. Everyone was shooting projectile attacks at the riolu who dodge each attack without any struggle.

I then saw the riolu let out another smile as if he was enjoying himself. Aaron shot another flamethrower at the riolu and the whole area lit up in a bright color as everyone shielded their eyes. Then Aaron's eyes grew wide as I saw blood spray out of his arm. The riolu stood only a few feet behind Aaron's back as blood dripped off the sword. He moved so fast when Aaron attacked I completely missed what he did. Aaron just stood there in shock as his left arm fell onto the floor and shortly after he fell on the ground screaming in pain as he rolled around and a pool of blood started forming around him.

"Aaron" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I then felt something sharp pierce my hip and my whole side shot up in pain and I fell down as I screamed in pain as well. I looked over to the side and I saw a giant puncture in my side that blood continuously flowed out of and the umbreon from before walked past me and paid no attention to me at all. I completely took my eyes off the fight and it possibly cost me and everyone else their lives. I tried to struggle up but the muscles around my wound felt as if they were going to tear if I moved too much and made it impossible to make big movements.

Everyone else on my team used a variety of attacks against the riolu in a chance to get back at him for what he just did to Aaron who was now lying on the floor cringing in pain. The white umbreon was now sprinting up on Kat from behind and she didn't even notice him because she was so focused on getting the riolu with her fire balls.

"Kat" I yelled as loud as I could in a futile attempt to warn the charmelon. The charmeleon turned her head just in time to see the umbreon coming but before she could move out of the way his right paw entered her chest and blood shot out of her mouth along with the hole that was now in her chest.

"Two down" I heard the umbreon say to himself in a voice that lacked any form of empathy.

"You bitch" Sarah yelled at the top of her lungs as she shot a water gun towards the umbreon that was sprinting towards her. The umbreon slid below her attack and swung his paw at her left leg and slit it wide open. She instantly fell down on the ground helplessly as her leg gushed blood. Sarah was now in tears as she gave into despair. I couldn't believe this was happening it was like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from and no matter how bad I wanted to help I couldn't.

The white umbreon then lifted up his paw to finish the job but right before he could finish the job Joel came out of nowhere and tackled the umbreon to the ground. The umbreon went sliding across the ground but before he could land another attack the riolu was already making his way over to him at an impossible speed.

I charged up an ice beam to try and save my friend and I shot it towards the riolu. The riolu easily ducked under my attack without even looking at it. Joel began turning his head towards the riolu but before he could even see what was coming the riolu had already made his move. Joel fell to the ground with blood exiting a gash in his throat. As much as I wanted to not believe it I already lost two friends within a minute all because of that traitor.

I tried to struggle to my feet but the instant I tried anything every muscle in my body shot up with unspeakable pain. It was futile, this was where our story was going to end and I did nothing but screw up for everyone. If I was paying attention to that umbreon instead of their fight I may have been able to buy them some time.

The white umbreon was now making his way to Sarah to finish his dirty work, I tried to charge up another ice beam but I was too weak due to blood loss at this point and I was good for nothing. Then another flamethrower came from nowhere and almost engulfed the umbreon and riolu in its flames but they jumped out of the way barely escaping with their lives.

Standing up on three paws was Aaron and I observed his wound where his arm used to be and I saw that he cauterized the wound shut. He was now gasping in pain and I could see that he was barely even awake.

"Wow you're a tough one aren't you, must have been near impossible to burn that shut without screaming bloody murder" the riolu said as he held his sword over his shoulder and ignored Sarah for now.

"I didn't want to ruin the surprise" Aaron said in between his pained gasps. Aaron was barely standing and I could see him struggling to even keep his balance. The riolu walked up to him but he didn't even resist and just stood there completely out of it. The riolu just gave him a small poke and he fell over unconscious.

"Gotta love pokemon who are all talk and no bite" The riolu said as he gave out an uninterested look.

The white umbreon was now walking over to Sarah who was unable to walk at this point and was shaking uncontrollable in fear as tears streamed down her eyes. The white umbreon's hand was surrounded by that weird energy once again and he held it over the helpless buizel. I tried charging another ice beam but I was too weak to concentrate the attack and it failed to manifest into a physical attack.

"Wait" the riolu yelled before he killed her. The umbreon just shot the riolu a quick glance. "I know a group of pokemon that'd love these guy's and they'd pay us well" the riolu proposed.

"Why does it matter to us, we aren't getting paid for this" the white umbreon said in a monotone voice. Me hearing that they weren't getting paid practically made my heart stop beating. What kind of sick twisted pokemon would do this if there were no benefits. These pokemon made me sick to my stomach I never knew humanity could fall this low.

"That's true but keeping Jack happy makes our lives easy and what makes that greedy pig happier than money" the riolu said.

"What are you going to do to them" I heard eclipse yell as he came out of the bushes where he was hiding the whole time. The umbreon instantly froze as he stared at the gruesome scene of seeing half of his ex-friends dead and the other half almost dead.

"Our job is just to see that they don't do any more of this peace crap, so as long as their off the grid were getting paid" the riolu said. Eclipse looked at each and every one of us as more tears ran down his face, if I was able to move at this point I'd kill him for what he did and if I lived to see another day I'm going to rip him and his family limb from limb for what he did.

"Just get lost kid, we'll bring you your pay when we are wrapped up here now get lost" the riolu yelled at him. Eclipse didn't even spend a second disagreeing and he turned around with his head held low and walked away.

"T-…Traitor" I yelled at the umbreon in a weak voice. Every one of my enemies looked over at me.

"Your still alive, I must have missed my target earlier" the white umbreon said as he started walking towards me.

"Hey he's good for that thing I talked about to so leave him alive" the riolu said. The umbreon didn't listen and he just continued walking towards me and eventually he stood right over me.

"Eclipse" I started saying before the umbreon did anything else to me. "Rot in Hell you traitor scum" I yelled in a weak voice. The umbreon just held his head low in disgust of his own actions and I prayed to Mew that this drove him to suicide or worse.

"I'm sorry Gray… I don't expect you to-" I heard Eclipse say before the other umbreon slammed his paw right into the side of my head and everything went dark instantly.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Okay really long chapter, actually my longest chapter yet. I try and not make them this long since its overwhelming in my opinion (I do have a habit of finishing things in one sitting, and that includes when I write a chapter and reading) So a lot has happened in this chapter for Gray, I'm continuing the flash back next chapter. As I said I couldn't fit it all in one chapter and God editing this chapter was a nightmare because it was so long. So onto story now.

So we got to see how Gray was when he was a lot younger. Huge personality change due to traumatic stuff happening. I won't get to in detail about whats happening since I want you guys to put pieces together on your own. I just can't wait to continue the flash back, which will probably take two more chapters.

Thanks for reading and another thank you to anyone who review or fav/followed my story your all awesome peeps.


	48. The Gulag

**Okay before I say anything else this continues right from where last chapter ended. It still follows Gray's back story. Another thing I need to say is that this is a very long chapter, just as long as the last if not longer by a little (But their is a decent spot you can stop at half way through, if you want to stop then you'll see your chance lol) If these chapters are getting to be to long please for the love of Mew tell me. I'm just making these chapters long because I want to fit Gray's story into three chapters, it may run onto four if I can't make all fit without rushing. **

**Okay onto a important question. **When I started writing this flashback I realized it was impossible to really make the characters in it relatable without having +10 chapters to develop the characters... (And I'm not doing that for flash back characters, or at least not a lot) So I thought it'd be cool if I made a small spin off series on how Gray met Aaron and Eclipse and how their friendship formed as they join WPA. I pondered it for awhile and I realized that if I did it right it would actually be cool and may offer more detail on Gray and his role and maybe some small clues to the main story along with something cool I had planned for it that links the stories together that would make it worth reading both. (But I'd still keep it optional and fill in the blanks so you wouldn't have to read both)

If I did do it I would make it so you wouldn't have to read both stories to get the plot of both stories but instead expand the character and the lore. So I'm still considering whether I want to make that or not and if people would be interested in reading it I'd love to write it. So message me if you'd like to see a spin off for Gray. It'd only be 10 to 20 chapters and I'd still at least update Black Dawn twice a week as I promised when I started. (My summer starts tomorrow so I'll have more time to write and I love writing its a good way for me to enjoy my spare time and relieve some stress as well as a good thing to do instead of homework...)

**Anyways sorry for the long author note I wont keep you waiting any longer.**

* * *

**Chapter 48: The Gulag **

* * *

**Point of View Gray, eight years ago**

My eyes slowly creaked open as I listened to what sounded like an engine running. After a few seconds of me slowly trying to wake up I felt a giant bump and that instantly woke me up. I couldn't see much everything was dark and hazy. It took me a few seconds but I realized I was in the back of a vehicle, but where am I being taken was my only question. After a few seconds my eyes slowly adapted to the dark area around me and I began to make out figures sitting near me. I tried to get up but the instant I moved slightly I felt something holding me in place from my neck. I tried moving a little bit but I couldn't even move a few inches, whoever did this had my neck completely tied up to the wall I was against.

Before I could pounder too much about what was going on memories of what happened began flashing back into my mind. I couldn't believe what just happened, it all just happened so fast. Was I the only one or did the others make it out okay without me? Or was everyone dead… I knew a few of them where dead and it still hasn't clicked in my head that I'd never speak or talk to them again. I felt horrible that this happened and I wanted justice.

"Hey Absol are you awake" I heard a voice whisper from the darkness. I nearly jumped upon hearing the unfamiliar voice from the darkness yet I was glad to know someone else was it me.

"W-Who's their" I asked curiously as I squinted my eyes to make out the character.

"Another prisoner just like you now" the voice replied in angst.

"Where are we going and where are my friends" I asked eagerly as I tried looking around through the dimness for anyone I knew.

"Your Flareon friend here is unconscious at the moment… he looks pretty rough" the voice whispered back to my cautiously. He only mentioned Aaron what about Sarah? I knew she was still alive before I went unconscious. My heart instantly hit rock bottom as I thought about those bastards killing her as she was defenseless and scared.

I completely forgot about Aaron's injury and how that riolu cut off his arm like it was nothing. Aaron shouldn't even be alive at this point and I needed to make sure personally that he was okay. "Where is Aaron" I asked anxiously.

"Keep your voice down" the voice whispered back in anger "Where not allowed to talk."

"Where's my flareon friend" I asked back in a slightly more quiet voice.

"He's right next to me, he looks really rough and the whole time he's been groaning in pain" the voice replied back from the darkness. The vehicle we were in the slowed down and the back of the vehicle got even darker than before and the ride became very bumpy. Every time the vehicle bumped I could feel the thing holding me down by the neck choking me and it was almost unbearable. After a few seconds of almost choking to death the vehicle almost instantly stopped and my neck was tugged on very aggressively by the contraption holding me down.

The back of the vehicle then opened and a very bright light shined inside the vehicle that blinded me instantly, the light appeared to be from a LED flashlight. "Alright where going to release you all one at a time, anyone who tries anything funny will be killed on sight" a deep voice yelled inside the vehicle as I heard someone hop in. My eyes adjusted to the light and I could make out every pokemon that was around me. My sight almost instantly froze as I saw Aaron lying on the ground unconscious.

"Aaron" I whispered to the flareon who didn't even show a sign of life "Aaron" I whispered again but louder. "Aaron wake up" I said out loud in hopes that he would at least move a little from hearing my voice.

"Stop talking now" A voice yelled aggressively at me. I was about to yell back at the voice but right before that happened I saw Aaron's eyes moving around from the back of his eyelids and his eyes slowly cracked open. Aaron looked around with very dazed eyes and I could only imagine he was just confused as me.

"Shhh don't say anything flareon, don't resist and just go with it" a sneasel whispered to Aaron and that's when I realized he was the pokemon I've been talking to this whole time. Aaron just continued to take in his observations around him until his eyes locked on me.

"Gray" he moaned in a weak voice.

"I said stop talking" A voice boomed from the back of the truck. I quickly shot my glare back there to see a servine undoing a cubone's lock so he or she could get the collar like thing off his or her neck. The servile then grabbed the cubone and forced him to his feet and shoved him towards the back of the truck. Why are we just sitting here taking this crap, there is one of him and at least a dozen of us.

"Hey sneasel" I whispered as quietly as I could to the dark type. He looked back at me and waited for me to continue. "What exactly is stopping us from fighting back, is he the only one or something" I whispered as quietly as possible since I didn't want to upset our captor.

The sneasel just responded by looking to the complete opposite side of our prison which was in the front. Their covered in bruises and their own blood was a vulpix. The pokemon had swollen eyes along with some cuts and her arm appeared to be in an awkward position I didn't think was natural. The vulpix wasn't a pretty sight to look at and If the sneasel was hinting that the vulpix pissed them off then I could see why no one wanted to follow the vulpix's footsteps.

After a few pokemon were released it was my turn. The servine shoved a key into the keyhole of the collar that held me down and it came undone and I was somewhat free. Before I could enjoy having my neck movement back the servine grabbed me and forced me to my feet and gave me an aggressive shove that almost caused me to lose my balance. I was tempted to fight back, but if I was going to do that I was going to need a better look at what I was up against.

Once I reached the exit of the vehicle I jumped out and I landed on a hard rocky ground that was cold. It appeared we were in some kind of cave. Everything was pitch black and the only light we had was some flood lights that were pointing at the back of the truck. I quickly scanned the area around me for some more pokemon that were holding us hostage.

On each side of the truck we were in their was a pokemon and then standing behind the group of hostages that exited the vehicle was a golem that looked pretty intimidating. I looked back into the truck and I saw that it was Aaron's turn to be released. The collar was released and the servine picked up the flareon and he stood on his three wobble paws. Then the servine gave him a hard shove. Aaron took his first step with his right paw that was still intact but right when he tried using the left paw that no longer existed he fell straight on the ground. Aaron tried struggling up but he was too weak to even move. The servine noticed his struggle and walked over to him. I thought he was going to give Aaron a hand but I should have known better. Aaron was picked up by the servine and he was tossed right out of the vehicle. Aaron let out a loud gasp as he made contact with the hard rock ground.

I ran over to his aid. Aaron was now gasping in pain and I wish there was something I could do to help him but the truth was there was nothing I could do but watch him suffer. The guards around us all stared at me and Aaron as If they were not pleased with us at all.

Before anything else could happen the sneasel from before walked up to Aaron and kneeled down "You need to move buddy, if you show weakness here you'll never survive" the sneasel whispered to Aaron in a gentle voice as he helped him up and gave him support on the side with the missing arm. I followed next to the sneasel and I was pretty happy to see someone at least showing a little compassion.

"Thanks we appreciate your help" I said to the sneasel.

"Everyone needs to look out for each other here" the sneasel said as he helped Aaron towards the main group.

"W-Where are we" Aaron groaned in a faint voice.

"This place goes by many names, the gulag, the pit or my personal favorite Hell" the sneasel said and the world around me instantly felt more silent even though nothing really changed.

"Why are we here" I asked the sneasel.

"Listen you two are new here so I'll fill you in on everything I can, but before that my name is Dom" the sneasel said as we finally reached the group and he lied Aaron down on the ground gently.

"I'm Grayson but people call me Gray and he's Aaron" I said as I introduced us.

"Good but the first thing I'd like to tell you is that all that shit in the real world doesn't apply here. This isn't a democracy we get no say" the sneasel said and both Aaron and I looked at the sneasel. "You do anything to upset those keeping us here and you'll have two things happen. Death or brutal punishment that makes death seem like the only escape." My heart instantly plunged to a new low.

"Why… what do they want from us" Aaron groaned from the ground in a pained voice.

"Down here were all slaves. They tell you to do something you do it, you ask a question or look at them funny and you'll regret it" the sneasel said.

"So why don't we take action" I whispered to him.

"Shh keep that kind of talk down" the sneasel said as he grabbed my mouth and held it shut.

"Well why can't we" I asked again. The sneasel then pointed to a collar on his neck. It was black and almost blended in with his fur, but on the back I saw a big box that had a flashy orange light on it.

"What is that" I asked him.

"Shock collar" he bluntly stated "You pass a certain it electrocutes you, if you fight back they just push a button and you'll be on the ground crying" the sneasel said.

Well this was going great. The more and more I learned about this place the more I realized how screwed we were. The real question is what our next move because there is no way I'm working for these bastards for a day.

"Alright everyone get in a line" the servine" commanded. Everyone began sluggishly moving into a line "Come on move it" the servine yelled aggressively at us. After he yelled at everyone they all made haste into a line. Aaron was standing in the line as well but the sneasel didn't help him and he was left standing on his own.

"Now follow my lead, no funny business" the servine yelled. We all followed the servine deeper into the cave and as we went on the cave got narrower. The other guards followed from behind and left no open spots for anyone to slip away.

After we slipped through the narrow cave for a few minutes I started hearing an odd sound. It sounded like people were mining. I could hear rocks breaking as pickaxes smashed them. Then the cave expanded and we ended up in a ginormous opening. Here there was a bunch of barrel and crated stacked up neatly and off towards the cave wall on the opposite side I saw a tunnel with a railroad track. The tunnel also was the source of the sound, before we could enter the opening though we had to enter a wired fence. The fence blocked the entrance one-hundred percent. The servine walked up to the fance and unlocked a door on it so we could all slip through. We all filed in one by one into the opening.

"Everyone gather in the middle in a big line and wait their" the servine yelled. We all did as we were told as the servine locked the gate behind us. Then the sneasel walked back up to Aaron and started helping him again.

"Sorry he wouldn't of allowed me to help you back their" he whispered to Aaron. "Oh and stay away from the fence it's electrified" the sneasel warned us, which was good because I would not have known better.

Off in the opposite direction of the tunnel where I heard the mining there was a wooden watchtower that touched the ceiling of the cave, which was only around thirty feet high. Which I guess that is pretty big for a cave. Next to the watch tower there was also a few other small wooden structures. One had a window with a light in it and another had no windows at all with a door with a big lock on it.

"Okay listen up" I heard another voice yell out. This voice was a lot deeper and very similar to a drill sergeant. The voice that barked the commands was an old Infernape that was covered in scars all around. Everyone directed their attention to him and didn't even speak a word of defiance.

"So your all fresh bloods, maybe some of you are transfers from our other facility  
the Infernape stated. "Regardless I don't care" he continued to say.

"Now I'll be in charge of your work group. Anything you need or want you will come to me and ask. If you dare waste my time I will break both of your worthless legs and make you run miles while carrying me on your back" the Infernape threatened. This monkey was pretty scary honestly, the way he yelled things and looked at us made my stomach get knots.

"Now I'll start with the rules, rule number one do not make me repeat the rules again or you will be physically punished" the Infernape threatened us again. I was curious about how serious he actually was about doing the things he said, but in no way did I want to test those waters.

"Rule number two" he barked at us. "Every first and last word out of your worthless mouth's will begin and end in sir."

"Rule number three you must wear your collar's at all times no matter what, if you take it off you will be punished severely or killed on the spot" the Infernape said as he looked at all of our faces. The Infernape then pulled out a collar to show us what it looked like. It looked the same as Dom's collar it was thing and black and had a box on the back with a flashy orange light.

"Now if you try to escape with this collar you will be shocked until you return to the safe zone, or if one of us higher ups feels like it we can activate the collar at any time" He said as he pulled out a remote with a red button on it.

"You will all be assigned a partner who has experience with their job, this lucky bastard gets the honor of teaching you your job. Orders for stuff like food and sleep will be given as they come, just follow your buddy and they'll carry you through your day."

"Now is there any questions?" the Infernape asked us as he looked at each and every single one of us. His eyes instantly froze when he saw Aaron barely standing on his wobble feet. The dictator then walked up to Aaron and everyone around him backed away and left Aaron all alone.

"What the hell is a cripple like you doing in here" The Infernape asked Aaron. Aaron's eyes instantly flicked with fire as those words hit his ears. Aaron was now grinding his teeth together as he struggled not to make a mistake that he'd regret.

"I asked you a question, why the hell did they take a three legged loser like you, are we that low on workers?"

Aaron's stopped gritting his teeth and he looked to the ground as if he was no longer the same and unequal to the rest to us "I… I don't even know why I'm here" Aaron said in utter disappointment "Sir" he quickly added in before the monkey noticed.

"I'll give you a week before you drop dead and don't think just because you're different you get to slack off." I was hardly able to control my own anger as I fought off a growl. I couldn't imagine what Aaron was going through right now because I could hardly stand watching him being torn apart for something he couldn't help.

Before the Infernape could discriminate Aaron anymore a group of workers came walking out of the tunnel. They were filled with a variety of pokemon, to many to name. All of them and I mean all of them were covered in dirt and wore exhausted looks on their faces.

"Okay everyone pick a partner with one of the veteran workers" the Infernape commanded. "Except you three legs fire types have a different job" the Infernape said as he signaled him to come towards him. Aaron complied and walked to the baboon.

"I'll partner up with you" Dom said to me.

"Sure" I said not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Put this on" Dom said as he held out my collar. I eyeballed it for a second as I dreaded the thought of having such a bulky thing on my neck all the time.

"I'll help you since you have no thumbs" he said as he wrapped it around my neck without my approval and snapped both ends of the collar around my neck. Once the two pieces were connected it made a beep noise and the light on the back of the collar lit up. I moved my neck around and my fears became reality, this thing was uncomfortable and restrained the neck.

After everyone found a partner we all lined back up again. "Alright show your partners how to do their job and if you catch them slacking be sure to beat them mercilessly for me" the monkey said with a laugh. Dom grabbed me by the shoulder and directed me towards our work. I looked back towards Aaron who was the only fire type with us and was also the only one ordered to go with him.

'Mew please let him be safe' I prayed to the legendary who's never answered me once. We entered the tunnel where I heard all the mining from. It was dark in here and the only light we had was the very few lanterns on the ceiling. It was also dry and stuffy down here and made it very uncomfortable for anything to live down here. As I got deeper and deeper I saw pokemon with pickaxes hitting the wall of the tunnel slowly expanding the cave. In the middle of the cave was a railroad.

"Alright your quadruped so your job is pretty simple actually" Dom broke my thought of how sucky this place was.

"And my job is" I asked.

"Since were constantly digging around all of this rubble has to go somewhere. So my job is to fill up the card with Rocks and stuff and you'll pull it out of here and we have a spot you'll dump it and we'll dispose of it at the end of the day" Dom educated me on my job.

"So I'll show you were to put it and after that you'll just repeat the cycle until we eat or sleep" Dom said.

"Okay" I said in disappointment of how annoying this was already becoming. How did I get stuck here and why me? I have always led a good life and this is what I get, Slavery?

I followed Dom to a really big train cart that was full of rocks of all sizes. On the front of the cart had some chains and some kind of locking device to secure something to the chains. "Alright I'll put this on you so you can pull it, I'll show you the path to take this time but after that I got to do my own job" the sneasel said. Dom gave me a small push towards the cart and I stood next to the chains. The sneasel picked up the chains and wrapped it around my chest and put a padlock on the chains so it wouldn't fall off me.

"This is degrading" I complained as I thought of how humiliating this was.

"Now pull the cart" the sneasel said ignoring my complaint. I walked forwards and attempted to pull the huge cart that was filled to the brim with rocks. The instant I felt resistance from the cart I had to strain every muscle in my body just to keep the cart slowly moving. It was exhausting just barely moving it and there was no way I was going to make it ten meters like this. I slowly dragged the cart as it made a screeching noise along the tracks at a very slow paste as every muscle in my body screamed for a rest.

"Come on if you keep going this slow your going to get in severe trouble" the sneasel said as he followed by my side. I listened to what he said and I went into overdrive and began pulling with every fiber in my body. I could feel sweat dripping down my face and my body began to overheat in these stuffy conditions. It was already blazing hot down here but now I felt like I was going to die.

After a while the tracks split off into a separate tunnel and I continued to drag the rock filled cart down the tunnel. After around ten minutes of dragging the cart I finally reached the end. We were in another big opening and in this opening there was a giant a bunch of trucks that were being loaded with the rocks.

"Okay now someone will help you dump it into the pile and you run back to me and I'll have a separate cart ready and you'll repeat the cycle until our break" Dom said as he tipped the cart over and all the rocks poured out into a gigantic pile of rocks.

"Now let's go back" Dom suggested. I was curious how I was supposed to move the card backwards since the chains were attached to the front but that when I noticed a track on the cart that allow me to move the chains around the whole circumference of the cart. So I slid the chain the opposite side and I began pulling the cart back to the start.

Once we reached where we originally were I was greeted by another cart that was filled with rocks to the top. Dom quickly detached the chains off me and hooked me up to the other cart as the other workers began to slowly fill the new cart.

"I recommend staying ahead of the game, don't let the carts fill up to high or you'll have a fun time filling them" Dom suggested.

With those words of wisdom I began pulling the new cart on my own this time while my sneasel friend picked up a pickaxe and started mining. I had trouble with the first cart but this second one was worse compared to the first and my muscles being shot up did not help at all. There was no way I could do this, not for the rest of the day let alone as long as they planned on keeping us here. I continued to pull with whatever strength I had left and continued my cycle through hell.

After what felt like an eternity of me working I finished my millionth cycle of work. At this point I lost feeling in my nerves and I couldn't even feel the pain. I was numb everywhere and my throat felt as dry as a desert and I'd probably cry at the sight of some precious water.

Before I could begin pulling the next cart I heard a loud buzzing noise and instantly everyone stopped what they were doing. "Okay Gray good job were on break now" Dom said words I thought I'd never here. Long ago I forgot the concept of rest and I thought I was going to have to go until I dropped dead.

"R-Really" I said in a shaky voice that lacked energy.

"Yeah" he said as he began to unhook the chains off of me. The instant those chains hit the ground I felt a thousand pounds lighter. I finally felt as if I could breathe with ease and not having to worry about a million pound cart chained to me.

"How… How long does our break last" I asked him in an exhausted voice.

"Ten hours" he replied bluntly "And that time is when your supposed to eat and sleep." I couldn't believe this, after all of that I just have time to sleep. No time to talk or enjoy myself a little.

"Follow me" the sneasel said as he began walking. I started moving but the instant I began moving my body fell limp and I was falling. Dom caught me just in time and helped me back up. "Let me give you a hand" he said as he slung my paw over his shoulder and helped support me.

I would have thanked him but all the energy I had was dedicated to staying awake at this point. After we made it out of the mines and into the main part where the entrance was Dom led me towards another cave.

"This is our barracks. You can eat and sleep here. Spend your time wisely though" Dom warned me.

We entered the cave and inside I saw a bunch of pokemon sleeping on the rock hard floor. Some of the pokemon had blankets but their wasn't nowhere near enough to go around. Some pokemon cuddled together and some lied down in isolation with no hope.

Then I spotted Aaron. Throughout all the pain and work I've endured today I've completely forgotten about him and didn't even think about if he was alive. "Aaron" I shouted out in a weak voice. The flareon directed his attention towards me. I would have smiled at him but there wasn't much to smile about and on top of that smiling took too much of the little energy I had left.

"So how was your work" Dom asked Aaron who was now lying on the floor just a tired as me. Once we reached him Dom took my arm off his shoulder and I instantly fell to the ground as my muscles screamed in pain from the punishing they were put through.

"Horrible" he replied bluntly. Aaron then looked at me as I lied on the floor looking at him "Gray are you alright" he asked me in a weak yet concerned voice. I gave a small nod towards him to ease his worry.

"What'd they make you do" I managed to say in a weak voice.

"I was forced to smelt rocks all day using my flamethrower. I've used that attack a lot but no one should use moves like that for so lo-" he was saying before he started coughing uncontrollably. I waited for him to finish up coughing before I was going to reply.

"Yeah my day was no walk in the park either" I responded in a weak voice. We both didn't really have a lot to say, I could tell he was just as worn out as me.

"Gray, Aaron" I heard a familiar voice yell out from behind me. Aaron and I both turned are heads to see who was calling us. I couldn't believe who it was… I thought she was dead this whole time or Mew knows what.

"Sarah" I tried to yell back but all I could manage was a small rasp. The buizel ran to us with tears streaming down her eyes. She instantly tackled me into a hug and upon impact my muscles pulsed with excruciating pain. I didn't care though, I missed her and I was glad to see she was alive even if it was in this hell hole. After Sarah finished hugging me she made her way to Aaron but before she could hug me she froze when she saw Aaron's arm.

"Aaron" she said as her eye watered up again while she looked at where his arm used to be.

"I know…" Aaron replied coldly. Dom appeared to have ditched us all so he could tend to his own business whatever that was.

"I thought you were dead" I said to Sarah and she instantly looked at me.

"I thought I was the only one left, maybe we were brought in separate times" Sarah suggested.

"Maybe" Aaron said.

After a few minutes of us all playing catch up Dom returned with the best thing I could ever wish for in his hands, food and water. The sneasel brought enough for each and every one of us. It was a loaf of bread that was enough to feed the three of us along with a few pokepuff's that looked moldy and old.

"Can I have some" I asked the sneasel.

"No" he instantly replied.

"What you got all that food and your not going to share" I yelled with newfound energy fueled by my hunger.

"Food is scarce for us and this has to last me three days" the sneasel said.

"That has to last you three days" I yelled back in anger. Yeah sure I said the bread could feed the three of us but not last nine meals throughout the course of three days.

"Yeah so go get yours and don't eat it all in one sitting" the sneasel said. He then pointed to a stand where the same servine from before was handing out bread and water to pokemon. Long story I went up and got my bread to last me three days along with everyone else.

We all ate our meal in silence. The bread was stale, the water had a muddy taste to it and I wasn't even going to dare try the pokepuff's. Aaron seemed to be developing a cough or something. Maybe he got a cold in here or something I mean the hygiene here is horrible.

After we all ate I didn't fight my need to sleep anymore and I fell into a deep sleep that I wish I could never come out of. I didn't even care about the rock hard floor or the stuffy atmosphere or the hot temperature. It was just me and my precious sleep time.

The following morning

I woke up to a loud buzzing noise going off that startled me awake and made my heart thump uncontrollably. I didn't get the twelve hours of sleep I usually wanted. Back when I worked for WPA they were pretty easy to schedule with and they let me get the sleep I wanted and I still had time to enjoy a life. Here I barely got time to enjoy even a little sleep.

"Alright Gray lets work" Dom said.

I moved my arm slightly but the instant I did that the muscles nerved throbbed with pain. It was even more soar than yesterday. "I can't do this" I moaned to Dom.

"If you don't work you are going to feel even worse after they punish you" Dom said with a reasonable argument. I slowly got up with aching muscles that screamed in agony. Sarah and Aaron were both now awake as well and standing. Aaron had a weak look on his face and he looked really out of it today. I'm sure I looked the same but he just looked exceptionally awful.

"Come on we have work" Dom said in an annoyed voice as he tugged my fur. I followed the sneasel without any further resistance. Off in the background I could hear Aaron hacking his lungs out, if he was getting sick now was not the time and I just hoped he didn't give me his germs.

Dom and I went to work for the day. Pulling the cart was even worse since my muscles were already in pain but after a while I lost feeling in my nerves again and I continued my day as if I was a mindless zombie with no ambition or hope of freedom.

**Three days later**

A few days have passed that I have been working tirelessly. I was starting to get used to this constant torment. Right when I was considering an escape plan the other day I watched as four pokemon tried making a run for it and escaping. The pokemon were caught and brought out into the middle of the main opening. There we were forced to watch as they chained the pokemon down and beaten to death without mercy. I still remember the way they screamed and begged for mercy. I didn't know them personally but I'm sure they didn't deserve what happened. So after watching that I realized I was going to have to put more planning into my escape so I didn't end up like them.

Throughout the day's we stayed here Aaron's cough has only gotten worse and his strength was getting weaker and he was developing more symptoms such as dehydration, blazing hot or freezing body temperatures and whenever we did give him water he couldn't keep it down. This was really beginning to bother me and I was starting to wonder if I was going to lose another friend. No matter what I didn't want to Lose Aaron, I've known him all my life and life without him just didn't seem like a life. I said everyone in WPA was like family but out of all I truly felt that way about him. Him and Eclipse…

"What should we do he's only getting worse" Sarah asked as she took a dirty rag we found and dipped it in water and put it on Aarons head as he lied on the ground burning up in a heat flash as he moaned in pain. It was now late at night and we were trying everything we could to comfort him through his suffering. Earlier during our second day I managed to smooth talk a guard into giving us a bandage to put over Aaron's wound that wasn't completely healed. Sadly we didn't have a lot so we had to change it out once a night instead of hourly like most doctors would recommend.

"He need's medicine bad" Sarah added in as I just stared helplessly at my sick friend.

"He won't get any. The guards won't waist it on him, especially since he's already viewed as an unimportant worker with that missing arm" Dom added in.

"Well he's not going to make it through work today like this" I added in with frustration in my tone. I continued to stare at Aaron as he lied on the ground suffering.

"I'll change his bandage with what we have left" Dom offered as he cut the bandage off with his claw. "What the hell" Dom said once the bandage was off.

"What" Sarah and I both said on sync as the sneasel looked at his wound.

"You do realize his wound is infected right" the sneasel said in frustration towards us. Sarah instantly got up and looked at the wound. I observed to and I cringed at the sight. The wound had a pink color that made it look agitated and it was all puffy.

"How was I supposed to know, I've never seen a wound like this before" Sarah replied back at the sneasel.

"Well you want my honest opinion" Dom asked.

"What" I asked the sneasel.

"You friend is dead already. We have no access to medicine and there is no hope of his infection healing and he's already sick beyond our help. He's can't keep food or water down for more than a minute and how in the hell is he going to get through work tomorrow" The sneasel asked. Sarah and I both froze in response. He was right on everything, but I didn't want to think of it… I didn't want to think of Aaron dying… not here of all places.

"I'm still alive you know" Aaron said in such a quiet voice we could hardly hear him.

"Shhh save your energy Aaron" Sarah said in a gentle voice. There had to be something I could do. I wasn't going to sit back and watch him die like this. No matter what I wasn't going to die here and I wasn't going to let him die like this.

"Where can I get medicine" I asked the sneasel.

"You can't. Remember its looked up in the storage" Dom replied in anger.

"Tell me where it is" I growled at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me, don't throw you life away for someone who is already dead" Dom yelled at me.

"Tell me" I yelled back at him.

"Gray…" Aaron moaned in a weak voice. "He's right… Don't do anything for me" Aaron continued to say in a weak voice and after that he let out a violent cough followed by pained groans.

"Bull shit I won't do crap. You'd do it for me and I'm going to do it with or without your help" I yelled back at him.

"You crazy" Dom replied in surprise.

"Tell me."

Dom let out a sigh of annoyance as he looked me dead in the eyes "It's in the small little shack outside of the watch tower."

"Thank you" I replied as I started making my way their without any delay.

"Seriously don't throw your life away" Dom yelled at me.

"Sarah watch Aaron while I'm gone" I commanded.

"Gray are you sure you want to do this" Sarah asked in a concerned voice. I replied with a nod and I started running towards my objective. Once I reached the big opening with the watch tower I scanned the area. No one was in sight which was a good thing. Then when I looked into the watch tower I saw a pokemon keeping watch, but with a little more observation I saw that he was dead asleep.

The coast was clear and I made a run for the small little building outside of the watch tower. Once I reached the door I realized it was locked. I didn't see any other choice so I tackled the wooden door and it fell right over with very little resistance. I walked into the shack and I saw little boxes full of miscellaneous stuff that served no value to me.

I quickly went inside the shack and looked around frantically before someone found me. I then noticed a small table with a variety of medicines. I looked at all the pill containers until I found antibiotics and some wound disinfectant. I opened my mouth wide and but two boxes in my mouth along with the wound disinfectant. My jaw couldn't open any wider if I wanted it to and I could feel the joints tenshion.

I walked towards the exit and that's when all the pill containers and wound disinfectant fell out of my mouth. "Shit" I muttered as I quickly tried to pick it up. Then everything went south as an alarm started going off.

"Oh shit" I said as I looked behind and noticed the camera I never paid attention to. I knew I didn't have any time so I ran out the front door but I stopped there. I then took one of the antibiotics and the wound disinfectant and leaned them against the shack carefully. Then I swept some rubble, dirt and rocks over it and camouflaged the drugs so no one could find it.

I picked up the remaining pill container in my mouth and began running for dear life even though it was pointless. Then I heard a beep from my collar and my whole body jolted with electricity. My muscles tensed up and I release the pill bottle and it fell to the ground and it spilled everywhere around me. I was now on the ground in agonizing pain from the electrical shock from my collar. Then I saw a foot step in front of me. An infernape's foot. It was that infernape that told me all the rules when I first got here. The on the belittled Aaron as well.

"So thought you could make off with some drugs huh" the monkey said as he picked up a pill and crushed it in his hand. "I'm glad you did this, it gives me another chance to show everyone what happens to thieves around here" the monkey said as he let out an obnoxious laugh. The monkey held a remote in his hand and he pointed it at me. When he clicked down on a red button on it I felt another electrical current go through my body and before I knew it I was out cold.

I don't know how long I was out but when I awoke from being shocked to unconsciousness I noticed I was in the middle of the main cave. Everyone that worked in the caves was watching me from a distance, even Aaron who was barely standing and had to be supported by Sarah and Dom.

I tried to move but I quickly realized that I was chained down to the ground completely. I could hardly make any major movements and when I tried to break free it only hurt me.

"So last night this absol here thought it was a good idea to barrow some drugs from us without our permission" The Infernape yelled from behind me. I looked back and saw the baboon looking down at me as he held a whip in one hand and a steel rod in the other.

"Well I've watched this absol for the few days he's been here and I've noticed his spunky spirit and today I'll show you what happens to you when you break the rules" the monkey yelled in anger as he looked down at me as he began to raise the whip that was in one of his hands. I closed my eyes and prayed that this was going to be quick.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:**Yeah so I'm going to leave this off on a cliff hanger. So hang around for the next chapter. Anyways onto the story talk. We got a lot going on with Gray and his flashback. These traffickers are pretty serious about what they do. Now before you say no one is this evil and so on all I got to say is that no people in real life are this fudged up. Look at the Holocaust, Terrorist and bat shit crazy killers lol. Just wanted to justify all the dark and evil stuff in this fic and say that its not quite over the fence yet.

Also if your interested in that spinoff I mentioned PM me or leave a review. If people want that spinoff I'd love to write it. If not I'll still be 50/50 on writing it.

Also thanks to all the reader and those who support the story, this is at least the 48th time I've thank you lol. Then again I say it at the beginning of chapters to sometimes and at the end so maybe... its over 90! (Couldn't resist)


	49. Sign of Freedom

**So here is the third part to Gray's background story. First I'd like to say that this chapter was really hard to write. Why you ask, well my good computer broke down and I have to restore it so I had to get a junk computer to write this chapter. When I say junk I mean stuff like waiting for each letter to load and extreme lag, oh and the space bar hardly works so that made it more fun lol. Either way I wanted to continue writing this and I'm stuck waiting on a new windows 7 disk lol (Which I may get tomorrow or next wed). Anyways besides that I enjoyed writing this chapter. Anyways enjoy the chapter.**

**Guest review responses**

**Luckywhisker: ** Thank you for reviewing and I also read your description idea and I actually like it so I'll be changing it to that. I was actually surprised it fit. So thanks for a better description I think its good. I also saw that you answered those ten questions many chapters back, I appreciate that and I never knew Kana came off as a crybaby... Which is good to know since I have plans lol. Also for your recommendation on how things should end at the end of the story, I appreciate the idea but I got a planned ending. (Or three, still deciding lol, but I'm leaning towards a specific one) Anyways thanks for taking your time and reviewing.

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**Chapter 49: sign of freedom**

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**Point of View Gray, Eight years ago**

My entire back was now stinging in agonizing pain. I had multiple lash marks on my back that stung. I was still chained to the ground as everyone watched in silence as I was whipped and beaten by a steel rod. Bruises were swollen on my body as well. This pain was unbearable and I wanted to run so bad but I couldn't since I was chained to the ground and it only made it more horrifying.

"So was it worth it" the infernape asked as he kneeled down to my level and looked into my eyes, I could see the joy he was getting from this just by looking into his eyes. I gave a weak glance into his eyes but as much as I wanted to say what I thought I knew that would be a horrible idea and would probably end in my death. All that mattered now was taking this pain until this freak felt satisfied.

The infernape raised his hand again with the whip. I clenched my eyes shut as I braced myself for another lash. The whip cut through the air and I felt a strong sting on body as I felt my skin split open into another gash. I wanted to cry from the intense pain, but I refused to show him any satisfaction. I refused to give him a good laugh over my weakness.

"Hmmf it appears you've had enough" the infernape said to me and I couldn't appreciate those words anymore.

"You'll remain here the rest of the nigh until work. No food or water until your done working" the monkey said as he began walking away.

"Back to your pit" another pokemon yelled at the top of his lungs. With that everyone complied and quickly made their way back to their sleeping quarters. Aaron was assisted by Sarah and Dom as he hobbled on his three remaining legs as he tried to remain alive from being so sick.

Everyone was eventually gone and I was left chained to the ground alone. Every inch of my body was in pain and if not in pain it felt numb. I was only publicly punished for a few minutes but it felt like hours if not days. I wanted to sleep but my body was in to much pain. Me being hungry and thirsty didn't help that either.

After a few hours passed the pain in my body only became numb. There was probably only an hour or so until I was going to be forced to work again. Before I could get to deep into thought I heard light foot steps behind me. I quickly jolted back to see who was behind me.

"Shhh keep it down" Sarah said as she held her finger to her lip. I couldn't believe she was sneaking out of her safe zone to see me.

"What the hell are you doing here" I whispered in anger.

"I'm checking on you to see if your even breathing at this point. That was really rough earlier" Sarah said in a caring voice. I appreciated her caring about me and all but I don't think it was worth her risking her life for curiosities sake.

"I'm fine but you need to go" I whispered to her.

"Are you going to be okay alone" she whispered back as she observed the wounds on my back. She held one of her hands over her mouth to cover up her reaction. Before I could think of anything else to say I remembered the very reason I risked my life.

"Sarah listen I need you to do something" I said in a serious voice. Sarah looked back at me and waited for me to say what I needed to say.

"Right next to the door of the medicine shack I put some antibiotics and wound disinfectant stuff under some rocks. It should be what Aaron needs to get better" I said to the buizel in a weak voice.

"But what about you" she replied in a concerned voice.

"I'll be fine" I replied.

Sarah let out a sigh "Okay I'll get Aaron that medicine but Gray please don't do anything like that ever again" Sarah said as she cautiously hugged me trying now to upset my wounds anymore than they already were. After that she instantly sprinted towards the shack were the medicine was located.

Once she reached the medicine shack she looked around carefully for the medicine but she also didn't make a sound. Every time a random noise would occur she would freeze in place and have a panicked look on her face, after the noises finished though she would continue looking. After around two minutes of her searching near the area I told her to look she moved some rocks around and found the medicine I hid. She gave me a small wave and she started running back to the slave quarter with the medicine I almost died for.

Despite being in a lot of pain that sight made me slightly happy. I just hoped that medicine would be enough to ease Aaron's suffering. Although in my attempt to save him I did get myself pretty roughed up but that was more than worth it for him of all pokemon.

It didn't take long for me to grow tired after that. Getting the living hell beat out of you tends to exhaust you. My eyes slowly shut and I fell asleep.

I was awakened a few hours later and I was unchained from the ground so I could continue my work day. The work day went on as usual. But as I worked I noticed everyone shooting me odd glances. There was no doubt that they thought of me different. Although once I reached Dom he just chained me up as usual before he said anything.

"Are you going to be alright" he whispered to me as he avoided eye contact as if he was afraid of being seen with me.

"I'll manage" I murmured in a weak voice. I was low on sleep and there was no doubt that this day was going to be quite a challenge.

"Just try and make it to the end of the day" he whispered back to me as he picked up his pickaxe and began mining for the precious stones of this world. It disgusted me on how others could treat each other like this just to make profit. We worked tirelessly just to get valuable rocks and yet we have nothing to keep us going. Honestly each day that passes I can feel myself becoming a hopeless zombie with no hope of survival. We need an escape plan.

I tried to continue my workday as normal but my wounds drastically slowed me down. The useless unwanted rocks I was forced to carry kept piling up higher and higher until it was almost impossible for me to carry. Sadly I was shown no mercy and I was forced to do this the rest of the day until we were finished.

The instant I made it back to the slave rest area I collapsed onto the floor barely conscious. That was by far the hardest day of work I've endured. Thoughts of Aaron then popped back into my head, I haven't seen him once since Sarah got him the medicine. Did he make it or is he dead?

"You look just as bad as me" The voice I recognized as Aaron said from behind me. With newfound strength I rolled over to my other side to see the flareon standing behind me. He looked awful… He held his head low as he stood on wobbly legs.

"Your alive…H-How are you doing" I asked even though the answer was pretty obvious.

"Like a million dollars" he replied in an exhausted voice as he fell onto the ground next to me.

"Did Sarah ever get you that medicine" I asked Aaron who was already half asleep.

"Yeah she did and the medicine is helping a lot already."

"That's good" I replied quietly.

"Thanks Gray. If you didn't do that I would be a lot worse right now, if I'd be alive at this point" Aaron said honestly.

"No prob, I wasn't going to watch family die like that" I responded with a small smile. Aaron smiled back but we were both to tired to even talk at this point. We both had things making work hard for us and the only thing I could think about.

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**Six Months later**

It has been a really long time since we have been trapped in this Hell. After awhile here I lost track of time and a year could have passed for all I knew. It has been so long since I've seen any natural lights from the sun and it was beginning to take its toll on me. Most of the time I've been stuck here I have been mostly depressed. I spent most nights just thinking about my dead friends and how Eclipse was at fault for all of this. If I ever made it out here I was going to hunt down that monster and kill him for what he's done. If I wasn't thinking about killing Eclipse I was thinking about two other things, food and survival.

I wasn't quite ready to give up on life yet I still had pokemon around me to live for so I was going to make it my mission to keep them alive no matter what. When your alone all you think about is dying but when you have others around you all you think about is survival and I wasn't giving up.

I was carrying out my day like normal lugging around that giant cart full of rocks. I always wondered what they did with this stuff once they took it. I wouldn't be surprised if they sold it and had it turned into cobble stone or something along those lines. Around halfway through my cycle of pulling the cart back to Dom I heard something odd, a rumbling sound. Before I could think of what it was I heard the sound of crashing, screaming and rocks falling on top of each other.

"Arceus" a raichu yelled from next to me.

"What was that" I asked in surprise.

"I think part of the cave just collapsed" he replied back to me as he ran towards the sound. I heard another cave collapse that was followed by more screams of terror. Before anything else could happen I saw Dom running towards me from the tunnels.

"Dom what's going on" I yelled at the sneasel. He didn't even reply and ran up to me and unchained me from the cart.

"Just report to the main cave for a casualty check" he yelled at me. I followed his demands and I reported to the main cave where the front entrance was and I saw a big line of pokemon lined up. I got in the back of the line and I waited for whatever they had planned.

The infernape from before was just calling off a list of names. Every time he called off a name a pokemon would step forward to indicate that they were still alive. On rare occasions he would call a name and no one would reply and that was an indication that they didn't make it.

Aaron was eventually called out and he stepped forward. I was so relieved to see he was okay. I couldn't quite see many pokemon I knew though, maybe they hadn't shown up yet or maybe they were caught in the collapsed cave.

After a few minutes my thought was interrupted by the infernape calling my name. I stepped forward to show I was still breathing and after a second I stepped back into the line full of pokemon. After awhile the infernape called out Sarah's name.

"Sarah step forward" the infernape yelled in annoyance since she didn't the first time he called her out. My heart instantly stopped beating and I stuck my head out as far as I could to find her but I couldn't. I impatiently waited in the line fearing the worse. Was she dead or was she possible trapped in the cave slowly being crushed to death.

After thirty minutes the infernape instructed us all to report back to our rest area for the day. Aaron and I both looked around non stop to find Sarah but there was no sign of her anywhere. I stayed up all night looking for her getting zero hours of sleep but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find anything.

"Gray I can't find her either" Aaron said to me from behind.

I turned back and looked at the flareon to see him holding his head low in despair "She can't be" I yelled back at him.

"I can't find her and she's not turning up. I'm sorry… truly" Aaron said faintly as a tear escaped his eye. My eyes were now beginning to feel a stinging as I tried my hardest to hold back my tears.

'Why is everyone around me dying' I mentally asked myself as I continued to hold in my emotions.

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**Four months later**

After what felt like an eternity I eventually accepted that Sarah was gone, I just hoped when the cave collapsed it was quick and painless because her gentle soul deserved better than this. After I gave up on the idea of her being alive I began to give up on my life. Why was I even trying at this point, we had no sign of freedom in sight and no matter what we were destined to die at some sooner or later. The big question was when, but at the same time what does it matter if it's today, tomorrow or five years from now?

I was now walking out of the tunnel after a long day of work. Walking next to me was Dom who wore a tired look on his face. After walking for a few seconds he tapped me on the shoulder gently.

"Gray there is something I think you need to know but you have to keep quiet" Dom whispered very quietly as he looked forward and didn't make eye contact. I did the same and guessed he didn't want anyone to notice we were talking.

"What's up" I whispered back as I looked forward just like he did.

"I have been talking to some pokemon lately and we are arranging a resistance tonight. We all agreed there is no sign of freedom. So we fight tonight or die in this hole" Dom whispered back to me.

"But what about the collars" I whispered back.

"We thought that through as well. Last night one of my friends stole some bolt cutters and hid them, tonight we are going to cut everyone's collars off and were going to show them hell" Dom said with a confident smile showing on his face.

"I'm in" I replied quietly.

"Good not like we have a choice though, it's this or die a miserable death down here" Dom whispered back as we walked into the rest area. "Tell Aaron about this and I'll come to you when the time comes." I nodded back to him and I went off to find Aaron. It took me a few minutes but after awhile I found the flareon taking a nap on the cold ground.

"Hey we need to talk" I said to Aaron. I told Aaron the entire plan about tonight. He seemed to agree with it just as much as I did. I'd even say we were both a little excited. I always wanted to rebel against them but I didn't want to be the one to take all the heat if we failed.

We waited silently all night. I tried to get a little sleep but no matter how hard I tried I could hardly keep my eyes closed. Was this really going to be the night we escaped or was this going to end in disaster and would I have to watch what is left get taken from me? Over my long stay here I have seen many attempts to escape and every time it ended in them being beaten to death without any mercy.

Late that night I felt something tap my shoulder as I lied on the ground as I pretended to be asleep. I instantly cocked my head back and I saw Dom standing behind me with a pair of bolt cutters in his hands along with a small smirk on his face.

"Are you ready" he asked me. I replied with a nod. Aaron was awake as well and he was waiting beside me for further instructions but we tried not to make any more noise than necessary.

"This may sting a bit but bear with me for a minute" Dom said as he slid the blade of the bolt cutter under my collar leaving very little breathing room. Dom squeezed the bolt cutter blades together against the electric collar. After a few seconds of intense tension I heard a loud snapping noise and my body jolted in electricity as the collar came apart and fell onto the ground along with me as my muscles screamed in pain.

"Yeah sorry about that but it's the only way to get these things off" Dom said as he walked over to Aaron to free him as well. He did the same and Aaron fell to the ground as well as he was jolted with electricity. Despite the intense pain I just felt I felt a lot of relief that I was almost free. My neck was especially pleased since this was the first time I took off this collar in Mew knows how long.

"Okay we're going to get the others freed. Stay quiet and wait for the signal. When you here the signal charge for the exit and take down anyone that stands in your way" Dom said as he ran to the next pokemon to free them.

"I can't believe this is it" Aaron said to me quietly. I looked back at him and saw the excitement growing on his face. It made me feel happy since most of the time we were here me and him have been depressed and he was especially having a hard time adapting to life with three legs instead of four.

"I know" I replied quietly. Aaron and I both waited patiently not making a single sound to set off anyone who would compromise our escape. We didn't speak or anything we just sat their and waited in high anticipation.

"Everyone lets go! We're doing this now" A voice boomed through the silence of the dark cave. With those words echoing in our ears everyone got up on their feet and began charging towards the exit without a moment of hesitation. My heart was now beginning to pump really hard and it was actually making my chest a little soar from the constant thumping. Everything moved in slow motion as everyone including myself charged towards the front gate like an army. I felt very light on my feet as my body was filled with adrenaline that made my body feel indestructible.

Everyone let out their own versions of battle cries as the front gate came into sight as we all ran at max speed. Before we could reach it though I heard a loud siren go off in the cave and before we could reach the front gate many of the pokemon that held us hostage here stood in front of the gate. In front of the wall of pokemon traffickers was the infernape that has caused many pokemon a lot of pain.

"Alright your little game ends here, go back to your sleeping quarters now and we'll pretend this never happened" the infernape yelled at us.

"Fuck you" a random pokemon yelled from our army. After hearing the random outburst everyone charged the pokemon guarding out way. A variety of elemental attacks were flying left and right and at this point I was lying on the ground trying not to get hit by anything. I saw grovyle standing over me but he was instantly blasted down by an ember from another pokemon. The grovyle didn't even move and I could see burnt flesh on his chest.

"Gray get up" Aaron yelled as he stood over me and launched a flamethrower towards the enemy. The pokemon he target all jumped out of the way without even thinking twice.

Before the fight could escalate anymore everyone froze as they saw a new pokemon enter the battlefield. "Sweet mother of Mew" Aaron muttered below his breath as a charizard stepped into the cave. I had no idea how they fitted that thing in here but it was very bad for our side and changed the odds instantly.

The charizard opened its mouth and released a flamethrower towards some victim that where burned instantly in a scorching flame. Everyone on our side was now running around frantically avoided third degree burns.

I eventually managed to stand back up and I relocated the exit. "Aaron lets go" I said as I made a break for it.

"You go I'm not leaving yet" Aaron yelled back at me.

"Are you crazy this is our-" I was saying before I was interrupted by Aaron "No I am a part of WPA and I'm trained for this. I'm not going to leave while others die for me" Aaron said with a lot of bravery and fire glowing in his eyes as he eyed the charizard. He was right though, we are WPA and were trained for this.

"Your right, being stuck in this cave to long must have messed with my head. Tell me though when did I start backing down to prissy little lizards" I said with a confident smirk as we both ran towards the charizard to help save our comrades.

Every second that went by more and more of our friends were incinerated to cinder. I charged up and ice beam in my mouth and I shot it towards the charizards face. The charizard lifted up his paw and it took the full impact and froze his paw. The charizard instantly stopped its killing spree and looked at me with an angry glare. If it wasn't for my big talk a few seconds ago I would have so been having second thoughts by now.

"What afraid of a little ice" I insulted the charizard. My over all plan was more to distract it than to accelerate my death and there was no doubt that I had my lizard friend's attention. The dragon like creature began charging up a flame thrower that was directed at yours truly.

"Lugia what have I done" I said in shock from watching the charizard choosing me for its next victim. Before anything could happen though I saw Dom come from behind the charizard and jump on its back and he shoved both of his claws into its back. The instant he did that the charizard let out a loud scream and began flapping its wings and took flight into what room it did have in the cave. The charizard bashed its back into the ceiling as hard as it could right where Dom was. I then heard another rumbling noise from the cave that didn't sound too good.

Dom was now covered in blood but he was still on the charizard back and he ripped his claws out of its back and took a big chunk of its flesh and scales with it. Before the sneasel could fall off he jumped up even further and stabbed his left arm in its back and took his right arm and repeatedly stabbed the lizard in its back.

The charizard let out a loud roar as it flapped its wings again and flew into the nearest wall with all of its force. Dom was now holding on with all of his might trying not to fall off as the charizard crashed into everything possible in an attempt to shake him off.

Many of our comrades have fled and for a matter of fact Aaron and I were the only two left besides Dom. Even many of the guards left as the charizard went on its rampage, a little ironic that their own weapon backfired.

Aaron and I both watched as the fight between the sneasel and the charizard continued. Aaron and I would have helped if it was possible. We couldn't get close to that thing with it crashing into everything and a ranged attack could hit Dom and injure him worse.

As the charizard continued to crash into the ceilings and walls the cave continued to make rumbling sounds as if the ceiling above us was shifting, I had a fear that another cave collapse was about to occur. After a few seconds of the charizard freaking out it eventually grew tired and landed on the ground to catch its breath as it fell onto its hands and barely held itself up.

Dom was covered in blood and bruises and his whole entire left claw broke off and he was only hanging on with one claw. Dom grabbed his claw that broke off and pulled it out of the charizards back and stabbed it into its back again and pulled himself up even further. The charizard noticed he was active again and stoop up on its two legs.

Before the charizard could take again Dom took his broken off claw and rammed it into the back of the lizards neck. The charizard screamed in agonizing pain but Dom showed it no mercy and he took his remaining claw and rammed it right into his broken off claw and forced the claw deep into the charizards neck. Blood squirted out of the charizards mouth and the dragons scream was soon replaced with a gurgling noise as it fell down onto its face and a pool of blood formed around its neck. Dom got up off the charizard and jumped onto the floor. I could tell he was weak because he was walking very slowly towards us and he also appeared to be severely wounded.

"Dom that was amazing" Aaron yelled out in surprise. I myself was impressed, he single handedly killed a charizard, don't get me wrong I didn't condone killing but I also understand when you have no choise.

"Yeah I impress myself" Dom said in a weak voice as he fell to his knees. The ceiling of the cave let out another rumbling sound and that was our indication to get the hell out of here. Every single one of us looked at the exit and made our way towards the exit in a sprint, I was in the lead of my friends and behind me was Aaron then Dom. Despite Dom's injury he was just as fast as us. But before we made it to the exit I heard a loud scream from Dom. I looked back at the sneasel and saw that infernape standing over him.

In the infernapes hand was that steel rod he used to beat his victims. "Don't think your getting off this easy, I know it was you who started all of this" the infernape yelled as he delivered a strong blow to the sneasel's head. I heard a loud crack noise and I saw blood splatter onto the floor.

"You bastard" Aaron yelled as he tackled the infernape just one second to late from stopping the lethal blow. Dom didn't move and I feared that the blow was going to be serious. Aaron was quickly knocked off the infernape and both instantly got to their feet.

"So it comes down to this. I always wanted to beat you all to death but I never had a good excuse. Guess now I got one huh" the infernape said as he looked at us with a demented smile forming. This is it this battle would decide our freedom, failure wouldn't be an option.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Okay I'm going to try and keep this short since I have this crap laptop on my lap and its giving me third degree burns from overheating... Anyways I hope this chapter came out fine because by the time I finished it I didn't edit it much since I couldn't tolerate this computer anymore. So if it did come out bad just give me a holler and I'll put up with this Mew forsaken laptop to fix it up. Anyways onto the story. So now we are seeing an escape plan and things are getting rather hectic for Gray and his friends. Next chapter will be the last chapter of the flash back and I would have made this chapter long enough to finish it but again this laptop... So next chapter will be great if you already like whats going on.

Thank you to all the viewers and anyone who shows any form of support towards this story, it does not go unnoticed.


	50. Gray's Downfall

**So here it is the finale of Gray's flashback. So I got my computer fixed a lot sooner than I anticipated so I was very comfortable while writing this chapter. So in other words I had my full attention dedicated tot his chapter and I have to say this chapter came out really good and I can't wait to see what people think lol. Anyways I'll keep this short and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. **

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**Chapter 50: Gray's Downfall**

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**Point of View Gray, eight year's ago**

Aaron and I both faced the infernape as we braced ourselves for this battle. Next to the infernape's feet was Dom who was unconscious and had a pool of blood forming around his head. I really feared that the blow he just received was serious and I'd be surprised if he escaped with just a concussion. The cave on the other hand was rumbling constantly and here and there a few small rocks would fall off the ceiling.

"Make your move" the infernape yelled at us with a cocky grin. I let out a growl in reply but Aaron remained as calm as possible in this situation.

"Gray don't act on impulse we need to finish this fast or were all dead. Let's be smart about this" Aaron suggested.

"What do you have planned" I asked the flareon.

"Let's stick with ranged attacks until we have an opening since we want to avoid his little stick" Aaron said and I nodded in agreement.

Without any hesitation Aaron and I both began charging up a distant attack. Aaron launched an ember and I shot an ice beam. The infernape easily dodged the ember but I continued to fire my ice beam at him and I targeted him no matter where he went. After a few seconds I stopped firing the attack due to being exhausted.

I was now gasping for air I never realized how out of shape I was with elemental attacks. Sure my physical strength went up a lot from pulling a cart around all day but fighting wise I was out of shape. The infernape then saw his chance and charged towards us with his crazy smile. Aaron shot a flamerthrower at him but the infernape moved out of the way without a problem. The monkey was actually pretty fast and I had little time to react appropriately.

Once the infernape reached me I froze up as I always did when I was in danger and I just stared in shock. "Gray move" Aaron yelled as he tried to stop the infernape that wacked me in the face with his steel rod. The rod made solid contact with the horn on my head and I heard a loud crack as I went flying onto the ground. I moaned in pain as I tried to recover and I ran my paw along my horn and I felt a big crack in my horn.

Aaron was now trying his best to dodge the infernape's wild swings towards him. Aaron's paw then ignited on fire as he sent a solid punch into the infernape's gut. The monkey flinched back but only smiled from the attack he just received.

"Is this a joke" he laughed. Aaron let out a growl in anger as he too began to lose his temper. Aaron jumped in the air and delivered another punch to the infernape's chest and did practically nothing to him.

"You two aren't even worth fighting. You should have ran with the rest of your inmates but now you'll die here" the infernape said with a laugh. The infernape then dropped the steel rod he always carried with him and held up his two fists and stood in a martial art stance. One hand in front of his face and his other hand was held low near his waist. His two fists were then shrouded in fire as he let out a cocky smile.

"Come on you two, humor me" he taunted as he waited for our next move. I stood up finally as I got over the excruciating pain in my body. Aaron jumped back to keep his distance from the infernape since neither of us had an idea of what to expect from him.

"Let's attack together" Aaron whispered to me as quietly as possible.

"Agreed" I whispered back and we both sprinted towards our opponent without a moment of hesitation. Aaron shot an ember before we got close and his right paw lit up on fire as he jumped in the air and swung it at the infernape. Aaron's right paw was grabbed before he could make contact and the infernape swung him in the air and threw him like a toy.

I charged towards the infernape and I attempted to slam my whole body into him but before I made contact I felt the infernapes flaming hand make contact with my neck. I would have let out a gasp of air if I could but my wind pipe refused to cooperate with me. So instead I was on the ground trying to breathe.

"Another failure" the infernape taunted as he walked up to me. I tried to move out of the way but I was to dizzy from the lack of air in my body. The infernape grabbed me by my cracked horn and forced me to my feet by pulling on it. I screamed in agonizing pain as he tugged on my upset horn. I tried to claw at him but I missed every time. The infernape held my horn tightly and he sent a solid punch into my temple and I instantly felt even dizzier along with more pain in my horn from the force of being punched.

Before I could recover from the punch he kneed me in my jaw and then he threw me onto the ground using my horn for grip. I could feel the bone in my horn giving away and the pain was excruciating as I felt the bone crunching. Aaron then tried to help and sent an ember towards the infernape. The monkey just stuck out his free hand and punched the ember and created an explosion.

Aaron then charged towards the infernape and tried to punch him yet again. Before Aaron could make contact the infernape uppercutted hiss jaw and the flareon went flying back onto the ground followed with a yelp of pain. Seeing Aaron in pain sparked something in me and I tried standing but the infernape pinned me down with his foot.

"You two are rather boring opponents" the monkey said in a bored tone. Then the infernape grabbed my horn with both of his paws and began pulling on it as hard as he could as he pinned me down on the ground with his foot. I let out a loud scream of pain as I listened to my horn crack louder and louder. Then I heard a loud snap noise and the area where my horn was throbbed in pain and fell numb as the infernape fell back off me.

I couldn't hear anything right now besides me screaming as loud as I could at the top of my lungs as blood spurted from where part of my horn was. I rolled around on the ground trying to cope with the pain that wouldn't go away. Out of all the pain I felt in my life none of it has compared to one second of feeling this pain. Absol horns are used for detecting danger and stuff like that and there is actually a lot of nerves in an absol's horn, more than an average muscle or bone. The infernape was now standing back up as he held my horn in his hand. He then dropped it on the ground and kicked it away as if it was nothing.

"You… I'm going to kill you" I barely heard Aaron yell in anger as I screamed in pain. Everything was growing blurry now and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Aaron facing the infernape one on one.

I don't know how long I was out but my vision came back to me and the first thing I saw was that infernape on top of Aaron chocking him out as he violently bashed his head against the ground without mercy. The infernape was smiling as Aaron struggled to survive.

The infernape was completely oblivious to the fact that I was awake at the moment. This was the opening I needed and was probably our last chance to win. I stood up on wobbly feet as blood from where my horn was soaked my entire face.

I concentrated really hard and ice began to form around my right paw and slowly grew until a giant spike was on my right paw. This was something I never used due to it having a single purpose. I sprinted towards the infernape on three of my paws as I stayed off the ice blade on my right paw. Right before I reached Aaron the infernape turned his head and the last thing he saw was my blade puncturing the back of his neck instantly severing the spinal cord.

The infernape let out a loud gurgling noise but he didn't stand for long and he fell on the ground. Aaron let out a loud cough as soon as he got some air. The glacier that formed around my paw instantly melted off along with the blood that covered it.

"Are you okay" I asked in a weak voice.

"I'll manage, but what about you… your horn" Aaron reminded me.

"That's the least of my concerns" I lied, it was a big concern since that was a piece of my body and it's what made absol's, absol's.

Before we could check on both of our health conditions we both remembered Dom as we both looked over towards the unconscious sneasel. We both ran over towards him in a hurry. The instant we got to him Aaron nudged him with his one paw but got no reply.

"Dom wake up" I yelled as I heard the cave rumbling and a boulder fell from the ceiling. This was it the cave was collapsing and we were out of time. I quickly placed my paw over Dom's neck and tried to feel a pulse but I felt nothing but the cold from his limp body.

"Aaron… I think he's gone" I said in a bitter voice as I kept looking for a pulse.

"Are you sure" Aaron yelled at me as more rocks fell from the ceiling and I heard the main ceiling cracking.

"I'm getting nothing and he's not breathing" I replied back in a panicked voice. Aaron fell silent for a few seconds as time slowed down and even though the cave was collapsing everything felt awkwardly silent.

"We won't forget what you've done for us Dom, you're a true hero" Aaron said as he bowed his head in respect. I followed his lead and bowed as well. I wouldn't forget his sacrifice either and I'd forever be grateful for what he's done for us. He was the only reason me and Aaron made it as far as he did and it was truly too bad he wouldn't live to see freedom.

"We need to go" Aaron said as he turned towards the exit. I nodded and we both ran as fast as we could with our injured bodies. Rocks fell from the ceiling and soon after that boulders fell as we ran across the big clearing in an attempt to get to the exit tunnel. The fence was thankfully open so we didn't have to worry about that being in the way. Aaron and I both zigzagged away from the rocks that did fall off the ceiling and we both almost got crushed by boulders on multiple occasions.

Right before I entered into the exit tunnel I saw a gigantic chunk of rock collapse off the ceiling and it fell down from the ceiling towards me. I froze up as I tried to decide where to move to. Then I felt someone tackle me and I went flying into the safety of the exit tunnel. I lied in the safety of the exit tunnel not really sure what just happened. I looked around and I didn't see Aaron anywhere.

"Aaron…" I said in a confused voice as I realized he was nowhere to be found "Aaron" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I looked around frantically through the thick dust that covered the air.

"Gray…" I heard Aaron call out in a very quiet voice that I could hardly hear.

The dust cleared out and I saw a giant boulder blocking the tunnel we came from. My gaze slowly went down until I saw Aaron below the boulder with his whole lower body crushed under the boulder.

"Aaron" I yelled out as I ran towards my friend. I looked down and I observed the situation. Blood was coming out from below the boulder where his lower body was crushed.

"Aaron… Mew no! No!" I yelled out in a panicked voice as I tried to push the boulder off of him.

"Gray… it's… alright" Aaron said in a weak voice.

"No I'm going to get this off of you and were getting out of here together" I yelled in a determined voice as I continued to push on the boulder that didn't even nudge a little.

"Gray… please I don't want this to be our last memory" Aaron said. I instantly stopped pushing and I looked at Aaron who had a tear coming down his eye.

"I'm… I'm here" I said as I felt a stinging feeling in my eyes as I sniffled a little. I sat down next to Aaron and I looked at him.

"It's fine honestly… Even if you did get that off me I'd be even more of a cripple than before" Aaron joked even though this was not the time for that.

"Don't talk like that" I shouted at him as I felt a wet substance leak down from my eyes.

"Gray… I need you to promise something" Aaron said in a faint voice.

"What is it" I asked him as I leaned closer to him so I didn't miss a word.

"I know you blame Eclipse for this and I know I can't ask you not to hate him… but please don't seek revenge." I couldn't even respond to that. I wanted to seek revenge so bad and now my friend was telling me not to as his dying wish.

"I'll be waiting with everyone else for you… just don't hurry back to us" Aaron said with a small smile in a voice that I could hardly here as his eyes slowly closed and I heard his last breath leave his body. I couldn't believe this was happening. I spent so much time with him in the past and he is someone who has always been in my life and I couldn't imagine things differently.

"Aaron… Aaron!" I yelled as loud as I could as I tried to shake him back awake. "Why you out of all pokemon" I asked as I watched my friend in his eternal sleep, tears where now rolling down my eyes as I sobbed at the sight.

I heard another tremor from the ceiling as pebbles began to fall from the ceiling. I would stay here forever if I could but I wasn't sure how long the cave would hold. I stood up and I hesitantly walked towards the exit. I looked back one last time and looked at Aaron and that's when I noticed something that I'd never forget. Aaron died with a smile on his face.

With hat last thought in my head I walked away from Aaron. I started off slowly walking but as I kept walking I picked up speed until I was running and at the end of the tunnel I saw a bright light. I ran towards the light never looking back once.

The instant I stepped foot out of the cave I was blinded by a bright light. I couldn't see a single thing and my eyes burned as if they've never seen light before. A cold wind blew through the air as it numbed the area where my horn used to be.

After a few seconds my vision made out the area around me. I was in a forest right outside a mountain. The world around me had at least a half a foot of snow. I looked back at the cave one last time as I remembered Aaron and everyone I lost.

Was there even a point to living at this point? The whole time the only thing that kept me going was getting out alive with Aaron or Sarah. I had no one left they were all taken from me, all because of that fucking umbreon. I was going to honor Aaron's dying wish but in no way was I ever going to forgive that disgusting creature and what he's done.

I walked through the snowy forest as my body became numb from the cold. Although it didn't matter to me, I felt cold inside already. Everything was so silent all I heard was the wind whipping through the silent air and the snow crunching below my footsteps.

After hours of walking aimlessly through the forest without a purpose I realized that this was now my reality. I had nothing, I was completely alone without a purpose in life. Aaron said not to hurry to the afterlife with them but what was left for me here. MY family was all taken from me in a few years and I had nothing.

Was there a point to me being alive? The only thing I could desire at this point was Eclipse's blood but that was out of the question. I continued to walk without a purpose through the forest. After hours of walking through the forest a thought came into my head. How long was I even their and how much have I missed in the real world?

Eventually the sun was setting and I was growing tired of aimlessly walking. I fell into the snow and I didn't even both to move. This was where I planned to die. I was tired at this point and I'd be asleep soon. So freezing to death in my own sleep wouldn't be so horrible and it'd probably even numb some of the pain. The sun eventually descended and the darkness came. Everything was so dark and cold. After a while my vision faded away and I slipped into a deep sleep. What I was hoping would be my everlasting sleep.

Late that night I heard footsteps around me crunching through the snow as the footsteps got closer to me. It was too dark for me to see anything and I just closed my eyes and tried to go back to dying. I heard talking around me and after a few seconds I felt to warm arms wrap around me and pick me up. I don't know who this stranger was but I felt safe in the arms of whoever was holding me. I drifted off back into a deep sleep as someone carried me off into the dark night.

* * *

I don't know where I was but I was lying on something soft and warm. The room had warmth circulating through it and created a comfy atmosphere compared to the frigid cold I felt earlier. My eyes peeked open and I realized I was in a building. I looked around slowly and I noticed medical equipment everywhere so I had to assume I was in a pokemon center or something.

"Ah your awake, how do you feel" A friendly feminine voice called out. I looked over a little and saw a Wigglytuff with a nurse hat on. I didn't respond and I just looked down to the ground. What was the point of growing close to anyone if there just going to die eventually.

"You don't have to talk until you are ready, authorities were alerted about the pokemon trafficking. One of the pokemon was able to identify you and confirm you were there to" the Wigglytuff said.

"Who?"

"Someone who was there as well, they said they didn't know you personally they just recognized you" she informed me.

"When can I leave" I asked.

"We can't let you leave yet. We had plans to help pokemon like you" the Wigglytuff said as she looked on a clipboard. "For you we were going to get a prosthetic horn so no one will even no you lost it and then you'll be submitted in the pokemon rescue program" she said.

"Pokemon what" I questioned.

"Pokemon rescue program. Its where we take pokemon like you who are down on their luck and put you in the homes of a loving family" the nurse said. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but I wasn't in the mood to argue either.

"We actually already found you a good family. Alex Hayter, it says here that he has another rescue pokemon as well. I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms" she said with a smile on her face. Despite her friendly attitude I wasn't in the mood for a new family. I wanted my family back and if I couldn't be with them then what's the point.

* * *

**Point of View Gray, present time**

I was now walking down the streets of Cyllage. Everyone kept their distance from me as I shot angry glances at everyone in my way.

"No one understands shit" I muttered below my breath as I pushed someone out of my way, how could they side with Black, how could they want to be friends with a monster. He is just going to sell us out in the end and he's already proven to be a danger to us. What's next he will sell us out to Genesis in exchange for his life or hell maybe he'll help them.

'Why does no one see logic' I screamed mentally in my head as I walked down the streets of cyllage all alone.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well that ends the flashback. I really enjoyed writing this part of the main story and I think it will change some of your opinions on Gray. So my over all question is! What do you think of Gray after reading these four chapters and do you understand his hatred now? Anyways at the end I was trying to go for a very depressing feel and I really hope I nailed that. After all he did just lose the last person he had in his life and not many sane people walk that off. So next chapter will probably be up soon and I hope this part of the story was refreshing and helped build Gray up.

Thank you to everyone who review's and supports this story!


	51. Shattered Arm

**So here we are on the next chapter. Hopefully most of you remember what has happened before the flashback. This was a pretty fun chapter to write and hopefully it came out alright. I've been trying to find time to go back and remaster some of the first chapters of this story but I've been to lazy to do it honestly lol. I did redo the first chapter two weeks ago and its a lot better and much more presentable. I look back at that 1st chap and I question how some of you tolerated the bad grammar I had back then. So I came pretty far in the past three or so months. Anyways thanks to everyone who's read past all my horrible grammar back when I started lol.**

* * *

**Chapter 51: Shattered Arm**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

So here I am again… in another pokecenter… for the fiftieth time at least. The only good thing about getting hospitalized on a daily basis is the fact I get to sleep on the comfy bed's they have in the patient rooms. The room looked like every typical pokecenter room. Bright lights that made me want to hide under the comfy bed I was on and there was your typical artificial plant in the corner next to the door along with some chairs against the wall with some old magazines. I would have been comfortable in here if it wasn't for that light that is frying me like an egg.

It was now midday after the little incident with Gray and I was not letting this go. The bones in my right arm completely shattered because of him and now I was going to be stuck like this for Mew knows how long. My arm still hurts like hell but the worst part of the pain was gone for now. After a few minutes of me thinking of how to get back at Gray the door to my room opened. I looked over anticipating Alex or something but instead I saw a doctor.

The doctor looked like every other doctor. She had that dumb white jacket on and that creepy thing around their neck that they put against your chest. The doctor also had long blonde hair that was in a ponytail. The doctor was also pretty young compared to the other old people I've seen working these crap holes.

"Okay Black I'm just going to have to apply a cast to your injured arm and you'll be able to leave once your trainer comes back to get you" The lady said with a big smile that surprisingly didn't look fake compared to other doctors. She then plopped a big case on a small table right next to my bed.

"What are you doing" I asked the doctor even though she had no idea what I said.

"Don't worry this'll be quick" she said politely as she opened the case up. The contents of the case contained many different kinds of wraps and I had no idea what she had planned or what the hell a cast was.

"Lady I don't want you touching me" I detested. The lady then pulled out some mesh looking wrap.

"May I see your right paw" she asked politely as she reached out one hand towards me.

"What'd I just say" I growled at her. I wasn't in the mood for this and I was no fan of doctors after the first time I got put in a pokecenter. I still remember those whack jobs that almost killed me.

"Come on now I'm just trying to help. Now be a big boy and-" She tried saying before I interrupted "Okay don't talk to me like that I've seen things your human heart couldn't take" I snarled at her. I mean honestly I watched my family die and faced death many times and your telling me to be a big boy as if I was some little kid.

"I guess you are not a strong umbreon" The doctor said in an attempt to play with my emotions.

"Nope I guess I'm not" I replied back as I turned my head to her and refused to make eye contact. I couldn't believe she was trying such a cheesy tactic like that and it was rather insulting.

"Okay listen buddy I get it you don't want me to touch your arm but I bet you want out of here more, so if you cooperate I can get you home faster" the doctor said and caught my attention right away. I turned my head towards her with interest.

"Okay now let me have your paw" she asked and I complied this time with no resistance.

"Fine but you better not screw up my arm" I said in a stern voice as she wrapped a mesh like wrap around my arm. She was very gentle and I could hardly feel anything as she carefully wrapped the mesh around my arm. After the mesh was wrapped I thought it was over but then she pulled out another wrap and began wrapping my arm again. This time though I could feel more pressure and it was slightly upsetting my arm.

"Ow" I winced as she completely wrapped it around my lower arm and finished that part of my cast. "Now are we done?" I asked in annoyance. I don't know why I keep asking questions when these humans can't understand crap.

The lady then pulled out another wrap but this one looked much thicker than the others. She began wrapping this wrap around my arm and the pressure was actually hurting my arm a lot, I tried to pull away my arm but the instant I did that my arm shot up with pain since she was holding it and I hurt the bones in my arm. After a few minutes the last layer was on and this ugly white cast was on my lower right arm.

"Okay Black that's that and you can leave once your trainer comes back to get you" the lady said with a friendly smile as she picked up her case and walked out of the room. I looked down at the cast on my right arm. It was rather tight, uncomfortable, and bulky. Since that lady was gone there was no point in having this thing so I bit down on the cast in an attempt to tear it off. The instant I bit the cast my teeth hit the hard surface and failed to penetrate it.

"Dammit" I yelled in frustration. I wanted this thing off now and there was no way I was going to be seen walking around with something as dumb as this on my arm.

After around ten minutes of me gnawing on my cast the door opened up again. This time instead of a doctor it was Alex, his dad, Flare, Hesh, Ebony and Kana. Every single one of them piled into the room and quickly took up all of the breathing room. Everyone stared at me as I sat up on the bed, this felt extremely awkward being the center of attention.

"So how's the arm" Hesh broke the silence. I slowly lifted up the cast and showed everyone in humiliation.

"Just pull the plug on me, I'm not living a day like this" I whined as I looked at the obnoxious cast on my arm.

"Black… your not on life support and there is no plug to pull" Hesh said and made me feel a little silly.

After a few minutes of everyone talking that same nurse from before walked back in the room with a clipboard "Good evening can I please have your signature and you'll be free to go" the doctor said as she handed Alex a clipboard with a piece of paper on it. Alex grabbed it and wrote his signature on it with a pen and handed back the clipboard.

"Okay thank you, your umbreon will have to keep that on for about four weeks, but if you let him sit out in the moonlight every night he may heal up in two weeks" The nurse said.

"Sure anything else I should know" Alex asked.

The nurse looked back at him "Yeah don't let him walk on that paw and let him rest up. And some vitamin D never hurts either" the nurse said.

"Okay thanks" Alex said and the nurse gave a nod and exited the room and left us to ourselves.

"You ready to leave Black" Alex asked.

"You wouldn't believe" I replied and Alex grabbed me and gently set me on the floor. I didn't like being picked up but I could see why he did that since he didn't want to further injure my arm.

* * *

**Point of View Nia**

I walked down the streets of Cyllage city with very angry footsteps. Everyone who looked at me and noticed the angry look in my eyes instantly moved out of my way. In my mouth now was the only syringe I had left and the even better things about the one syringe I had left was the fact I had no way of injecting myself with it. Being quadruped had its ups and downs, I really wish there was a way for me to inject myself with the syringe.

The wound I received to my shoulder was still their but it was healed up enough for me to walk with little difficulty. I only had one thing on my mind right now and that was getting my medication in my body. I'm already a few days overdue on it and I could slightly feel the effects taking place. I had to take the medication at least once a week and I wasn't really a fan of skipping out on my medication since I needed it to operate properly. So the real question is where was I going to find someone to inject me with a random syringe.

"This is just perfect" I muttered below my breath as I considered my next move. I turned down another street and I continued making my way around the city without a purpose.

"Hey umbreon what are you doing here" an unhappy voice said from behind me. I didn't bother to look back since I didn't care for talking to assholes.

"Hey he's talking to you" Another voice yelled at me in a hostile tone. I stopped walking and I looked back at the pokemon behind me. The pokemon behind me was a geodude, a totodile and an axew.

"I'm not in the mood for crap so go away" I growled with the syringe in my mouth at the bunch. I looked around a bit and I noticed that this street was completely empty and we were the only pokemon on it at the moment.

"You should speak more respectfully towards us" the axew growled at me. I looked at the pokemon with a serious glare that showed no fear and only anger.

"How about you leave me alone" I muffled with the syringe in my mouth.

"What's that" the totodile pointed out the syringe in my mouth.

"Probably drugs, she's probably looking for somewhere private so she can have a good time with it" the geodude said with a laugh.

"How about you mind you mind your own business" I snarled at them. The geodude replied to me by picking up a bottle on the ground and threw it straight at me. He threw it at light speed and I hardly saw it coming. When the glass bottle made contact in the center of my skull it shattered and I fell to the ground and the syringe fell out of my mouth. My vision was blurred for a few seconds and I could feel a chunk of glass stuck in my head. The syringe that was in my mouth rolled towards the group of pokemon and once it reached them the axew stopped it from rolling with his foot.

"Pitiful umbreon resorting to drugs, there's a reason the worlds better off without your kind" the axew said as he picked up the syringe and unscrewed the top.

"Don't" I yelled at him as he began to slowly spill out the contents of the syringe.

"Oh and why not" the totodile asked as he smiled with sick joy from my pain.

"That's not an illegal drug it's my medication and I really need it" I yelled in a desperate voice as I watched him slowly spill the contents on the floor.

"As if we care" the axew said as he completely spilled the contents on the ground. Hope instantly left me as I watched the axew rub his foot all over my medicine on the ground. Now I was really screwed since that was the only medication syringe I had left.

"Your going to regret that" I growled as I stood up on my four paws and stared down the three pokemon with a death stare.

"As if were scared of a little scrawny anorexic umbreon like you" the totodile said. That last comment did it and my patience was gone. I charged at the pokemon at light speed. No one and I mean no one comments on my size.

I tackled right into the axew and sent the pokemon straight into the ground. I stood over the lizard creature and I slugged him as hard as I could in the face with my paw. The instant I hit him I jumped off him just in time to avoid a water gun from the totodile.

The geodude tried punching me as well but I moved away from him and made my way towards the totodile. The totodile saw me running towards him and he fell to the ground and shielded his face from me. Sadly for him his arms didn't protect him from a solid punch to the gut. The totodile let out a loud gasp of air as he fell on his back.

I jumped on top of the defenseless pokemon and I punched him over and over in the face until his nose was bleeding and his face was bruised severely. Then I felt something rock hard smash into the side of my skull and I flew onto the ground hardly conscious. The geodude then stood over me as he cracked his knuckles. He then picked me up by the neck and held me in the air as he slugged me right in my stomach. I let out a loud scream of pain as he continuously whaled on my underbelly with his rock hard fist.

After the tenth punch he grabbed me with both of his arms and threw me onto the ground and my body smacked on the concrete ground. I struggled to breathe as every nerve in my stomach cried in pain. I couldn't breathe no matter how hard I tried and I felt extremely noxious after taking that much abuse in the gut. I felt myself gag and bodily fluids came out of my mouth and onto the concrete ground. After that I fell into the pile of vomit hardly conscious as I fought to stay awake.

"Stupid umbreon" the axew said as he walked up to me with a limp. I would have replied if I wasn't still struggling for my breath as I rolled onto my side to help me breathe. The axew then let out a smirk and kicked me as hard as he could in my stomach. I let out a loud yelp as the pain began to feel like too much. My stomach felt like it was on fire from all the blows it has received in this fight and I couldn't take the pain anymore.

'Am I going to die here' was the only question I could think. The axew continued to look down at me before he delivered another kick into jaw. That kick sent a wave of pain through my whole head and I instantly felt dizzy. Everything grew dark as the axew turned around and walked towards the totodile that was lying unconsciously on the floor. Before I knew it my vision went completely dark.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

"So why can't you tell me where we are going" I asked the white espeon.

Since I passed the mind interrogation Vincent and Merrick were now escorting me to some place they wouldn't speak about. The only reason I passed the mind interrogation was because of something Zero did to my head so Vincent didn't see what really happened when I was in the genesis base. Instead he saw a false memory of me being knocked out the duration of my stay until I was brought to that place where they gave me to Crimson. So in other words they were oblivious to the truth and Zero outsmarted Vincent.

"I told you you'll see when were their" Vincent replied as we walked through a forest.

"It's on the other side of Kalos" I replied back.

"Yeah and you'll see it on the other side of Kalos" Vincent responded back to me as he maneuvered around the brush and tree's. This was pretty annoying in my opinion. I hated surprises and I wasn't in the mood to travel across Kalos without a decent reason to why.

"So since I passed your little brain interrogation are you going to tell me your mastermind plan" I asked Vincent as I followed him.

"Yeah once were at our destination."

"Okay then what is this? I let you go through every personal thought in my head and I can't even have a reasonable answer to what's going on" I said with frustration.

Vincent turned his head back at me "Alright I'll tell you where we are going but after that you have to be patient okay" Vincent proposed to me.

"Okay" I replied back with a nod.

"We're going to our hideout. There we will tell you everything and you'll learn our full plan" Vincent said as he looked forward again. I couldn't lie that was a pretty good reason to why I should keep going and it was a sign that I was almost free. All I have to do from here is get Crimson's little plan and maybe backstab a few pokemon and I'll be free for the first time in my life.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

We were all now stuffed into that hotel room of ours and at this point there was hardly any room left with all of us outside of our pokeball's. Everyone was socializing or relaxing. I was lying on the couch which Gray would have claimed if he was here but he was out in an unknown location at the moment. Alex and his dad both went out to look for the absol while we all stayed here and rested up for tomorrows, which I wouldn't have to do due to my injuries.

While I lied on the couch I continued to gnaw on the cast on my arm. This thing was uncomfortable and made my arm itch a lot and I was slowly going insane with it on. Sadly my teeth wouldn't penetrate the solid cast and I only managed to wear out the surface a little.

"You know your not getting it off like that right" Hesh yelled out to me.

I released the cast that was now covered in my slobber and looked at Hesh "And how do I get it off" I asked the all-knowing Hesh.

"Simple you don't, those things are idiot proof and casts like those have to be cut off with a saw or something like that" Hesh responded.

"So let's get a saw and cut this bulky thing off" I said.

"Don't you know that things on you to protect your arm" Kana added in.

"Oh really I thought it was on me just for the sake of annoying me" I replied back sarcastically as I went back to chewing it off.

"Black stop your teeth will break before you get it off" Hesh said as he jumped on the couch with me. "Besides I got a fun idea" Hesh said with a smirk.

"What's that" I asked the rodent.

"This" Hesh said as he pulled out permanent marker. Hesh then tackled me onto the couch and sat on top of me so I couldn't get up easily.

"Get your fat ass off me" I yelled in frustration as I struggled against him. Hesh just laughed as he drew on my cast with the marker. "I said get off" I yelled as I forced myself up and the pikachu fell off of me and onto the floor. I held up my cast and observed the art work he drew on my cast.

"You got to be kidding me" I growled at him. On the cast was a bunch of poorly drawn flowers and stars and he wrote some words on it. Since I was illiterate I had no idea what it said.

"What does this say" I yelled at Hesh as everyone laughed at the girly art he drew on my cast. Hesh fell over laughing harder than anyone else. "What does it say" I screamed at him in anger.

"It says-" Hesh began to say before he bursted out laughing again. "It says forever single" Hesh said as he lost it and began laughing so hard he was in tears. I then remembered back to that comment I made right before Alex put me in my pokeball a couple days ago.

"I knew you'd bring that up one day" I said as I tried to keep my cool and not kill the rat. Everyone looked rather amused but I seriously think Hesh is about to die from laughing.

"Okay Hesh it's not that funny" I yelled at the rodent.

Flare then decided to open his stupid mouth "Actually it kind of is since your going to have to wear that for three weeks and everyone is going to read that". Sadly that was true and every time I look at my arm I was going to have to remember that and the fact that my friend is a total douche.

I didn't reply to anyone and I just jumped back up on the couch and started chewing on my cast with even more ambition. After around ten minutes of munching on it I got tired and gave up on it for a bit. Everyone was back to being lazy just as I was. Flare and Kana were the only two really talking, Hesh and Ebony where mostly quiet and trying to sleep.

I don't know how long it took but I fell asleep on the couch. I could see why Gray always hogged this thing it was awesome. Eventually I did wake up when Alex and his dad where walking through the door. I looked over and saw them along with Gray who wore an angry look in his eyes.

'Sweet mew this asshole is back' I thought to myself.

Gray shot me a quick glance and he just lied down in a corner and he shut his eyes. The room felt awkwardly quiet now and I felt a rather cold and dark presence coming from Gray. As much as I wanted to cuss him out for earlier I didn't really think that was a good idea at the moment.

"Black what is that on your cast" Alex said in surprise as he walked over towards me and grabbed my injured arm and looked at it. My jaw dropped as I saw the new details that were added on it. My glance instantly shot over towards the only pikachu responsible. He had to of done it when I fell asleep for that brief period.

"Forever single" Alex read off my cast in a confused voice "What's that supposed to mean?" Alex was very confused by all the inappropriate drawings on my cast. Swastikas, pentagrams and some other inappropriate things I won't mention.

"Black what the hell is this" Alex said as he looked at the cast with a baffled look.

"Hesh what the hell" I yelled at the pikachu.

"Sorry but I couldn't resist" Hesh said as he scratched his head nervously. So this made everything better, not only did I have a big bulky cast on my arm but I have one that was decorated by a complete idiot with crappy art skills.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well nothing may have really happened on Blacks end of this chapter but I still thought it was rather amusing to write. If any of you ever broke a arm like I have you'd know that its no fun. I do remember when I had a cast we'd doodle all over it, I know today if I let my friends draw on it their would be a lot of profane stuff on it that would not be acceptable lol.

Anyways I'm going to leave this here and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. So till next time!


	52. Training

**Here is another chapter. This chapter is a little shorter than the other's. Anyway's I'm going to keep this short. Short chapter, short author note.**

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**Chapter 52: Training**

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**Point of View Nia**

My eyes slowly opened as I tried to recall what happened. I was lying on the cold ground and my stomach ached. I scanned the area with my tired eyes and I noticed I was still on the street where I was when I got assaulted. It was now night and everything around me was cold. I slowly rolled onto my belly and carefully stood up. The muscles in my stomach were not cooperating and it felt as if my stomach was a fragile as glass.

Once I struggled onto my feet I noticed something smelled bad and the side of my face felt sticky and dried up. I ran my paw through the fur on my head and I felt the sticky substance on my face. I quickly brushed it off as I realized what it was. It was the vomit I fell in when I got punched fifty-million times in the stomach and threw up. The thought of me lying in that pile of puke was really unsettling and nasty.

Once I finished wiping the nasty substance off my face I noticed the giant glass shard still stuck in my head from when that geodude threw that bottle at me. I probed it a few times with my paw but I stopped messing with it since I had no way of pulling it out and I was only making it worse.

I slowly began limping down the streets trying my hardest not to upset my stomach. Every time I took a step my stomach pulsed with pain. I was so tempted to just fall down and pass out again. So here I am again with no game plan and helpless. My only source of medicine was now gone and my time is running out to get my next dosage before it's too late.

I guess I'll have to go and get it from that group of pokemon. I did go back and looked for medicine but they took it for whatever purpose they'd have for it. The only problem is that I doubted that they'd just give it back to me and Mew knows I'm in no shape to take it by force. The worst part is that I don't have time to heal. My best bet would just be to ask and persuade them or something like that.

I continued to walk down the empty streets of Cyllage city without anywhere to sleep for the night, but in the end it didn't really matter to me since I am a nocturnal creature and I lived for the night.

* * *

**Point of View Hesh**

It was now early in the morning and Alex was forcing us all to get up so we could begin our daily training session. Everyone was yawning and trying their hardest to keep their eyes open. What I'd do for some coffee that those humans drank so much.

"Alright is everyone ready" Alex said in an excited voice. Everyone gave tired nods towards the pokemon trainer that had way too much energy for this time in the morning. Everyone followed Alex outside the door. Today Alex's dad was accompanying us on our training, I just hope Alex doesn't try and impress him or anything.

I looked over towards Black who was walking on three of his paws and holding his injured paw up. Lucky bastard doesn't have to do anything except sit there and sleep all day while we work tirelessly. I'll have to add some new designs on his cast to accommodate for that.

After a very long walk we finally made it to the park where we trained yesterday for like ten minutes before Black broke his arm. We were here even earlier than yesterday and the sun was barely even out at this point. No living creature should be forced to wake up this early.

"This is a drag" I said to myself.

"Alright is everyone here ready to begin" Alex asked us. Everyone nodded yes to the question.

"Okay I want everyone to take a warm up lap around the park to get the blood flowing, after that you should all be wide awake" Alex said in his peppy voice.

"And let me guess your going to sit there and watch us the whole time" I said in annoyance.

"Alright everyone get ready" Alex said despite my solid point.

"And go" Alex commanded and we all began running. Gray took the lead ahead of everyone with impressive speed. Flare and I weren't running our best but instead ran side by side. Ebony on the other hand lingered behind us a little and I had to check back on her every minute to make sure she was still breathing. Kana started off rather slow but within seconds the jolteon sprinted past Gray with little effort. That jolteon's speed is almost unbeatable and I've never seen a pokemon run that fast. Although I bet she will run out of breath in the next minute or so and she'll have to crawl the rest of the way.

"She's fast" I exclaimed as she continued to keep her pace without any sign of slowing down.

"She's a jolteon what'd you expect" Flare said.

"I know that but even for a jolteon that's fast" I pointed out as my I jogged at a steady pace. I looked over back towards Alex and Saw him and his dad talking about something. Under a tree in the shade Black was curled up in a ball sleeping. Wish Gray would break my arm so I could lie around and do nothing.

After ten minutes of nonstop jogging we finally completed the lap. The muscles in my legs where now tensing up a little due to me being a little out of shape lately. Flare looked like he was doing a little better than me but he was still tired. Gray looked a unfazed along with Kana. I had no idea how she could run that much without tiring herself out.

"Good work everyone" Alex said in a happy voice.

"Now we can begin our next training exorcise" Alex said with a smile on his face.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"Finally got some time away from that bitchy trainer" I said out loud to myself as I walked down the streets of Cyllage city alone. Ever since I got caught by that women life has just been miserable. She nags me; tries to train me and worst of all she expects me to travel the world with her. What a load of crap. I continued to walk down the streets of Cyllage as I tried not to get stepped on by the humans around me.

"Charmander" I heard a voice call out from behind me. I stopped walking and I curiously turned around to see who was talking to me. Behind me I saw a white umbreon with black rings on his body and blue eyes. The umbreon stared at me with cold eyes and made me feel very uneasy.

"Who are you" I asked the umbreon.

"Follow me someone wants to have a little talk" the umbreon said.

"Who" I asked the umbreon. I wasn't sure if I should comply or run like hell before something bad happened.

"Don't ask questions just follow me. Nothing will happen as long as you listen to me" the umbreon said as his eyes grew colder.

"How do I know your not just going to kill me or something" I asked the umbreon in a untrusting tone.

"Because if we wanted to kill you we would have done it in your sleep" He replied.

I wasn't sure who this umbreon was or what he wanted from me but at the same time I was rather curious. I guess I'm a tough guy so if he tried anything I'd just show him how badass I really am. "Fine I'll follow you but if your lying I'll kick your ass" I said in a tough guy voice.

The umbreon didn't even look fazed by my comment and he just started walking off. I followed behind him as I watched his every movement and made sure he had nothing planned. After ten minutes of quietly walking down the street the umbreon turned down an alley. I froze before I followed him in the alley. Was this a good idea and am I going to get mugged in here?

"You coming" the white umbreon asked. I shook my head really fast to help myself snap out of the fear and I walked into the alley. I looked around catiously to make sure no one was hiding or anything but once I reached the end of the alley we were behind some buildings.

"Okay what the hell do you want from me" I yelled at the white umbreon.

"Long time no see Aiden" a familiar voice called out. Out of the shadows of another alley came another white pokemon except this one was a espeon with red eyes, Kind of ironic that the two matched and only had opposite eye colors.

"Vincent" I growled at the espeon "What do you want?"

"I was passing by Cyllage and I knew you were here so I figured I'd get a report on your job" the espeon said. He was talking friendly almost as if we were friends but I knew it was fake, this espeon was a liar and I wouldn't expect anything good to come from him.

"I'm only just meeting up with him honestly" I admitted in a nervous voice fearing the worst.

"Does he trust you and don't lie I can tell when your lying or hiding something" the espeon said.

"No he's very hostile and I tried acting like I'd help him find you and all but that only made him angry and he threatened to kill me" I said as I remembered back to the psychotic umbreon.

"I see, tick tock Aiden. Don't think I won't kill your trainer if you don't do what I want" Vincent threatened.

"I'm working on it but he's different. I don't even know anything about him other than the sickt wisted shit you've done to him" I yelled at the espeon.

"I don't know my brother anymore. He has undergone a lot of changes over the two years and he is a completely different pokemon" Vincent said.

"I'll find a way just give me some time!"

"I'm sure you will, but remember whose side your on. When the time comes we may need you" Vincent said as he began to turn around and walk away from me. "I'll be back another day, just remembers the mission" Vincent said as his umbreon friend followed him.

After the two were out of sight I instantly turned around and began running. I had no idea where I was running but I just wanted to be somewhere public, somewhere where I couldn't be harmed.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I sat under a tree which shaded me from the sun's harmful rays. It was pretty comfortable here since it wasn't blazing hot and I was safe from heat stroke or something like that. Everyone else was doing their own kind of training exercises. Most of them varied from stuff like dodging attack to blocking stuff or even accuracy with ranged attacks. It looked really tiring and I was in no mood today to run around and impress my trainer with my awesome moves.

Although lying here all day was rather boring. I wonder what Alex had planned for us after the training. Maybe a delicious dinner or something fun besides sitting in a boring hotel room all night.

"Hey I've been looking for you" A angry feminine voice called out. I slowly looked over nervous to see who I knew was there. Standing before me now was the bitchy umbreon known as Nia who couldn't just be thankful I saved her ass. She looked like a mess compared to last time I saw her, she had a giant glass shard sticking out of her head and all the fur on the right side of her face looked dried up and dirty.

"You" I said in surprise "What do you want."

"Where is your fennekin and pikachu friend" the umbreon said in a pissed off voice.

"What do you want from them" I asked nervously knowing that I could set off her temper problem.

"Doesn't concern you, all you need to know is that they fucked with the wrong umbreon" she growled at me.

'Yes they did mess with the wrong umbreon' I thought to myself as I pictured they're death by this umbreon's hands. Maybe Gray's racism problem would save the day and scare her off. Although that jolteon imposter told me to learn dark matter based attacks from her.

"Alright everyone time for a break" Alex yelled out and instantly got everyone's attention. Everyone came running back from their training. The instant Hesh and Flare got back there jaws dropped at the sight of Nia being back.

"I've been looking for you two" she growled as she slowly walked towards them with a limp as if she was in pain.

"So you came crawling back huh" Hesh said as he crossed his arms.

"Where is it" Nia yelled at the pikachu as she limped closer to him.

"Hey are you okay you look awful" Flare asked as he observed her.

"Listen I need those medications back I'm already late on my dosage" Nia said.

"Those aren't medications those are illegal drugs" Hesh accused her.

"No those are third party medications" Nia retorted.

"Call them what you want I'm not giving them back unless you tell us what we want to know" Hesh demanded as he showed a sly smile.

"Tell you what" Nia yelled at him in anger. Everyone was now watching Nia make a huge scene. I was very curious on what I all missed while I was gone and those three were alone.

"About the pokemon that are after us" Hesh said in a serious voice and everyone who was still oblivious to the situation looked at us with a serious glare.

"It's none of your business" Nia growled.

"Well I'll just poor all your drugs down the sink then and we will never speak again" Hesh said.

"Do it and I'll rip your throat out" Nia said in a dark tone.

"So do we have a deal, your medications for some info, I think it's a pretty fair exchange" Hesh proposed.

Nia sat their growling for a few seconds as everyone watched the debate go on. "Fine" Nia muttered "But I'm not giving up any of my personal info and the moment you try and dig into my business I'm done."

"Agreed" Hesh said with a smirk on his face "We can't trade here so wait until were done training or meet me behind the hotel we are staying at" Hesh said.

"I'll wait right here and the moment your done you are going to show me that you still have them" Nia said.

"Okay just be patient and I'm sure this will be over in a hour or two" Hesh said as he stretched out his body.

"I'll be waiting" Nia said as she walked over to a tree a few meters away and sat in the shade and waited.

"Do you guy's care to share what's going on" Kana asked in a freaked out voice.

"Yeah what the hell did you mean pokemon after us" Gray asked in a pissed off voice "And why is there another umbreon here I can hardly take one."

"Okay I'll explain on the walk back just please let me get through today" Hesh said in an annoyed voice.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Pretty short chapter but I thought it had some good content. This chapter was more just moving things along without doing a random skip through time. So we got to see more of Nia this chapter and more of her hostile personality. I think it makes her interesting and I know she may come off as a person that's hard to get along with. I think it makes things interesting and a lot of lovable characters in shows start off as a hated character. Anyways a lot more happened this chapter that I could talk about but I'm going to shut up now.

I'm curious of what people think of Nia so far and what kind of role you all think she will play? Feel free to share but no problem if you don't.

Thanks to all the readers and everyone who reviews! Yeah yeah I say this every chapter lol so you all know the rest.


	53. Info for med's

**Yo welcome to chapter 53. Things have been a little slow lately but mostly character building as I would call it. This week has been really interesting honestly lol. A lot of up and down stuff that left me with less writing time. Also I don;t know if it matter to anyone but I'm now posting this story on wattpad if anyone knows what that is. I'll still be posting it on both sites and is still the one I'll focus on more I'm just saying if any of you prefer that site more you can read The black Dawn from their. My account on their is still 1MrGray.**

**Also I couldn't think of a good chapter name for this one as you may notice, so feel free to recommend a better chap name lol.**

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**Chapter 53: Info for med's**

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**Point of View Black**

"So what do you mean there is pokemon trying to kill us now" Gray yelled in fury as we walked back to our hotel. It was a long day of training for everyone but me and Nia and now Gray was freaking out over another umbreon being around. If Alex was here I'm sure he wouldn't be happy, but he went out to spend time with his dad and instructed us to go back to the hotel.

"Well they want us dead and they tried to kill me and Flare a few nights ago" I replied in a nervous voice fearing every ones reply.

"Someone tried killing you two and you never told any of us" Kana said in surprise "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah were both fine thanks to Nia" I said as I looked over to my left at the grouchy umbreon. She just rolled her eyes in response to what I said. I found it odd how she was slightly limping and the fact she had a glass shard in her head not too long ago that Hesh had to remove carefully from her skull.

"Thank you Nia" Kana said with gratitude towards the umbreon.

"Just get me what I want so I can get out of here" Nia replied in a snide voice.

"Yeah Kana she saved them but she's pretty hostile" Hesh said as he shot the umbreon a dirty glance. When I looked over at Gray I could see the anger on his face, I knew he hated my kind and I knew he was furious that another umbreon was around.

"Shut it rat" Nia snarled at Hesh with the hostility he spoke of.

"Let's just all take it down a notch and do what we need to do" Flare spoke calmly in an attempt to calm the situation down.

Hesh frowned at the slightly racist insult "I really don't understand how someone can be such a bitch" Hesh said as he nodded his head in disapproval at the umbreon.

"Excuse me" Nia yelled as she stopped walking and death stared the pikachu. "Listen I'm not in the mood today for your shit, I'll kick your ass!" Everyone fell silent from Nia's threat except Gray who let out a growl. I on the other hand inched away slowly not wanting to be a part of this.

"Oh you'll kick my ass that's a good one. You mean like the blaziken that almost killed you? And I'm also curious to hear why you came back more beat up today, why don't you do us all a favor and just be quiet until we get to the hotel" Hesh said in a stern voice that was rather cold.

Nia began to snarl at the pikachu "You are really testing my patience, and I only lost to that blaziken because of your asshole friends. Your umbreon friend would be dead now if not for me and I really just wish I would have left him to drawn" Nia reminded us of what she did for us.

"And don't say you saved me as well, that is still your fault" Nia continued to rant in fury.

Flare took a step forward towards the umbreon going on her verbal rampage "Nia why don't we take it down a notch, I know things didn't go as planned but there will be other chances."

"You can shut up, I dislike you the most out of everyone here" Nia said as she pointed a paw at Flare.

"What why?" Flare yelled out in confusion.

"Anyone who leaves their friend to die is a pile of trash, I mean how do you look at him after you left him to drawn" Nia yelled at the fennekin whose ear's instantly fell low along with his head after hearing those hateful words. That was a big shock to me as well. I knew nothing of what happened while I was unconscious in that van I was almost drowned in. All I really remember is being on the streets the night before and then waking up with Nia giving me mouth to mouth, which was very awkward to wake up to.

"I didn't have a choice, by the time I got the van door open I thought he was dead" Flare yelled in self-disgust.

"That's enough" Gray snarled as he approached Nia. "Get out of here now if you are just going to insult us" Gray said in a very cold voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"Not until I get what I want" Nia shouted back at him as the two began to growl at each other viciously.

"Then shut the hell up" Gray snarled at her. Nia just rolled her eyes at the absol who probably wanted to tear her throat out.

"Can we just proceed" Nia said in an annoyed tone. Without a word everyone continued to walk towards the hotel. Everyone walked in silence. Flare held his head low and didn't even make eye contact with me once or look anywhere near me on top of that. I could tell he was full of regret for what Nia said he did. I don't know if I was really bothered by that though, he may have left me but I know Flare and I know he would never ever do that unless it was his last choice.

"Hey Flare I'd like to talk" I said to the fennekin who held his head low. He didn't even reply and just continued walking in silence. "Hey I'm talking to you" I yelled into the fennekin's ears and made his head jolt up in surprise.

"That's better" I said with a smile as the fennekin finally paid me some attention finally. We both waited a few seconds until our group was out of listening distance from us so we could have some privacy. "Listen if your beating yourself up for that its cool honestly" I said with a smile on my face in an attempt to cheer up the fennekin.

"How can you say that… Nia is right, I left you to die back there when I shouldn't have given up on you" The fox said in a depressed voice.

"Yeah but it worked out in the end and I'm still here" I said with a reassuring smile on my face.

"Because of her your alive, you'd be dead if not for her and she's a horrible person and she saved you and I didn't" Flare said in a shaky voice that indicated he was trying to resist sobbing.

"Flare I'm going to give it to you straight" I said in a serious voice and the fox looked at me fearful of what I was going to say.

"I'm almost getting killed on a regular basis at this point so you shouldn't really take this to personal. I'm just bad luck is all" I said jokingly even though all of what I said was kind of true.

"Thanks Black" Flare said with a small smile forming on his face.

"It's cool" I said as I smiled back to the fennekin as we continued walking to the hotel which was now getting close.

"One more thing Black" Flare said and I redirected my attention back to him "Your not bad luck and you should never refer to yourself as that again. For a matter of fact I would consider you the most lucky pokemon I know" Flare spoke and I froze up in shock.

"How am I lucky" I replied back in confusion.

"Well when I met you, you were a lot more different for one" Flare said and I waited for his explanation.

"When I met you, you were always depressed and anti-social and now you are actually socializing and you even joke and laugh. After all that's happened to you I consider you lucky to have a decent life after that, even if there is a bunch of psychotic pokemon out to kill us left and right" Flare said with words that touched my heart. "Also anyone who survives half the stuff you do is lucky and if you were unlucky I think you would have been dead long ago."

Now that I think of it though Flare was right, my personality has changed a lot since I got captured. Before I was captured I was just aimlessly roaming Kalos waiting to die, I had nothing to live for and I hated the world honestly. Things have changed so much for me since all of this and I'm not haunted by nightmares or memories of my family every second I'm alive anymore. Alex capturing me was the best thing that has happened to me in the past two years.

"You know Flare I never noticed that until now and while we are on this topic I want to thank you" I said.

"For what" Flare questioned.

"Thanks for putting up with all of my crap and being my friend" I said honestly. Flare let out a cheerful smile in response.

"It's no problem I think you're an interesting pokemon to have around" Flare said with a happy voice.

"We should catch up to the group" I said as we both looked up the street and saw our friends leaving our eye site. We then both sprinted back towards our group.

Flare cherishes our friendship as do I but at the same time our friendship also scares me. One of the reason's I tried so hard not to be anyone's friend was because I didn't want to feel the pain of losing someone close to me ever again. My life may be better now but it's more dangerous and if Flare or someone close to me dies I don't think I can handle that feeling of being alone again.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I let out a loud yawn as Vincent, Merrick and I all sat in the back of a truck. The owner of the truck had no idea that we were back here but honestly none of us cared, it was fast transport that made it easy to get to point A to B faster. The back of the truck had a tarp over the back so we were nice and shaded. Due to our small size we were out of the view of the truck driver's rear view mirror. So our only concern was remaining quiet.

I didn't mind riding in the back of the truck it was rather relaxing which is something I never get time for these days. It provided me time to think and collect myself. It also gave me a chance to think of how I was going to find out everything I needed to know from these Crimson guy's and get my freedom from Genesis.

"How much longer do we have to wait in this rusty bucket" Merrick complained.

"A while" Vincent replied in annoyance. Since I was stuck in this truck for a while I guess this would be a perfect time to get to know who I am working for.

"So why are you two doing what your doing with Crimson" I asked the two.

"I've told you a million times, for the future" Vincent replied with that same old answer.

"No-no why do you want to fight for world peace" I corrected him. Vincent took a second to pounder his answer.

"I'm pursuing a dream I guess. One that I kind of stole from my father" Vincent replied.

"Your father was a part of Crimson or something" I asked with slight surprise.

"No it's more that he always talked of it and I was a sucker for the idea" Vincent spoke honestly.

"Speaking of that whatever did happen to your father; it said nothing in the Genesis report about him" I asked with slight interest in the topic. I guess me never knowing my original family always made me a little curious on that topic.

"I don't know where he went. I woke up one morning and he was gone" Vincent said with an empty voice. "Now that I think of it though, other than Black and me, he is the only one in our family still alive."

"Why don't you find him then" I asked.

"I'll pass on that idea, I don't think he'll approve of what I've done to my brothers, my mom and sister. I wonder if he knows though" Vincent said as he thought about his family for a few seconds. "What about your family" Vincent asked me.

That question caught me a little off guard, I didn't expect him to ask me that "I never knew my original family, if anything my family is Jack and all those other killers he's raised" I responded in a bitter voice.

"So you consider that man your family" Vincent asked slightly surprised.

"He was the one who raised me. I practically lived and died with the pokemon I worked with. I am the pokemon I am because of that monster" I said as I remembered the horrible things I had to do to satisfy my trainers need for a killer without any emotion.

"Looks like neither of us really have any happy family lives" Vincent said as I yawned and laid down on the ground.

"Merrick why are you in the crimson Dawn, I don't really see you seeking world peace" I asked the quilava who has only been listening to us this whole time.

"World peace doesn't interest me personally. But believe it or not me and you are more alike than you think" Merrick said as he looked me in the eyes.

"How so" I asked curiously.

"We were both raised by monsters. The only difference is that I seek to destroy the monsters that made me the way I am" Merrick said.

"Who said I didn't seek revenge" I asked the fire type who was now crossing his arms.

"Because if I was in your shoes I would be turning the world upside down looking for your old trainer and I'd kill him as slow as possible" Merrick said in a cold voice. Truth is that I can't go after Jack at the moment since I'm a hostage to genesis at the moment, but how was he supposed to know that?

"So why aren't you after the one who made you into a heartless monster then" I asked him.

"It's not that simple. I'm not going against one person, I'm going against a whole organization" Merrick said as his words grew more bitter and full of hatred.

"Genesis" Merrick spat out with hatred.

* * *

**Point of View Hesh**

We finally reached the back of the hotel where we would have our little pow-wow about the pokemon after us. The sun was now setting off in the distance and made this scene almost like a movie when the two gangs are trading stuff like drugs, money or hostages.

"Okay are you ready to tell us what we need to know about those pokemon" I asked in a stern voice.

"Yeah after I see that you even have any of my medications" Nia replied.

I shot a quick glance at flare "Flare go grab her medications" I ordered the fox and he ran off to get them in a hurry. We sat around silently for about a minute before Flare came back with Nia's drugs and he brought them to me and I took them. The drugs where now in a new sack that me and Flare found.

"See we have your stuff now are you ready to talk" I asked Nia who was eying up the drugs.

"First I want you to inject me with one, I'm already a few days behind and if you screw me over I at least want a guarantee that I can get by for at least a week" Nia said.

"Absolutely not! I'm not helping you get your dose of drugs" I yelled at her in anger. Nia just gritted her teeth in response and tried to be patient with me for once.

"It's a medication, I'll tell you what if you see any sign of me acting funny from it being an illegal substance you can do what you want with them" Nia offered.

"Fine, but if this is illegal I'm dumping all of these onto the ground" I said in a serious voice as I put the bag down and pulled out one syringe and approached the umbreon.

"Where do I inject this" I asked the umbreon.

"In the carotid artery" Nia said as she pointed to a spot right below her jaw and on her neck.

"Are you sure" I asked to make sure. Nia nodded in a yes gesture. I carefully held the syringe and punctured it into her neck and injected the syringe into her blood steam. Nia let out a small grunt as the medication entered her and that's when I thought she was getting screwed up from these drugs. I pulled out the syringe once it was empty as I watched for her to do something stupid.

"There you got your medication" I said to the umbreon who remained silent.

"Thanks" she replied back.

"Now will you tell us what we need to know" I asked her.

"A deal is a deal, I'll tell you everything you need to know that isn't involving me" She replied back.

"Okay so let's start with who these pokemon are" I asked her as everyone in our group waited for Nia to reply.

"He is a hit-man who goes by the name Jack Jaegar and he is a trainer with many deadly pokemon he has trained himself" Nia said as we all listened. "The pokemon Black and Flare encountered was a blaziken who goes by the name of Blaze. He is the newest pokemon on their team" Nia said fluently as if she knew this all by heart.

"Next is a raichu named Raiden, he is a reasonable pokemon but he is also a good killer that's fast on his feet. Next is Sam who is a riolu. If you encounter him you'll be in trouble. He is a psychopath that enjoys killing and on top of that he carries a sword with him and he uses it well" Nia said.

"And last is a gardevoir. Honestly I've looked into her as much as I could but I don't know anything about her, she is also one of the newer members to Jacks team."

"So is that everyone on their team" Kana asked.

"As far as I know yes" Nia replied.

"If that's all of them then we out number them" I said with a smirk on my face.

"Don't underestimate them they'll tear you to shreds. They can handle pokemon almost three times your skill, you have yet to beat the second gym leader if I'm correct" Nia reminded us of how little progress we have made in our journey.

"So what do you recommend we do then" Kana asked Nia.

Nia took a second to come up with a response "I don't know one target that has ever escaped Jack and his team" Nia replied with words that made all of our hearts stop beating.

"So what your saying we're all dead" Gray piped up at the umbreon.

"Realistically yes, unless one of you is strong enough to take on pokemon that are trained killers" she said with a small sigh. "I'm sorry I don't know what to tell you other than stay in public area's and never split up. But regardless they'll find a way to get you all alone and pick you all off one by one" Nia said.

"Shut up your full of shit and you know it" Gray snarled at the umbreon who I felt was speaking honestly.

"Listen I told you what you needed to know, may I please have my medications so I can leave and then we can never see each other again" Nia asked as she looked at me for approval.

"Fine" I replied as I picked up the sack and she took it from my hands with her mouth. Nia didn't even bother saying bye and she left without a word. Every one of us sat in silence as we took in the info she told us. If what she said was true we were in serious trouble and I know none of us would have an easy time overcoming this.

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**Point of View Black**

After we all sat behind the hotel depressed for a few seconds I went off without my group in pursuit for Nia. After walking down the streets of Cyllage city for a few seconds I spotted Nia walking down the dark streets of Cyllage city with that bag in her mouth.

"Hey wait up" I yelled at the umbreon. She turned her head back and saw me running towards her in a hurry.

"What do you want now" she asked in annoyance.

"Okay I have a question I couldn't ask in front of everyone else" I said in an awkward voice.

"Listen I'm not interested in a guy like you okay" Nia said in a cold voice that falsely accused me.

"Whoa I wasn't asking that okay" I barked at her in anger.

"Then what could you possibly need to ask me privately" She asked.

I gulped nervously as I got ready to ask her a question "Listen I know you know how to use dark matter based attacks. I wanted to ask you to teach me to use dark matter" I asked with a little confidence showing in my voice.

"And what makes you so sure I know how to use those attacks, you've never seen me use one nor have I said I can use dark matter" Nia replied with a solid argument.

"Okay listen, I know you know how to do it and I need to know how to use it. If I can't learn this how am I supposed to protect those around me" I said as I bowed my head to show my commitment even though I probably looked stupid as hell doing it.

"Why would you want to learn how to use dark matter, I saw you use shadow ball back when we fought the blaziken but… why" she asked in a confused voice.

"Because my friends are in danger and this is my entire fault. If they didn't know me they wouldn't be in danger and I can't let them get hurt anymore because of me" I said with determination.

"Black… Dark matter isn't something used for protecting those you love. It's a weapon that only monsters possess and someone like you having it is a horrible sight to see. It's a weapon for killers" Nia said.

"Well I have the ability and I don't care. I need to know it to protect my friends" I retorted to her statement.

"Why would you want to use a power that is an icon of sin. This power shows the world the sins we've committed."

"Nia I know what it is and I don't care" I replied with a serious tone.

"Okay fine but what do I get if I teach you" Nia then asked me as she looked me in the eyes. I had no idea what I could give her or what she would want from me but I'd do whatever it takes to learn it.

"Name your price" I replied to her and a small smile appeared on her face from hearing such an impulsive answer.

"Hmmm how about you owe me a favor of my choice" Nia said to me.

"What kind of favor" I asked fearing that she wanted me to kill someone or something.

"I don't know I'll figure that out later" she responded. I wasn't comfortable with agreeing to do anything someone wants but at this point I was desperate enough to do anything to learn dark matter attacks.

"Deal" I replied with a smile forming on my face.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well their was a lot of good info in this chapter I thought. We got to see some character building on Stark's side of the story and learned a tad bit more about Vincent and Merrick. So now we got Nia agreeing to teach Black dark matter based attacks in exchange for one favor (Never underestimate the power of one favor XD)

Anyways thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far and to those that fav'd and followed this story and feel free to fav or follow this story if you haven't.


	54. Sanctum

Hey guys this is a real short chapter. Probably one of my smallest for a matter of fact, but this is probably one of the most important chapters on top of that. All I will say is that I've been waiting for this chapter for awhile because its... well important. Anyways I won't keep you waiting enjoy!

PS: I redid the first chapter of this story for a third time, except I added a lot more info and a real prologue. It still has the original content but a much, much different beginning that I thought would catch more reader's attention. So if your interested go check out the remastered version of the already remastered version of chapter 1. (Chapter 1 re-remastered.) Also if you do check it out I'd love some feed back because the first chapter is the absolute most important chapter in my opinion. (First impression is the lasting impression)

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**Chapter 54: Sanctum**

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**Point of View Stark**

"We are practically here" Vincent told me as we walked through yet another forest. Although this forest was different, this forest was gigantic and full of old runes everywhere. You could travel the whole world and never see anything like this forest, it was rather unique. There was a huge variety of runes in this forest such as giant stones with writing on them, spires and some building like runes along with some arcs. The runes reminded me a little of Geosenge town except in a forest. To add to the scenery the moon's lunar rays shined through the tree branches and lit the area below that and on the ground was a thin layer of fog.

"So Crimson's base was in this forest the whole time" I asked Vincent. It was just Vincent and I for now since Merrick had some other things to attend to.

"Yes but I'll let you see this for yourself" The white espeon responded as we walked into an opening in the forest.

My jaw dropped as I looked at the civilization that was built in the forest. In this civilization there was a variety of homes such as straw huts, tents and a few small homes made of braches and leafs. There were pokemon of all kinds in this village inhabiting it and carrying on with their daily lives.

"What is this place" I asked as I observed all the pokemon carrying out their tasks.

"This place is known as sanctum and this is a place where pokemon can live without humans controlling our lives" Vincent answered as he led me into the small village.

"Are all of these people part of Cri-" I began to say before Vincent cut me off "No these are just normal pokemon, we just hideout here and provide protection in exchange for sanctuary."

"This place is very different from a normal civilization though. Unlike the human civilization we all seek to escape there is no violence here nor are there frequent problems. Everybody helps each other here and everything functions perfect."

"I never knew such a place exists" I said in astonishment.

"You probably want to speak to Mandus now, so I'll give you what you've been waiting for" Vincent said and my ears flickered up from hearing those words. After all this hard work I was finally going to get some answers.

"He's down their" Vincent pointed to a stone alter with a statue of arceus standing on a giant podium. The podium had a giant opening and inside the opening was stone stairs that led down. But to where?

Vincent led me down the stairs and I followed without a word highly anticipating what to expect. At first when we walked down the stairs it was dark even for a night creature like me but after a while there were blue stones on the walls that illuminated the dark runes with a mysterious blue light.

After a small walk down the stairs we finally reached a hallway. We walked down the hallway until we came to a door. In front of the door was the black scyther known as Kane, the scythe I worked with briefly but never spoke to once.

"We wish to speak to Mandus, he's been expecting us" Vincent said with a small bow of respect to his colleague. The scyther didn't say anything and only bowed in response and he pushed the door open for us.

Lunar ray's shined through the door as me and Vincent entered a giant opening in the underground runes. We were now in a giant circular room that was kind of shaped like a dome and towards the top of the dome was a hole in the ceiling that allowed the moon's light to shine down. Vincent and I walked down the center path to the center of the room. There were multiple spires that leaned towards the center of the room and all the spires made a circle around the center of the room.

Standing in the center of the room I spotted Mandus standing in the center where the moonlight was the strongest. Mandus had his back turned to us at the moment and it appeared he didn't know we were even here.

"So you two have finally arrived" The lucario said with that powerful deep voice he had as he turned his head to look at us. Mandus looked the same since last time I saw him and he still wore that black cloak for some reason.

"Yes and Stark passed all of our test's and he is eligible to join us" Vincent said with a confident voice.

"Okay then, you may leave then Vincent. I'll call you when were ready to begin our mission" Mandus said and Vincent nodded and left the room we were in. For a few seconds there was nothing but silence as Mandus looked at me with a look that made me feel small compared to him. After all I'm a umbreon and a lucario is a lot taller than I am.

"I only have a few questions for you" Mandus asked me in a monotone voice.

"Shoot" I replied back.

"Why do you seek world peace with us" Mandus asked and caught me off guard. The question bounced around in my head for a few seconds until I came up with an honest answer to why.

"Because you brought me back from the dead and I don't really have a say in any of this" I answered truthfully.

"We only brought you back for your skills but I would have thought Genesis told you all of this was up to you" Mandus said. I almost crapped myself from hearing that. I could have walked away free right after Genesis brought me back and I would have been free! Although I'm sure it wasn't an accident, I'm sure Genesis had this all planned from the start to tell me this was all optional.

"If you wish to leave we will not force you. When we brought you back we never wanted to enslave you, but if you do wish to fight for the same dream we all possess then tell me why" Mandus asked. I pondered that question for a few seconds as well and I had two reasons to why, one being the Genesis hostage thing.

"Because I don't want to see more pokemon like me alive ever again" I responded honestly. This was the truth and I always found it disgusting seeing other pokemon who didn't think anything of killing. I know it's wrong and I always wished I did feel something but I don't and it has always bothered me.

"I'll believe those words. Now my next question is whether you'll pledge your loyalty for us and fight for a better world" Mandus asked. A pledge meant nothing to me, I've lied to so many people just to screw them over that it's almost sad.

"You have my loyalty" I lied to his face.

"For your sake I hope so" Mandus responded as he crossed his arms and made me feel slightly compromised about all the lies.

"Now since you've went through the trouble of proving yourself I will answer all your questions" Mandus said and my ears flicked up in excitement. This was the moment I've been waiting for and I couldn't believe it. The real question I had is where do I begin.

"So how do you plan on achieving peace and what does Ryder have in all of this" I asked understanding that Ryder was a key piece in their plan.

"Our plan goes by the code name project Kurokami" Mandus said with a dramatic pause at the end. "Tell me Stark do you believe legendaries" Mandus asked. My confidence in this organization instantly dropped from such a childish question and I feared to where this was leading.

"No of course not and if they do exist they left this world to parish long ago" I responded back with slight hatred towards the idea of gods.

"I see" Mandus replied with a pause. "Legendaries do exist and they aren't that far from our reach either. You are right though, they have left us to suffer" Mandus continued to blabber on about this childish concept.

"I'm sorry but this is ridiculous, how could you believe that legendary crap" I said disrespectfully.

"Because I've encountered legendaries" Mandus responded.

"Okay fine let's say these magical creatures are real then what is project Kurokami" I asked waiting to hear a farfetched idea.

"There is three legendaries known throughout Kalos Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde. Each of them possesses a unique ability that makes them essential in this plan. But everything has to be done precisely or we will never have a chance again at accomplishing our goal" Mandus said as I thought of where the hell this was leading to.

"Xerneas has the power of eternal life and creation, while Yveltal is the polar opposite of Xerneas he has the power to steel life and energy from other living things and also has enough power to destroy everything in this world" Mandus enlightened me on the silly story.

"And you seek to go against something that can destroy everything" I said dumbfounded by the logic of thinking.

"I'll explain just listen for now" Mandus said with slight anger. "Zygarde acts as a guardian for the ecosystem. Zygarde has the powerful to link up with the world and see everything that is a part of the ecosystem practically making it all knowing in a sense of speaking."

"So what do they have to do with the plan" I asked Mandus.

"We know the location of Zygarde" Mandus said and my jaw dropped from what he said. "When more preparations are made we will seek out Zygarde and capture the legendary."

"And you expect it to just cooperate with your plan" I questioned.

"We are simply capturing it afterwards we will have a psychic take control of Zygarde and use his ability to track down the other key legendaries to fulfill the plan. After we capture the last two we initiate phase three" Mandus said with a pause as he looked me dead in the eyes. "Once phase three is finished we will have the power to alter this world as we please. Then we begin phase four" Mandus said completely skipping over the third phase, I'm just going to assume it's not worth mentioning or it's something small.

"What's phase four" I asked the lucario.

"By phase four we will be unmatched and we will have divine power on our side. That's when we seek out all the other legendaries, they can join us under our rules or die" Mandus said with a dark tone. "By the end of the first four phases we will have the power to alter the world as we please and bring true peace in a world where there is no suffering" Mandus said.

"The dawn of the new world can only be achieved through bloodshed. That is what Crimson Dawn truly means" Mandus said as I stood there in complete shock from the overly creative plan that was insane.

"How does Ryder play into all of this" I asked the lucario as he looked me into the eyes.

"Ryder is the key piece in this whole plan, an umbreon like him is almost impossible to find and he may be the only one of his kind that is truly unique" Mandus said as he looked into the hole on the ceiling and into the moonlight.

"Ryder's role in all of this is-"

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** What I forgot to finish the last sentence? No that was done purposely lol. So this was a huge chapter that had a lot of info to take in. If it doesn't quite all seem to add up yet I will get more detailed in future chapters about the plan. I'm really curious to hear what people think of this chapter and what you all think is going to happen. Feel free to also tell me what you think Black/Ryder's role in all of this is (You do remember Black and Ryder are the same person right?) I have been dying to get around this point in the story where things in Crimson's plan start rolling and spicing things up.

Anyways thank you for taking the time to read this far and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	55. Dark Matter

**Yo home dogs and welcome to the next chapter! Had a lot of interesting content last chapter. This chapter took me a little longer to write than anticipated due to me getting side tracked with other stuff. **

**Guest review response**

Melody: Thanks for telling me your guess one what you think Black's role in all of this is. I'm not going to say much about it yet but keep reading and you'll see the truth soon.

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**Chapter 55: Dark Matter**

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**Point of View Stark**

"Is any of what you said even possible" I asked the lucario in confusion. He responded with a nod. This was becoming a lot to take in and very bizarre.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow at dawn to apprehend Zygarde. I would like you to come Stark, I could use your skill and I believe it would help convince you" Mandus said as he leaned against one of the stone spires.

"I'll come but don't blame me if I'm a little cynical about this whole plan" I inquired as I thought of how ridiculous this all sounded. None of this sounded remotely possible even with legendaries especially the whole Ryder role.

"Get some rest, you'll need it" the lucario said. Assuming that-that was my queue to leave I gave a small bow with my head and I headed towards the exit. First things first I needed to find Vincent, he was my closest colleague at the moment and I needed someone to talk to this about.

Point of View Black

I yawned as I slowly rolled over and onto my three good paws. It was now very early in the morning and I had to meet up with Nia for that training thing. She promised me one early morning of training in exchange for one favor of her choice. I slowly got up on my tired legs and began making my way towards the exit of the hotel room.

It was now early morning. When I say early morning I mean really early in the morning… like four in the morning… Due to the new sleep schedule I was forced to get used to this was really early for me to be awake. My previous sleep schedule I'd still be awake for a few more hours.

I walked over towards the door as quietly as possible and I jumped up on the door and pulled the handle to open the door. Once the door cracked open I slowly went out into the hall that was actually lit up. Yes I did close the door behind me. Eventually I made it outside and I began making my way through the city streets. This reminded me of the day's I was running rogue and I had nothing.

The silent night was a reminder of how much my life has changed. I was no longer alone and that made life worth living again. I made my way through the empty city streets towards the park like where Nia said we'd meet. As I walked my rings lit up the streets with a blue light. I missed the moon and I knew I didn't get enough of it these days.

Eventually I made my way through the quiet city streets and to the park where I was supposed to meet Nia. Off in the distance I saw a glowing golden light off in the distance and I soon recognized the shape to be Nia. I ran over towards the glowing umbreon as fast as I could on my three good paws.

"Hey I'm here" I said to the umbreon who turned her head and noticed me.

"You actually showed up" Nia spoke back.

"What doubting me already" I said with minor offence.

"Okay let's go" Nia dropped the previous conversation and moved onto the next.

"What? Aren't we training here" I asked the umbreon with confusion.

"No, were going to train somewhere more secluded where no one will see what where doing. Anyone who knows that these attacks can only be used by killers will alert the police" Nia said with a point.

"I guess you got a solid point" I replied back as I followed the umbreon without an idea where our destination was.

"Where are we going then?"

"Deep into the forest where you can practice all you want without any distractions. Plus I have a little spot I like to hang out at around their" she said as she walked at a faster pace than I could keep up with on my three paws.

After we left the city we entered a forest off in the distance. Not the forest that was burned down, that'd be just silly. I walked through the forest carefully trying not to trip over any twigs or branches. The sky was now starting to get brighter from the sun that would soon arise and go through its daily cycle.

I found it strange that Nia wasn't being so hostile towards me. I mean she was nothing but evil to us when we talked to her in the past but now she was cooperating with me and actually doing something nice. I guess it wasn't for free though.

"We're here" Nia said as she stopped walking. This was my training ground it was actually not a bad spot. There was a stream that cut through the forest here with a giant log making a bridge across the stream. On top of all that the brush here was next to nothing so I'd have plenty of room to move around if I needed to.

"What's next" I asked Nia.

"Well next I'm going to have to explain how this works. Just stay with me it's very complicated to explain and its more of something you have to do to understand" Nia said.

"Okay I'm ready" I responded with confidence.

"Okay listen up because I'm not in the mood to repeat" Nia started off "First it is important to know that dark matter isn't a joke. You don't use this in your little gym battles. You use this to kill and it serves no other purpose" Nia said in a serious voice as she made full eye contact with me the whole time.

"Got it" I replied back fully understanding the power this power had.

"Dark matter occurs from the trauma it does to a umbreon's heart, it allows you to access dark more sinister abilities that most light hearted umbreon's wouldn't be able to use" Nia said as she sat on the ground and made herself comfortable for a long lecture.

"Wait not that I would do this but let's say an umbreon killed a lot of people, wouldn't it make the ability of dark matter unstoppable" I asked.

"Yes and no. I knew an umbreon once who killed so much he eventually just lost feeling with his emotions. So my point is that killing over and over won't always have the same effect on the heart, sadly people get used to it" Nia said as she looked up towards the sky as if she was reflecting on something. "It's sad to think that someone could kill that much."

"Yeah" I replied in a bitter voice agreeing with her.

Nia then snapped out of her reflection and looked back at me "Now I'm not going to pry to much but I know you've killed, after all that's why you can use shadow ball" Nia stated. I nodded my head completely haunted by the thought of my sins as bloody images played in my head.

"When I was taught dark matter I was told to concentrate my negative emotions and manifest them into energy" Nia said and I tilted my head in confusion on what the hell that even meant.

"Wait what, manifest my emotions!" I yelled in absolute confusion "How the heck would I even go about that!"

"Calm down and like I said its one of those things that you got to get a feel for by doing it yourself and experimenting" Nia answered.

"Your not really being helpful" I replied back to her.

"Well I'm trying, don't like it take your problems somewhere else" Nia replied back in annoyance.

"Yeah-Yeah I know I need your help" I mumbled back to her as I tried to think of darker memories. I thought of it all every last horrid detail about what I did. All the emotions and all the… blood, the thought of blood instantly broke my concentration as I tried to get the image of the red substance out of my head.

"Is something wrong" Nia noticed the disturbed look on my face.

"Yeah, just trying to get this" I responded with minor frustration. Nia then walked over towards the stream and jumped on the log that went across the stream and went to the middle of it and lied down. It looked like a rather nice spot to be, or until you fall into the water.

Once I snapped out of that distraction I tried once again. I concentrated on the dark memories and the horrible deeds that I did. I emitted a small grunting noise as I tried to get some form of dark matter to form but I only looked like an idiot in the end.

"Nia this doesn't make sense, can you help I'm starting to feel stupid now" I yelled at the umbreon who was now trying to get some shut eye. Her eyes cracked open and she stood up and walked off her log and approached me.

"Okay I'll tell you what my friend told me when he taught me" Nia began to say "What do you hate about yourself for doing that, what compromises has it made towards who you are. Think of the self-disgust you hold for your sins, the burden and the way people look at you for it" Nia said. That idea was actually pushing it. I had no idea I had to dig into these kind of emotions to learn dark matter.

"What do I hate about myself" I asked in a uneasy voice.

"Yeah, this power is fueled off negative energy" Nia said.

Now that I think about it, my shadow ball did feel much stronger whenever I was in a bad mood, especially during my encounter with Vincent. "Well" Nia asked. "You can think it or say it" she said.

'I hate myself for countless reasons… I committed the ultimate taboo and no matter what I'm a monster. I'm the monster Gray think's I am' I thought mentally as I thought of all the emotions I have held in me. Being with Flare and my other friends helped mask these emotions but now I was digging back into them.

"Now concentrate it into a form, picture your hatred, sorrow and pain into energy" Nia commanded.

I concentrated as I thought of the horrible thoughts. My head echoed with many different voices of disapproval.

'Your nothing but a monster' A voice yelled to me in my head.

'Stay away from him, that thing looks dangerous' Another memory popped into my head.

'Look at those red eyes, the eyes of a demon' another voice yelled in my head. All these voices that spoke were true. I was a monster, people should stay away from me and my eyes were stained with the color of murder.

I concentrated a mixture of dark emotions as hard as I could, I could feel my heart growing heavier and heavier. My eyes were clamped shut as I thought of it all. It was all becoming overwhelming so fast.

"Black" Nia said to me and knocked me out of my thoughts. My eyes flipped open as I saw a surprised look on Nia's face along with a few dark particles that disappeared almost instantly.

"You were actually beginning to do it" she said in surprise. Wow it was that easy, I almost couldn't believe it.

"Why'd you stop me then" I asked in slight annoyance.

Nia let out a long sigh that sounded rather depressed "Because… I really don't think you should be learning this stuff now that I think of it" Nia said in a gloomy tone.

"Why" I asked her even though she has told me before.

"Because I don't want to see anyone end up like my friend" Nia said as she looked to the floor.

"What happened to your friend" I asked in curiosity. Nia looked up a little just barely making eye contact.

"With all the killing he's experienced he lost sight of who he really wanted to be" Nia replied quietly. "He may have not realized it but every time he killed someone it took him further and further away from who he really wanted to be. Towards the end he lacked most normal emotions and he just didn't care. He accepted that he was a demon that was meant to kill" Nia said in a voice that was now becoming a little shaky.

"And now you want to learn this! Why would you ever want to kill someone, this power isn't used for defense it's used to murder" Nia yelled at me as her emotions became deeper. This was a side of her I never really expected to surface from her.

I cringed a little at the thought of this argument, this umbreon was notorious for her attitude but now she was more emotional. "Like I said I need it to protect my friends and my paws may get a little dirty from this but if so then so be it" I replied back with a stern voice. "Besides don't you want to kill the same pokemon?"

Nia's ear's instantly pricked up as she heard me say that "I only have interest in killing one person and that's my old trainer. He's responsible for a lot of death and the death of my friend" Nia replied back at me. "I know what I'm saying is hypocritical but this is one last job that I have to complete before I can move on."

"Well just like you I have my own personal reasons for doing this and you should understand" I said back to the emotional umbreon. Nia remained quiet after that response.

"You know that were going to hell right" Nia replied back in a bitter voice.

"Sorry but I don't believe any religions" I replied back with a cold voice. Why would I believe legendaries after all that's happened to me?

"Well I do" Nia almost instantly replied back.

"Well thanks for your input but even if any god or legendary based creator did exist I would resent them for letting me suffer so much" I said with resentment towards the idea of legendaries looking down on us. Why would I believe such a joke, what proof is there and how could I believe after all of my suffering. If anything they're looking down at us laughing at the world that's falling apart.

"You believe what you want" Nia said as she began to walk back towards that log she was resting on previously over the stream.

"Hey where are you going" I yelled to the umbreon as she walked to her log.

"Just go back to learning how to be a killer, I'll be here if you really need me" she said back to me with a bit of attitude.

'What a hand full.' I really didn't understand this girl, she was bipolar or something. Yesterday she was very evil and now she's talking to me about religions and going to hell and getting emotional.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

"Vincent we need to talk really quick" I asked the white espeon who was napping next to an old tree in the shade that was provided by its massive size. We were still in sanctum but soon we'd be leaving on our wild goose chase.

"What do you need to talk about" Vincent replied as he opened one of his eyes to look at me.

"Mandus told me the whole plan and I wanted to know if you actually buy into all of this."

"Are you kidding me" Vincent yelled out as he sat up "Of course I do" Vincent finished saying.

Every muscle in my face strained from resisting a pissed off frown "I thought you were a smart pokemon that believed logic" I stated.

"I am and that whole plan is logical" Vincent replied back to me.

"Are you insane" I yelled at the espeon who jumped at my fury.

"Please elaborate, what's wrong" Vincent asked.

"Seriously do I have to say it" I snapped back at him.

"Yes you do because I don't see why you are so angry" Vincent replied with a bit of irritation.

"You throw away your whole normal life for this bullshit conspiracy and your letting this all happen to your brother" I continued to yell. "Your brother is going to die in vain along with the rest of your family if you don't do something!"

"Stark" Vincent said with a dramatic pause "Are you jealous" Vincent asked a question that echoed in my ears.

"Jealous?" I repeated part of the question back to him.

"Are you jealous that I had a family and I just threw it away like that" Vincent interrogated.

The question ran through my brain for a second. Was it jealousy? I was always somewhat envious of other people's families but that was when I was younger mostly. It was annoying though talking to Vincent and hearing him not care a single bit about the family he killed and the only brother that remains is paying for it to this day.

"I'll tell you what Stark, wait until after we prove Zygarde is real, if we fail to prove his existence to you then I'll let you say what you want to say" Vincent proposed to me.

"Whatever" I snidely said back as I walked away from the espeon. Here I went to talk to him for insight and instead he crawled under my skin. Way to make me feel welcomed to sanctum. Since when the hell did I let pokemon like him upset me like that?

I walked deep off into the woods alone where no one could hear or see me. I looked around cautiously at every nook and cranny to make sure I was alone. Now was a good time to contact Zero and see if he'd let me get the hell out of here before I was forced to search for a myth.

"Zero are you listening, I'd like to talk really quick" I said out loud hoping that he was watching me from the Genesis base.

"I'm here" the psychic replied to me within my head.

"Did you catch all that back when I talked to Mandus?"

"Yeah I did…" He said in a grim voice.

"Well I got all the info I could now can I please leave. I upheld my end of the bargain and got you their plan" I said with seriousness in my tone.

"I'm afraid it's still too early for that" Zero said.

"Are you kidding me" I yelled as loud as I could. "You promised me that if I got some info on that Kurokami thing you'd let me go, now honor your words."

"No that's not it" Zero replied back.

"What the hell do you mean that's not it" I yelled again.

"The name of the project is just Kurokami but there's something more to all of this that they're not telling you" Zero warned me.

"Please enlighten me" I said with a snide attitude.

"Kurokami is something completely different than that. I'm not authorized to tell you but I'm going to talk to my superior's as soon as I can to get permission to fill you in."

"This is a joke" I said in a pissy voice.

"I'm trying my best to help you through this Stark, honestly."

"I don't even know why I'm bothering to help you, in the end your just going to kill me anyways" I said as I remembered how pointless it was.

"Genesis always honors a promise. You have my word that you'll be free afterwards" Zero said with an honest voice, but I knew better than to trust someone like him. I've lived my whole life with liars that came in many forms.

"Not going to work on me Zero, in the end I'm just another loose end to you guys, just get it over with" I provoked.

"Stark I promise that you'll be free after this, if not at least do it to stop these psychopaths" Zero pleaded.

"I'm going back to base now so leave me alone until I need you again" I demanded as I walked back towards sanctum. Zero didn't reply at all and I was left in silence. I just couldn't listen to him anymore, everyone around me was pissing me off and at this point I just wanted to kill someone.

Halfway through the walk back I began to feel off. My vision began to become blurry and my head felt like it was spinning. I felt a substance exiting my nostril and I rubbed it off with my right paw. A quick observation of the liquid on my paw showed that it was blood. This was just like that time back when we fought those pokemon traffickers back in Luminose. The blood continued to exit my nose as I grew weaker and weaker with each step along with a nocuous feeling. Soon my mouth was filled with a metallic taste and blood exited my mouth slowly.

"W-…What's wrong with me" I faintly asked myself as I lost my balance and fell onto the ground. My whole body felt out of whack just like that one time and I couldn't tell why. My body continued to grow weak and my vision began to slowly grow dark as I slowly lost consciousness. Eventually I gave into my weakness and laid unconscious on the ground.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I continued to think of the dark memories that haunted me my whole life. Although I could never quite get it the same as the first time I got it. That talk with Nia through me off a little honestly. She did have a point, this wasn't something I should want to learn and I could seriously kill someone with this stuff.

"You can stop whenever you want you know" Nia said in a lazy voice towards me from that log she comfortably lied on. I knew I could stop but I had little intention to. It was now dawn and the sun was coming up.

"Well I need to get this down" I replied back as I went back to concentrating.

"Well a break can only help you after all" she said with a reasonable point.

I let out a small sigh as I stretched out my body "Eh I guess you got somewhat of a point" I admitted as I made my way towards her log that she happily lied on. I carefully balanced my way across the log being careful not to fall into the stream of water below us that emitted a soothing sound to the ears. Eventually I made my way to her and I sat next to her.

We sat in silence for a few minutes and every few seconds Nia would stare at me awkwardly as if something was bothering her "Okay I have to ask, what the hell is up that that cast" she demanded a answer.

"Well you see I broke my arm when in an epic battl-" Nia quickly disrupted my anecdote "No I mean what the hell is up with the swastikas and pentagrams and… does that say forever single" she nitpicked every detail on my cast that Hesh cursed me with.

"You can thank my pikachu friend for that" I replied back in slight embarrassment. Second off how did Hesh and Nia know how to read, I can barely recognize some numbers let alone a whole entire language.

"How do you know how to read, I'm just curious" I asked before she could say anything else about my cast.

"Things like that come easy to me, I have a perfect memory on almost anything, so learning literacy came pretty easy to me" she said. She learned it no problem, me I get scared just from seeing the inside of a children's book with like five words per page.

"So if you have a perfect memory then why are you living on the streets like this, shouldn't you be doing something with your life" I asked.

"Like I said, I have one last thing to do before I can move on, plus it's not that simple for me" She replied.

"I don't see how but I'll trust your words" I said.

"Weird question but how'd you get that scar on your chest" Nia asked as she looked at the snake like scar on my chest. Apparently we were both nitpicking each other's lives now.

'Just had to ask that one question didn't you Nia' I screamed in my head mentally.

"Umm how'd you get your scar on your head" I asked quickly trying to change the subject to the scar that was on the ring on her head. Not the cut from the glass shard Hesh had to pull out. That scar on her head was there the first time I met Nia.

"Don't change the subject" She saw straight through my tactic and that was a sign that she really wasn't stupid.

"Okay fine I'll tell you how, but then you tell me about yours" I proposed to her. Scars are kind of like stories honestly. There is a story behind every scar and like all stories some are great and some are boring.

"Sure" she replied back to me accepting the agreement.

"Okay so you may remember a grumpy absol in our group and if so may it be noted that he is a racist fucking asshole" I said with spite. Nia frowned awkwardly as I belittled my teammate.

"Anyways long story short me and him got into a fight and yeah… it ended with this" I said as I remembered the pain I endured that night and how this scar was going to stick with me forever.

"I'm sorry to hear that" Nia replied back with sympathy in her voice.

"Its fine, now what about your scar" I said pointing to the scar on her head that made the golden ring almost look like a crescent.

"Well I got this scar around a year ago"

"Uh huh" I said with curiosity growing inside me about the origin of that scar.

"One year ago I took a bullet for someone precious to me, due to the thick skull's umbreon's have the bullet penetrated my skull but stopped in the frontal lobe of my brain" she said.

"Whoa-whoa wait a second you survived a bullet to the head" I said with disbelief.

"It's not the first time it's happened, although most who do survive such a wound are left with serious brain damage."

"And you weren't" I asked.

"No I have a lot of brain damage and I had to go through a lot of therapy as well" Nia told me "The bullet stopped in my frontal lobe, the long term memory part of the brain" Nia answered.

"I thought you said you had a perfect memory though…" I asked finding a flaw in her story.

"I do, only because I take daily injections of nanomachines that have to be replaced once a weak" Nia confused me with her fancy science slangs.

"Nanomachines" I questioned.

"Little robotic cells that carryout specific functions in your body, the nanomachines I get help connect the neurons in my brain. Since brain cells don't divide or reproduce in anyway, the nanotechnology fills the blank spots and as a result my mind outperforms the average human mind memory wise, as long as I get my nanomachine injection on a regular basis" Nia lectured.

"So what your saying is that you're a cyborg" I chuckled.

"Well umm… if you want to put it that way sure, but I do believe I need to be at least one third machine to qualify" Nia replied back with a smirk.

"I see…" This was odd. I was talking to her and enjoying a conversation with her. Maybe that imposter was right about her being a good pokemon once you got to know her. But… how does he know all of this?

"Hey Nia weird question but do you know any jolteon's, specifically any that are cryptic assholes" I asked not knowing what to expect.

"I don't know any personally, last one I saw was your friend" She replied back. "Actually there was one that tried hitting on me and stuff but I ended up breaking his nose after he made a few unappreciated comments" Nia said as she reflected back on the jolteon.

"Do you know his name" I asked.

"His name was Dan and Mew was he fat and smelly" Nia chuckled. "He had far roles on his fat roles… I was embarrassed that he was trying to hook up with me" Nia continued to tell me about the pig of a jolteon.

"Yeah never mind I think we're thinking of two different pokemon" I replied back.

"Who are you looking for then" Nia asked.

"A ghost of some kind" I replied back honestly with a smirk on my face from how silly that must have sounded.

"Okay… well I'm no paranormal expert." Well no duh your not. I sure as hell wouldn't call you if my house was haunted. Then again who would I call?

After a thirty minutes of random conversations having very little to do with my dark matter training I realized that I was gone for a bit longer than intended and if I didn't hurry back Alex was going to flip the world upside down in order to find me.

"Nia I should probably get going, my trainer is a little annoyed with me always going missing. He's probably looking for me as we speak" I said as I got up and carefully balanced myself and walked off the log we were on.

"Well I'll see you later I guess" Nia called out.

"Maybe, I'm almost dying left and right so you may want to be quick if you wanna see me again" I joked as I made my way back to Cyllage.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** So that concludes that chapter. The beginning did skip over what Ryder's role in all of this is, that's because I have plans lol. So the beginning was interesting as we watch Black tap into some darker memories and thoughts about who he murdered. I know I'm not letting much up on that and that's because I have plans for a good way to break the ice one of these days.

Even later in the chapter we see Stark experience that one problem again where he became weak and bleed out his mouth and nostrils. I'm no expert on anatomy but that's not normal...

The final part of the chapter which shifted back to Black and Nia we get some awesome character building. We got to see Nia actually being friendly for a change along with some of her feelings and humor. And at least we got an answer on what the medicine was. Now onto Nanomachines... those are real if your curious and they're more being developed than already in use. I'm no expert on what they can all do but they can do a lot of things. Its just basically microscopic cells that can carry out many functions. So nano technology can help a brain but I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap... Gotta wonder how Nia gets that stuff lol.

**Anyways here's a fun question you can feel free to answer. In a tournament including all the characters in this story who do you think would come out in the top three strongest? (Up to date in the story and excluding legendaries that were mentioned)**

Thanks to everyone who reads and follows and faved this story. I appreciate all of your support!


	56. Ghost's don't belong in this world

**Hello and welcome to a new chapter. This is another short chapter but I mainly made it short because I like where it stops and I wanted to leave it their. So hopefully you enjoy this chapter.**

**Guest Review response**

**Melody****: **Thanks for taking your time to review. I'm also glad to see that your enjoying my humor. I was never really sure if it was funny to anyone or not but I guess I made someone laugh so that's all I need. Also I saw your answer to that tournament question and I have to say that you actually made a good top three. I'm not saying how accurate it is but its a good choice. Thanks again

* * *

**Chapter 56: Ghost's don't belong in this world.**

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

"Stark wake up" A hazy voice called out to me that I couldn't recognize at first.

"Come on wake up already" The familiar voice called out again and the voice became clear this time.

"Naomi" I said in a weak voice as my eyes shot open to reveal Naomi. Here we are in middle of a forest like good old days. I couldn't believe she was alive. She looked the same as she always did her smile, her body and most of all her high spirit personality that masked the monster within me.

"Naomi" I said in a voice that yearned to see the umbreon again. Quickly got up and pulled the umbreon into a hug.

"Stark what's gotten into you" Naomi said in surprise, but she didn't fight the hug and only hugged me back.

"I've missed you so much" I said as a tear streamed down my eye.

"I know you have, but there's just one problem Stark" Naomi said to me as she hugged me tighter. "I'm dead because of you" Naomi said and the colorful forest around me lost all of its color and became a dark gray color along with a hollow feeling in my heart.

My eyes shot open as I awakened from my dream. To my disappointment it was all a lie. Of course she's dead and of course it's my fault. Because of me not killing Jack when I had the chance I lost the only pokemon that mattered to me. It wasn't fair she deserved so much better than the life she was forced to live. The worst part of all was that there wasn't any redemption for her. She died thinking she was a murdering monster, the kind of monster that I am.

I slowly struggled up to my feet still feeling very week from the bizarre way my body has been acting lately. "Zero, are you their" I called out in a weak voice.

"I'm here Stark, I was starting to wonder how long you'd be out" he replied almost instantly.

"What was that, this isn't normal and it happened back in Luminose too" I asked the voice in my head.

"I did some research on it the first time it happened" Zero stated.

"And?"

"I'm unable to determine the problem without physically seeing your body and examining it" Zero told me.

"Wonderful, so what I'm stuck with these problems until I drop dead one of these days" I responded with anger.

"No-no I'll see to it personally that you get looked at before it gets to serious. For now hurry back to Crimson, they'll be leaving soon" Zero said.

"Yeah okay, Stark out" I said ending the conversation. Before I headed back to Crimson I walked up to a puddle of water and began washing the blood off of my face. I'm sure that'd raise some interesting questions if I left my blood all over myself.

After I cleaned up and I made my way back to Crimson so I could join the hunt for the legendary, or I should say the mythical creature that we wouldn't find.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I made my way back to the hotel where our company was staying. I now stood in front of the door to our room getting mentally psyched to get scolded for roaming off on my own. I scratched on the door a few times with my one good paw in an attempt to get someone's attention.

"Who's out their" The voice I recognized as Hesh called out.

"Your mamas pimp" I replied back to the pikachu. A few seconds passed by before anything happened and but eventually the door opened and slowly cracked open.

"What'd you say about my mama" Hesh said with a frown on his face as he crossed his arms. "My mom's dead asshole" Hesh said in a spiteful voice.

I instantly felt overwhelmed with guilt as I realized how rude that was to say. I'd would know how insulting it was to have dead relatives insulted, every mom joke burned. "I'm… I'm sorry I didn't know" I replied back honestly. I hoped to arceus that he'd understand.

"Hesh's frown instantly turned into a big grin as he laughed in my face "My mother isn't dead" Hesh laughed. That was a disgusting prank and I did not appreciate it a little. Actually it was offensive. The pikachu continued to laugh in my face and my patience ran dry. I almost instantly got sick of the rats laugh and I punched him right in his stomach and he fell to his knee's grasping his gut.

"Wha-What the hell… I was just joking" Hesh said as he gasped for air.

"There's some places you don't go" I replied back in a cold voice as I walked into the room and pushed Hesh out of the room and I closed the door with him outside the room. That's what he gets for joking like that. I made my way into the room and I found that the couch was open for once and I quickly claimed it to myself. I could hear Hesh violently banging on the door as if he was about to be murdered by some vicious killer.

"Black where were you" Kana asked me as she walked up to me. I had no idea where she came from but my Mew she startled me.

"I was out for a lovely morning walk" I replied back to her with a sly smile.

"Really" Kana said as if she doubted me.

"Well yeah, I left while the moon was still out. You'd understand if you were an umbreon" I said back to her.

"You know those pokemon are after us" Kana had to talk really loud since Hesh was banging on the door like a maniac. "What if they chose to attack you then" Kana asked.

"I know it was not my smartest moment, but really quick where is everyone" I changed the subject.

"Getting breakfast to bring back here" Kana responded.

"Sweet what are they getting" I asked.

"Food" Kana replied back with an unsatisfying answer.

Then as if things in life were staged the door opened and Alex and all my other team mates came piling into the room, along with an unhappy pikachu. Alex and his father both set some bags down on a small table and began pulling out a variety of foods.

Everyone got their own food as they raided all the food that was in a pile now. I jumped into the pile practically knocking everyone away from the orange I spotted in the pile. That was mine and no one was stopping me from getting it.

Once I had the orange I took it to the other side of the room where I could feast on the fruit. It's been so long since I could enjoy one of my favorite foods. I loved oranges and the juicy flavor that sent shivers of joy down my spine from the sweet taste.

Anyways I'll make a long story as short as possible. Once I finished my meal Alex yelled at me for wondering off again. He was sick of it and he threatened to start keeping me in my pokeball if I kept running off all the time. It was a pretty good threat to because I didn't want to be trapped in those things ever.

"Alright listen up guys" Alex called out to everyone and we all directed our attention to him. "I got some errand to run today so I will be gone the majority of the day, so no training. Although I'd like you all to stay out of trouble" Alex stated.

"Now rule two" Alex said as he turned his head directly towards me "Black if you leave this room you have to be with someone. You get into trouble way too much" Alex singled me out.

"Racist" I yelled out to the trainer who didn't understand a word I said.

"How's that racist" Flare questioned.

"He's singling out the umbreon" I joked. I probably shouldn't be joking about this stuff though since racism was one of my primary problems.

After a few goodbyes Alex and his father were gone and they left us completely to ourselves. "Listen we're not really going to follow rule two are we" I asked everyone honestly.

"I don't know Black you do kinda have a habit of getting into trouble" Flare taunted.

"Yeah, plus I think we should stay here away from those pokemon after us" Hesh added.

"Screw that, I'm going to enjoy my day" I said as I headed towards the exit.

"You can't" Flare yelled as he tackled me to the ground. I quickly shoved the smaller mass off of me as if it was nothing and got back up to my feet.

"Okay Flare I get it you don't like breaking rules. I'm a big boy so I can watch over myself" I replied. Flare just stared at me with a look that said everything that he thought.

"Okay fine then…, would anyone like to go out with me for a bit" I asked openly. At first everyone was hesitant but after a few seconds Kana raised a paw.

"Actually I'll go" Kana said out loud.

"Anyone else" I asked again as I looked for a response from someone who was a little adventurous compared to my lame friend Flare. Then someone raised their hand that I never expected.

"You want to come too Ebony" Kana asked in just as much surprise. The little eevee gave out a nod. I had nothing against her coming, it's just that she was so… quiet and shy that it was awkward. At the same time I guess it wasn't a bad idea since I kind of avoided talking to her because I feared she'd blame me for what happened to her sister. I tried not to think of it but I felt a little responsible since her life was in my paws before she was killed.

"Alright well lets go" Kana gleefully said as she walked towards the door.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

"I almost thought you weren't going to show up" Vincent said as I re-entered Sanctum. I wish I wasn't going…

Standing before me now was the team Mandus assembled to capture Zygarde. One of the members was a greninja with a sword on his back; another was Vincent, next was a houndour with a missing eye and last was Mandus.

"How are we getting their" I asked Vincent.

"Were going to walk out of this forest and eventually we'll find a ride to take us to route fifteen" Vincent said.

"Zygarde is hiding near route fifteen" I asked.

"Deep within the swampy forest their yes" Vincent replied.

"And who is our source to this location" I questioned.

"Mandus has his ways of figuring things out" Vincent replied.

* * *

**Point of View Nia**

I was still at my little spot in the forest that I liked hanging out on. I lied comfortably on the log that went over the stream. The stream continued to carry a current of water that made music for my ears. This place was perfect and I could practically live here.

My time with Black earlier this morning made me wonder a bit about him. Black and I seemed to have more in common than I originally thought. We both knew pain and the hardships of being an umbreon. But the question that made me most curious was who he killed. Why would someone like him ever have to take a life and then that led to other questions like why Jack's group was after him.

I let out a tired yawn as I continued to make myself comfortable on the log I lied on. Then I heard a loud splitting noise followed by a loud creaking noise and the branch I was on split down the middle and I tumbled into the water along with the two giant log's that almost trapped me under water. I was a little dazed from the sudden bizarre event but I managed to swim out of the stream with little effort. I made my way onto land as I coughed up some water that made its way into my mouth from the fall into the stream.

"Blaze wasn't lying, it's really you" A voice called out from behind me. I knew this voice. This voice struck fear into every nerve in my body, one pokemon that I truly did fear, someone that caused me so much pain. I slowly turned my head to see the riolu I remembered standing behind me.

"Naomi, don't you know that ghost's don't belong in this world" the demon known as Sam asked me as he held a sword over his shoulder. I always said I was going to kill him. I had to erase him from this world no matter what the cost. Sam and Jack were two demons that needed to die no matter what.

But now that Sam was in front of me I found myself shaking in fear. After all the pain I have endured this is all I got to show him, fear. I always pictured this moment in my life, I have prepared for this moment for so many months. But now that he was in front of me everything was coming back to me, horrible memories that I tried so hard to forget.

"Don't worry girly I'll send you right where you belong, next to Stark" the riolu taunted as he laughed.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:**Well that concludes that chapter. So the little twist at the end I already knew wasn't a twist from the start lol. Most people caught on right away but at the same time I purposely did that. (Kind of both honestly lol)

So now we have an interesting cliff hanger as Nia is confronted by Sam who was mentioned to be one of Jack's pokemon. I have an idea of something I want to add to this stuff but I'm not 100% sure if I want to since it may not be T rated friendly.(My story may already be border lined on rating) Either way I have read some screwed up fics. One fic had a child eevee getting (Fill in the Blank) by her father and the author wasn't sure if it should be rated T or not... (No it wasn't a dirty story it just had one of those moments...) Actually a good story but that one part threw me off... A little to detailed M or T lol, I have yet to finish the second chapter... (Anyways I'm not saying what I wanted to add so I'll have to think about it honestly).

**Anyways here's another question you can all feel free to answer if you please to. Who is your favorite character so far, good or bad?**

**Thanks to all the readers and those that support the story and take the time to review. **


	57. Sam

**Welcome to the next chapter. Things left off with Nia's true identity being revealed (Not that I fooled many people) along with her identity revealed we also see Sam confronting her. This chapter does have some mature/dark hints towards the end so be warned.**

* * *

**Chapter 57: Sam**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi/Nia**

I didn't have much time to wallow in the memories that haunted since Sam started his attack against almost immediately. He dashed towards me on quick feet and he swung his sword downwards towards my neck in an attempt to decapitate me. I sloppily rolled out of the way barely escaping with my head attached to my neck. Before I could get back on my feet same plunged his sword towards me. I rolled out of the way again as his sword impaled the ground next to me.

I quickly got up to my feet and got ready for his next attack. There was no way I'd beat him like this. I never intended to fight him face to face in the past. But now here I am forced to fight him with no help. Whenever we did spar in the past things ended in disaster for me, no matter what circumstance.

"What's the matter, you look shaken up already" Sam taunted as he came towards me for his next attack. The riolu did a front flip in the air as he swung his blade. I jolted back barely escaping the sword. Once he landed from his flip he then stabbed his sword straight towards me. This time I failed to dodge the attack completely and it slashed the side of my neck open.

I winced in pain as blood escaped my wound. It wasn't fatal but if this continued I'd be dead soon. The riolu then sheathed his sword in the sheath that was slung onto his back. He then held up his hands in a martial art stance.

"Come on Naomi I'll give you a handicap" Sam laughed. One of the traits I hated about him was how he always tried to make things like this into a game. To me this was life or death but I knew that for him this was just a game for him to fulfill his sick desire to kill.

The fighting type then jumped into the air and delivered a kick right into my snout. I jerked back but I remained on my feet. Sam jumped at me and sent a punch with his right hand. I ducked under the punch and attempted to head-but him right in the stomach. Before my skull could make contact I felt his knee contact my jaw. Time became slow as I listened to my jaw crack as the joints tried to resist the pressure that forced them to stretch. I went twirling in the air from the devastating attack. Before I could even hit the ground I felt a punch slam down on my ribs from above and caused me to collide with the ground with even more force.

I breathed deeply as I tried to tolerate the pain that the riolu inflicted on me. I tried to stand but right before I could stand Sam kicked my paw and caused me to fall back on the ground. I looked up at the riolu who was now slowly pulling his sword out of its sheath as it made a scraping noise that sent a shiver down my spine.

"Well this was a good time killer but all good things have to come to an end" Sam said as he finished pulling his blade out. "I got one question before I finish you up, how did you survive?"

My ears flicked at the question as I thought back to my pointless survival. "Luck" I replied bitterly as I thought of how this was all for nothing.

"To bad you choose to seek revenge, you could have lived a decent life." I knew that he was right. It would have been wiser to just not seek revenge for what Jack and him have done. I was given a second chance and I threw it away.

"At least I get to die knowing I'm not some freak that enjoys killing" I growled at him weakly. Sam didn't look phased by my insult and instead replied with his sword. He stabbed the tip of his sword into my right paw. I let out a loud scream and he quickly withdrew the sword out of my paw.

"Any other comments" Sam asked in a dark tone. "No? Good then I can wrap this up" Sam stated as he raised his sword up. I stared at the blade that was covered in blood. This was the end. I screwed up by seeking revenge and now I was going to be killed. The blade swung down faster than my eyes could process, with no chance of avoiding my end.

Sam's blade stopped an inch right before making contact with my face. Sam's arm looked like it was struggling to move as every muscle strained itself to move downward.

"Don't kill her yet" A female voice called out. Sam and I both turned our heads to see a gardevoir floating in the tree's above us. This gardevoir had ice cold eyes that stared down at us. Yet she was the one who probably stopped Sam with her psychic abilities. This gardevoir also appeared to be normal compared to the others except for one thing. There were three knives sheaved on each side of her back equaling six knives in all. The knives on her back almost looked like wings she was an angle of death.

"What the Hell, why'd you stop me" Sam barked at her in anger as he continued to fight the gardevoir's power.

"This one has info on our targets. I just want to extract recent memories out of her mind and you can do what you please with her" the gardevoir said. Sam looked back at her and I could barely see the side of his face forming a sick twisted smile.

"Anything huh" Sam said in a pleased voice.

"Just make sure she dies by the end of today" the gardevoir said.

"Hmm sounds like a deal" Sam said. The gardevoir released her psychic grip on Sam and he sheathed his blade. Sam wasn't finished with me though, he picked me up by both of my ears in one of his hands. The nerves in my ears felt as if they were about to rip from supporting my body weight as I yelled in pain. The riolu then delivered a strong punch between my eyes with his free hand. That punch did me in and I lost consciousness.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Kana, Ebony and I all walked down the busy streets of Cyllage looking for something to entertain our time. Cyllage wasn't really that entertaining of a city, there was nothing but stores and everything looked practically the same.

Kana and I both made sure Ebony didn't linger behind since we didn't want to be responsible for losing a child eevee in a busy city. She remained mostly quiet along with me and Kana since none of us really had a lot to say at the moment.

"Black when do you want to go back" Kana broke the silence and asked me.

"We've hardly been out here for long" I responded. Kana then got really close to me as if she was about to whisper something to me.

"I only came with you to make sure you don't get yourself killed, there is killers after us and you want to roam the streets looking for something to do" Kana whispered to me with slight anger.

"Go back home then, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself" I replied back in a normal voice not even bothering to whisper.

"No you can't, bad things keep happening and you always barely get out alive" Kana retorted. I wasn't in the mood for this stuff I just wanted to enjoy a day for a change since every day kept becoming its own struggle with a different trial.

"Yeah I know bad things keep happening and that's why I'm trying to enjoy my day" I spoke back to the jolteon.

"Well what if something happens to Ebony" Kana whispered to me as she looked at the eevee who didn't seem to be paying much attention to us.

"Listen as long as we stay in public area's we'll be safe. They won't make a move in a place like this" I told the worried jolteon.

Kana let out a long sigh "I guess you have somewhat of a point" she responded truthfully.

"Thanks and I promise we'll be back way before dark" I told her truthfully. My gaze then looked over at Ebony who seemed to be in her own world "Hey Eb what do you wanna do" I asked the eevee snapping her out of her thoughts and she looked up at me.

"Anything's fine" she replied bluntly.

"You're opinion does matter just so you know, we got nothing in mind really either" Kana added on. The eevee took a second to think it through.

"How about… the park" the young eevee said as if she was unsure if that was the right answer. It was a bit secluded for what we were trying to avoid but I still doubted anything would happen.

"Sure thing" Kana responded with a friendly smile.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

"I wonder if Blacks okay" I asked out loud to the pokemon that still remained in the room.

"He's fine" Hesh responded as he fiddled with the TV remote in an attempt to find something to watch. Gray lied on the couch in silence as usual. He's been extra quiet ever since we all yelled at him for letting Black get hurt like that, although his silence was nothing new. He has been silent since the first day I met him, but he has improved a lot from the first time I met him. It took him weeks before he would even say a word to anyone.

"Got it" Hesh said excitedly knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Got what" I asked curiously.

"Pay per view television" Hesh replied back with a smirk.

"And that is" I questioned.

"You use this card thingy and you can watch all the newest movies and stuff on here" Hesh enlightened me as he held up a golden plastic card.

"What's that" I asked as I looked at the shiny card.

"I believe humans call this a credit card, you just swipe it and your good to buy whatever you want" Hesh said with a sly smile.

"For free" I question knowing that this was too good to be true.

"Something like that" Hesh responded back.

"Wait where did you get that card thing" I asked the pikachu.

"Alex's dad left his wallet" the pikachu answered.

"Shouldn't you have asked or something?"

"Yeah because Alex's dad and I have some special bond that breaks the language barrier with the power of friendship" Hesh replied sarcastically. I just shook my head in disapproval from the pikachu's logic of thinking.

"So what are we watching" I asked.

"For now we'll start with some comedies and adventurous movies, but when night comes and everyone's home I got a surprise" Hesh said with excitement in his voice.

"And that would be?"

"Saturday the Fourteenth" Hesh said with a menacing smile.

"What's that about" I questioned.

"Okay so get this, all these teenagers go out into the woods on some camp ground for the night, except theirs one catch" Hesh said with a dramatic pause. "There not alone, one by one they're all picked off by a serial killer that can't be killed" Hesh described the movie.

"And let me guess at the end of the movie they'll think they're safe and then at the last second the killer will pop back up and then the credits will play, just like every other horror movie" I said knowing full well how horror movies ended. It happens in every horror movie literally.

"Probs" Hesh agreed with what I said. "But I'm not really interested in the movie as much as I am interested in forcing Black to watch it" Hesh for some reason choose to make Black a victim.

"And how's this going to work against him" I asked.

"The guy doesn't know how to cross the street… I think he will crap himself at the sight of victims being mutilated one by one by a machete wielding maniac" Hesh exclaimed with a little too much excitement.

"Okay well… if you say so" I said as I thought of Black's response to a graphic movie.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

"So have you ever put any thought into what you want to evolve into" I asked Ebony who lied on the soft grass in the park.

Ebony took a second to consider the question "Not really… I mean I kind of wanted to be a glaceon like my mother was" Ebony answered. That's when I remembered that Ebony was technically an orphan and she had no family left in her life.

"Well go for it" Black said from the ball he was curled up in. I could have sworn he was fast asleep long ago.

"Speaking of evolutions how did you evolve into an umbreon" I asked Black trying to steer the conversation as far away from Ebony's family as possible.

"It's just another one of my drama stories" Black replied back.

"Is it a story I shouldn't ask about" I pried out of curiosity.

"No I just didn't think you'd care for my drama stories" I responded to the jolteon.

"Not like we have anything better to talk about" I told Black.

Black remained silent for a moment as if he was trying to put his story together for us to hear "alright I evolved almost four years ago, maybe four and a half if you want to get smart about it" Black said. "Now back in Snowbelle where I spent a lot of time as a child me and my friends would always play games at night and stuff. Hide and seek was our favorite" Black continued with his anecdote.

I remembered playing hide and seek when I was younger, fun times.

"One late night when I stayed out a lot later than I should have, I was walking home very late in the empty streets of Snowbelle. Now I was walking back home and I was a small little eevee so I wasn't much of a fighter and that's when a late night trainer saw me as an easy capture" Black said with a pause for the info to sync into our heads.

"The trainer tried taking me from my family and I fought back as best as I could. Long story short I evolved in mid fight. Although even with my new form I wasn't strong enough, but thankfully he lost interest in me since no one really likes umbreon's, so he left me on the ground after he and his pokemon beat me up" Black finished his story.

"It's a little funny that the first moment I became an umbreon I was treated differently" Black stated. "Anyways that's me, what about you Kana" Black directed the subject back onto me. That caught me a little off guard.

"Well I've been a jolteon for as long as I can remember honestly" I answered truthfully. It was something I've always wondered but I couldn't ask Alex or his dad so I just assume that they gave a thunderstone when I was too young to remember.

"Interesting" Black replied back not really entertained by my story.

* * *

**Point of View Nia/Naomi**

My head throbbed in pain as I slowly came back to reality. Everything was dark wherever I was along with an uncomfortably cold temperature. A light flicked on and the whole room was illuminated by a dim light. The room was really small and the walls were made of concrete and there was no sign of a window anywhere.

"Good morning or should I say evening" Sam called out as he walked towards me. I tried to move but I quickly found that my neck had a collar on it that was chained to the cement wall. I pried my legs against the wall and used all of my leg muscles to push away from the wall but in the end I only ended up making my neck soar.

"Your wasting your time, an onix would struggle to break that. So I doubt a scrawny little umbreon like you can do crap from their" Sam said as he walked towards me.

"What do you want from me" I asked as I tried to mask my fear.

"We needed some info extracted out of your head, had my gardevoir friend check everything from the past two year's" Sam said.

"Bullshit, I'm an umbreon and I'm-" I started saying before I was interrupted "Naomi your mind was invaded. I know everything about you and your little relation with Stark. Shame that he had to die for a bitch like you, he was good at his job and everything was going great until you started making him feel like he had to care" Same spoke of Stark.

"What do you know about him, you just liked the killer side of him, I saw through that and learned how he really felt. But some sick bastards had to screw with his mind up so much that he didn't even know any morals" I screamed at the riolu as I tried breaking the chain off again.

"What do you know about Stark, I've known him much longer and he's just another killer. Do you really think he'd like you after you got him killed. It was the false set of morals you made him think he had that made him hesitate to kill Jack and because of that you both ended up where you are."

I hated looking at that night like that. Sam was a liar that enjoyed watching others in pain, but he was right… If I didn't stop Stark he'd still be alive today.

"Your wrong" I shouted back at Sam. The riolu just looked at me funny as he waited for my reasoning.

"Stark's not some monster, everyone will always view him as a soulless killer that doesn't know empathy. But I'm going to remember him for who he truly was" I stated to the riolu.

"And tell me, who was this innocent umbreon that's killed more pokemon than you could count" Sam asked me with slight curiosity.

"A pokemon that was confused, someone who was manipulated into becoming a monster, if he truly was broken then he would have never shown any form of care towards me. He protected me and tried to keep me from becoming what he was. Stark may have shown no sign of being weighed down by his sins but he was weighed down. A monster would feel nothing, just as you do" I said truthfully to the riolu who just shook his head in disapproval.

"Think what you want, I could care less honestly" the riolu said as he headed towards the door to leave.

"What do you want from me" I yelled at the riolu, I knew he wanted me for the memories in my head but why was I still alive, he wasn't the type to hold hostages? The riolu turned his head back at me with a sick twisted smile that I have seen so many times.

"Well after my friend dug in your head for a bit she realized that you are actually pretty valuable. If you fail to get your nanomachine medicine your long term memory will fail you and you'll practically be clueless on anything and you won't even be able to remember your name. A lot of sick people would pay bank for someone with your conditions and with a cute body like yours" The riolu said. I nearly wanted to vomit from the idea of what he was planning for me. I'd rather die than have that happen.

"Of course we'll have to keep you until your memory fades, until then I'll keep you entertained every night" the riolu hinted a disgusting idea. I didn't like what he was hinting and I wasn't going to let it happen… not again.

Sam began to head towards the exit once again "Tonight those little friends you made die. Where going to kill every last one of them. Oh and just like Stark, you helped in their death. Maybe instead of calling me a monster you should consider yourself a calamity to those around you" Sam said with words that stung.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **Well theirs that. So now we've got something bigger coming up as Sam stated. I'm sure this won't be good for anyone. Anyways Nia appears to have some things in her past with the riolu that are dark. Sam also seem's to have some horrible plans of what to do with her. Long story short, the next few chapters may be a good read.

Thanks to all my supporters.


	58. Skull Face

Well here we are chapter 58, the drama continues!

Would anyone be interested in beta reading for this story. If you do you'll get to see the chapters before they get released and you get to help me. I'm not looking for an editor I'm just looking for a critic who can help me improve and spot errors and help me make the chapters read smoother. If anyone wants to help edit them that'd be even better but I'm not asking to much. PM me if you are interested in helping, if not no biggie. The only requirement I'd ask for is good grammar and understanding of writing.

Enjoy the chapter!

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**Chapter 58: Skull Face**

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**Point of View Naomi/Nia**

I continued to pull on the chain as hard as I could in an attempt to break free. It was useless though, the steel chains were too strong. I had only one way out of here, even though I swore to never use it again. I concentrated dark matter around my right paw until I had a deadly weapon formed. With one quick swipe I slashed the chain apart as if it was nothing. Along with the chain I carefully cut the collar off my neck.

I was now almost free. The only trial I had left was the door. It appeared I was out of luck… the door knob wasn't a handle instead it was one of those round circular ones that I'd never be able to grip with my paws.

"Shit" I muttered as I got ready to charge into the door. I slammed my entire body into the door with everything I had only to find out two things. One would be that the door was completely solid steel that wouldn't break easily. Two would be that my body was still in a lot of pain from my fight with Sam and I just bothered every injury I had in one movement.

Seeing as my body wouldn't be enough I resorted to my plan B yet again. This time though I decided to go with a shadow ball. I charged up the dark matter within my mouth and I launched it right at the door. The dark matter exploded upon impact and dust flew everywhere. Once the dust cleared up I saw the steel door standing perfectly unscathed.

"You got to be kidding" I said out loud in frustration. I began charging up another shadow ball, this time I put everything I had into one shadow ball. I launched the shadow ball at the door and the explosion caused me to go flying back to the opposite side of the room. Even more dust covered the room this time.

"This is a joke" I screamed to myself once I saw that the door only had a few scratches on it. If my strongest attack could only scratch the door then I was truly screwed. That attack took everything out of me and I was now trying to catch my breath from exerting so much energy at once.

"Sorry honey but that's not going to work" A voice called out to me from the darkest corner of the room. Emerging from the corner was that thing again.

"You" I said with a bit of anger. "What do you want now."

"I saw that you were in trouble so I thought we could talk a little" the voice said. Standing in front of me now was some creature that dared to take the form of Stark. I knew this creature wasn't him but I also knew he was real. The question that I wondered the most was what this creature really was.

"Who are you and why do you keep visiting me" I yelled at the imposter.

"Hmmm not excited to see me, I could get you out of here if you listen to a thing or two that I have to say" the creature said.

"Then speak" I growled at him.

"See this door here, very sturdy" the umbreon reminded me as he tapped on it with his paw. "You won't get out of here on your own. Sam and his friends made sure of that" the umbreon told me.

"Okay and what else did you need to tell me" I asked as I watched the imposter carefully to make sure he tried nothing on me.

"I'm willing to cut you a deal" the imposter said with a creepy smile on his face.

"I'm listening" I replied.

"I'll get you out of here, but in exchange you have to do two things for me" the white umbreon said.

"And those two things would be" I asked.

"You will finish teaching Black how to use dark matter as I told you to do in the first place and second your going to help him and his friends survive tonight, they will be in need of your intelligence" The umbreon told me. That's when I remembered what Sam said. Tonight was the night he was going to kill Black and his friends. At the same time I could care less, Black was really the only one I liked out of the group and that's mostly just because this thing forced me to help him out.

"Do we have a deal" he asked me as he extended a paw. As much as I hated this creature for wearing the face of my dead friend I didn't really have a choice at the moment. Either this or go through with Sam's future plan.

"Deal" I replied back as I shook his paw.

"Good then I'll get you out of here" he said as he walked towards the exit.

"Wait" I yelled out to him before he could finish what he was doing. The umbreon stopped and looked back at me. "Who are you and why do you look like Stark and what do you want from me and Black."

The creature looked at me with a small smirk "Call me skull face, that's what the legends call me anyways" the creature replied back.

"Skull Face" I said out loud. That was an odd name to go by but I could kind of see why.

"I'm called Skull Face since I only wear the faces of the dead" he replied back. This was strange, why would he only choose to appear as a dead person. He also speaks as if he is well known throughout myths. This would require some research later on.

"As for what I need in you and Black, I don't need much from you. But Black has some high expectations to live up to. That umbreon is pretty special" Skull face said as he turned into some form of dark matter and phased through the door.

A few seconds passed by and the door unlocked itself and slowly opened by itself. Nothing was behind the door and the creature known as skull face was gone. It didn't take me long to leave the room and make my way towards freedom. It appeared I was underground in the sewers now. This was going to take a while to get out of here.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Ebony, Kana and I have been back at the hotel for quite a few hours now. The sun was setting and night was coming. Hesh seemed to be very excited for some reason as he tried to set something up on the TV. Ebony and Gray were both in a deep sleep in their own spots in the room. I was happy Gray was asleep, I was still very pissed about my arm and this stupid cast I had to wear. I had pretty much given up on getting the annoying thing off since it was practically indestructible.

One of the things everyone took notice too was the fact that Alex and his father were still gone. These errands they were running was taking an unusually long time.

"Got it" Hesh said in excitement.

"Are you sure we should watch this with Ebony in the room" Kana asked as she looked at the sleeping eevee.

"Relax, that kid can sleep through anything, plus if she wakes up I'll just turn it off" Hesh replied back to the worried jolteon. I had no idea what they were talking about nor did I really care.

"Hey Black would you like to watch a horror movie" Hesh asked me with a smirk on his face.

"A horror movie" I questioned. I was familiar with the word horror but not a horror movie.

"Just come on you'll see" Hesh said as he dragged me towards the TV without my consent. I guess it wouldn't hurt to watch a movie since they were entertaining and I never got to watch any.

The movie was now starting. Everything in this movie seemed to be going on normally… teenagers going on some stupid camping trip, stereotype whiney teenage girl being a bitch to everyone. Then there was that one perfect guy who acted all badass and finally that punk ass teenage snob guy who treats everyone like shit yet still got invited on a camping trip.

I zoned in and out of the movie until a certain scene came on the TV "Hesh what the hell is this I don't want to watch that crap" I said as I shielded my eyes from the two young adults doing things I didn't want to see.

"Ugh yeah for some reason every other horror movie has stuff like this, never got why? Does it like boost their ratings or maybe people buy these movies just for these scenes" Hesh questioned.

After a couple more scenes like that it was finally getting dark in the movie, yet nothing was happening and this was the most shitty romance crap movie I have ever seen in my life. No plot, bad acting and to many scenes I didn't need to see. Thank Mew that Ebony was a heavy sleeper, someone her age did not need to be exposed to this trash.

The movie progressed and one of the guys left the camp area alone to go do some business out in the woods. That's when I realized what a horror movie was. Standing behind the innocent man who was just trying to find a spot to take a leak was a taller man with a hockey mask.

"What the" I began saying before the masked man took a machete out of his jacket. I gulped as I watched the ignorant man continue his night stroll not even noticing the man behind him. The man in the mask grabbed the person and impaled him with the machete and blood exited the wounds. My jaw dropped from the sight as my stomach became very noxious from the sight. I couldn't believe what I was seeing… it… it… was horrible.

I couldn't help but notice Hesh looking back at me every couple seconds to see my reactions to every scene. The next murder was about to occur when a man was in an abandoned cabin and he heard someone knocking on the door. As soon as the man walked up to the door a machete went through the door and killed yet another innocent victim.

I couldn't believe what Hesh was making me watch, it was disgusting and I couldn't see how anyone could enjoy this. The next murder was the last one I could tolerate as I watched a girl beg for mercy as she was slowly cut to death slowly by the masked killer. There was blood everywhere and I could feel my hemophobia kicking in.

I stood up and began making my way to the bathroom where I could get away from the bloody images that were haunting my mind now. Hesh just laughed at me as I walked away from the movie.

"Come on it's just a movie" he called out to me as I walked into the bathroom. I really felt as if I was about to vomit from the graphic scenes. Movie or not I couldn't tolerate the bloody scenes. I lied down on the floor as I tried to calm down and keep myself from vomiting everywhere.

"Are you okay" Kana asked as she walked into the bathroom. "You know none of its real right?"

"I know but…" I began to say before I stopped myself from mentioning my fear of blood.

"Sorry we shouldn't have forced you to watch something like that" Kana said in a sympathetic voice. I could tell she felt bad and I wanted to tell her it was no big deal, but it was a big deal to me.

"I just don't want to see stuff like that okay" I said back to the jolteon.

"Don't you like the thrill of a good scare" Kana asked me. I did enjoy a good thrill, but not the thrill of watching someone bleed everywhere as they scream for mercy.

"Kana can I tell you a little secret" I said very quietly.

"Sure" She replied back without whispering.

"It's not that the movie scared me… it's just that..." I tried to say before I lost the courage to tell her about my fear. I always did want to tell someone I could trust, but every time I wanted to I couldn't.

"You can tell me you know I'm not going to make fun of you or tell anyone" Kana said with a trusting voice as she got closer to me.

"This stays between us okay and after this I'm going to trust you to keep movies like that away from me" I said in a stern voice. The jolteon nodded her head back in agreement to what I said.

I was very hesitant about telling her, this was something I never told anyone ever. The only reason I was about to tell her was primarily because I trusted her. I mean her and Flare are the only two that know about my family, or I would hope to Mew and they haven't told anyone my secrets yet. So I viewed Kana and Flare as the two friends I have that I can trust with things like this.

"I don't like blood… it makes me feel uncomfortable" I said awkwardly as I waited for a smart ass comment.

"Oh!" Kana said as an imaginary light bulb lit up above her head. "So that's why." I shook my head to confirm.

"That stays between us, now next time I'm going to trust you to make sure there's no excessive bleeding in a movie." I said back to the jolteon.

"Got it."

**Point of View Hesh**

Before we could get any further in the movie I heard someone knock on the door to our room. I picked up the remote and I headed towards the door. I wondered who it was and what anyone could want at this time of night.

I stood in front of the door getting ready to open it. Then a thought popped into my head. 'Funny this is just like that scene in the mov-" I was thinking before a blade stabbed through the door. I quickly fell to the ground barely having the reflex to dodge it. I let out a loud scream from the blade that almost killed me.

"Holy shit it's… it's him" I yelled as I crawled away from the door in terror. The blade retracted back out of the door. I had to rub my eyes to make sure that was real. Black and Kana both came out of the bathroom to see what was going on. I couldn't believe that this was happening, was this some kind of screwed up prank.

"Guys that killers outside" I yelled as panicked thoughts came into my head about being mutilated to pieces.

"Okay Black has had enough of your joke" Kana said in Black's defense.

"But-" I started saying before the door was kicked open. We all froze as we looked at the door with no one standing there who could have possible opened it.

"What the hell…" I said in a shocked tone. "Guys this isn't a joke, come here" I said in a worried voice. Everyone was a little hesitant and all the noise seemed to have woken up Gray and Ebony.

"Someone call the police, I don't think where alone anymore" Flare suggested. I kept my eye on the door but I ran to the phone and picked it up. Even though they wouldn't understand me I'm sure they'd get the idea if a pikachu was screaming bloody murder. As soon as I picked up the phone all I heard was a beeping noise that showed that the phone wasn't working… just like in the movie…

"Shit it's not working" I yelled out loud to everyone.

"What's going on" Ebony yelled out in a panicked voice.

"Ebony just stay away from the door" Kana called out. The eevee backed away from the door as instructed.

Things then escalated more and the power to the hotel went out. Everything was pitch black and we couldn't see anything. Within a second the blue rings on Blacks body lit up and illuminated the room with a faint blue light.

We all froze as we heard some out of pitch whistling in the back corner of the room. We all slowly turned our heads towards the whistling. Standing in the shadows by the TV was a riolu with a sword slung onto his back.

"Who are you" I yelled out to the riolu.

"Why don't you come and find out" he replied back in a dark tone as he slowly unsheathed his sword.

"Theirs way more of us than you" Flare yelled at the ninja like pokemon.

"I can take you all on, but I'm not alone tonight" he said as he finished taking his sword out. Everyone stared at the riolu as he pointed his sword at all of us with a menacing smile. The backup power to the hotel kicked in and some emergency lights turned on in the hallways just giving enough light to navigate.

"I'll take care of him" Gray said as he stepped forward with a vicious growl.

"Gray I respect your heroism but we need to work together on this and not split up" I told the absol who was growling ferociously at the riolu as if he wanted to tear him limb from limb. I wouldn't even expect a growl from him like this if Black pissed him off as much as he could.

"Just go get help. I have a personal vendetta to settle with him" Gray growled.

"Gray are you sure you got this" Flare asked the dark type. He just gave a nod without looking.

"Alright he's on you then, I know you can handle him" Flare said with confidence in his friend. "Let's go" Flare commanded everyone. Everyone including myself hesitantly got out of Gray's way so they could fight. I wasn't sure if I trusted Gray to beat him, I've never seen Gray fight seriously but I was sure he could raise hell if he wanted to.

"We need to head towards the exit" I instructed everyone.

**Point of View Gray**

It's been eight years. Eight years since Eclipse fucked me and everyone I cared about over and we had to fight this exact riolu and his umbreon friend. Back then we failed to win that fight, but then again that was back then and I'm not even the same pokemon anymore.

"May I ask who you are" The riolu asked me. The fact that he forgot me was sickening. How could someone forget something so horrible!

"Eight years ago, you, Eclipse and that other white umbreon took everything from me" I said to the riolu who seemed unfazed by my anger.

"Eclipse, the name sounds familiar. I can't say I remember you though" the riolu babbled on not even caring about what he did.

"I'll make you remember my face" I yelled at him.

**To be continued...**

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**Chapter End **

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**Author Note:** Alright I know i've been doing shorter chapters lately and I apologize. Some chapters feel better at these lengths at the same time and it gives me more time to plan whats coming up and not overwhelm myself. Next chapter will be longer though.

I haven't asked this in awhile but I'd appreciate some constructive criticism. I'm feeling as if I could do better but I'm not really sure what to look out for on my errors. So if anyone would like to be kind enough that would be awesome.

(This paragraph is a bit of rambling about horror movies lol) For anyone who's wondering I was referencing the move Friday the 13th. Its an older horror movie that got a remake in 2009. I'd recommend the movie to anyone who's allowed to watch rated R movies with adult themes. (I joked around with that a bit while Black was watching it). One thing I thought would be hysterical is if I had Black watch The Evil Dead. That movie is the most F***ed up thing I have ever seen. Truly the most gory movie I have ever seen. Anyways sorry I got off topic I just love horror movies lol.

Now onto more plot related stuff. Skull face was the name I gave the thing that takes the forms of dead pokemon. Their is some interesting things to put together on Skull Face and you can expect him/her to show up again.

Anyways thanks for reading and another thank you to anyone who supports this story!


	59. Say my name

**Hey everyone welcome to the next chapter in the story. Before I continue I would like the thank genericgamer207 for being nice enough to edit this chapter along with the first chapter to this story. So just remember if my grammar seems like it evolved past the intellect of a third grade story teller it didn't... Although I'm still trying to improve. Anyways things continue from last chapter so enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 59: "Say my name"**

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**Point of View Gray**

'Sarah… Joel… Katherine… Aaron… I haven't forgotten a single one of you, not for one day. I still remember that day all five of us fought valiantly against this riolu and that white umbreon. Despite the fact that I no longer have a horn that's real, I can still sense this eerie feeling just like I felt last time. This time I'm going to win, this time I won't hesitate. This time I will kill him.'

The riolu that Nia said was named Sam just watched me from the shadows of the room with a demented smile on his face. The smile triggered something in me and I found myself growling at the riolu. The riolu jumped towards me and swung his sword horizontally. I quickly rolled below it. Before I could recover from my roll the riolu sent a stabbing motion towards me. I leaned away from the attack as the blade nicked the side of my neck and blood splattered out of the wound.

I jumped back from the riolu and got some space between the two of us. I concentrated my energy and formed an ice blade around my right paw. The blade resembled a knife and would easily kill him with the right hit. I lunged towards the riolu and swung my blade towards his neck. The riolu ducked under my attack and tried sweeping my feet with his leg once I landed. I jumped again over the attack and tried impaling him midair. The riolu blocked my ice blade with his own steel one, and after they collided we both retreated back from each other.

The riolu and I charged at each other. I jumped off a table that was in the middle of the room, and shot an ice beam at the riolu in midflight. The riolu smoothly rolled out of the way and plunged his sword towards me all in one smooth movement. I was in midair when his blade cut my gut area. Blood shot out of my wound as I smacked into the ground. I quickly rolled over and got back up onto my feet. My adrenaline was too high to feel pain at this point.

The riolu sprinted towards me and began sending a series of quick attacks. I barely dodged each attack as I heard the blade cutting through the air itself. The riolu sent a kick towards me and made full contact with my gut. Spit flew out of my mouth as I went flying into the air. Sam moved faster than my eyes could comprehend and he landed a solid punch on me while I was in midair and sent me flying out into the hallway.

I quickly scurried to my feet despite the fact that his blows felt as if they were from a lead pipe.. I was now in the hallway and I could tell this fight was really about to get nasty. The riolu flew out the door as he swung his weapon at me with deadly precision. I quickly dived out of the way with an ice beam charging. I launched the beam mid-dive and the riolu moved around the attack. Seeing as he was too fast for that attack, I decided I was going to try something else. I launched razor sharp hail out of my mouth towards the riolu. It was like a shotgun and scattered everywhere throughout the hallway. The riolu spun his blade in a circular motion at a high velocity, deflecting every piece of hail flying his way.

"You're pretty good," the riolu complimented as he moved towards me. I shot another hail attack towards him and, once again, the riolu deflected each piece with his blade. In one quick movement the riolu jumped on the wall, ran along it, and rocketed off it towards me. He swung his sword vertically faster than my eyes could comprehend the movement. The blade sliced the side of my hip open, but I was able to dodge most of the serious damage.

I moved back from the riolu who walked towards me slowly. The riolu then stabbed his sword into the ground and left it in the floor.

"I like it up close and personal," the riolu taunted as he got in a martial art stance. One fist held towards his face and his other hand in front of his torso.

Sam dashed forward and swung his left paw towards my jaw in an uppercut motion. I retracted my head back as I felt his paw scrape the side of my jaw. I jabbed my bladed paw towards the riolu but he caught it with his right paw, pulled on it, and made me to fall forward on my stomach.

Sam grabbed me by my horn and pulled me up to my feet. He kneed me in my chest, and I grunted in pain as he landed a solid punch between my eyes. The impact of the punch made a loud metal clanking sound. He let go of my horn, then delivered another punch in my jaw and sent me flying back. Every spot he contacted with his fist ached. His fist were unnaturally hard, almost as if they were steel.

"Having fun yet" the riolu asked as he cracked his knuckles.

I slowly got up onto my feet with muscles that were resisting the pain. "Having the time of my life" I said as I spit some blood out of my mouth.

Point of View Flare

We all were running down the stairs as quickly as we could, and we finally made it to the main floor. We pushed open the door to the stairwell and we entered the lobby of the hotel. We all looked around cautiously for any sign of danger, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Why is no one here? Not even the counter lady," Hesh pointed out the obvious.

"See if the phone down here works," I suggested. The rodent jumped up on the front desk and picked up the phone and put it up to his ear.

"Damn!" the pikachu threw the phone across the room. "Let's just get the hell out of here and get help, I trust Gray but I don't want to leave it up to chance."

"I'm afraid we can't allow that." We all froze from the anonymous voice. Coming out of the hall was a raichu and that same blaziken that kidnapped me and Black earlier.

"Who are you and what do you want from us," Kana asked the two strangers.

"Remember not to kill her specifically," the raichu told his blaziken friend. I looked at Kana, 'why wouldn't they want to kill her?'

"Noted." the blaziken nodded back at the rodent.

"Hey ass-face she asked you a question!," Black shouted at the two. Sadly he was ignored and the two just watched us carefully.

"Dibs on the fennekin," the blaziken said to his partner. Why would he specifically want me?

The raichu stuck his paw out towards us and made a handgun out of his fingers. We all watched in confusion as the raichu continued to point it at us as if this was some kind of joke.

"Bang" the raichu said blankly as his cheeks jolted with electricity that conducted to his right paw, and a bolt of lightning shot out of his hand at the speed of a bullet. We all dived out of the way as the lightning made contact with the front desk and fried the computers creating a loud thunder noise.

"There's no escape from us., Every room in this hotel was bought out for this night, you're the only one's here. The doors are locked up also, so no one comes in or out. That is not until you're in body bags," the raichu told us.

'Every room was bought out?! How bad do these people want us dead?.'

"Bring it," Hesh retorted back as he got to his feet. The raichu just looked at us with a bored expression and held out his fake handgun again.

"Shit," Hesh yelled as another bolt of lightning was shot towards him. He wasn't fast enough this time and he was electrocuted. The pikachu fell to the ground as every muscle in his body conducted electricity and every muscle of his tensed up.

"My name is Raiden, also known as the lightning god. The volts in my electricity exceed the average pokemon, so even type advantages don't have an edge against me." Raiden crossed his arms as Hesh slowly got back up to his feet fighting the resistance from his muscles.

This wasn't good, that raichu was able to hurt Hesh with his own element type, what would it do to me or a water type. My heart rate increased from the pressure that was accumulating.

"Let me handle this. Don't worry I'll leave your fennekin friend for you," the raichu said as he walked towards all of us. Black and Kana moved to the left and Hesh and I took the right as we surrounded the raichu. Ebony on the other hand stayed back, none of us wanted her getting hurt. I glanced back at the blaziken and it appeared he wasn't going to jump in yet.

We all charged towards him at once. He quickly turned towards Kana and Black and shot a separate bolt of lightning towards each of them. By the time they were hit Hesh swung his fist towards the back of the raichu's head as I charged up a flamethrower. The raichu caught Hesh's hand without even looking at him. Hesh swung his other paw at the raichu but he jerked his head away from the other punch without looking.

"What the fu-"Hesh began to say before he yelled in agony as his body was filled with electricity. The pikachu fell to the ground. I launched my flamethrower towards the raichu but he dove out of the way.

"Bang," the raichu said blankly in mid-dive and shot another bolt of lightning towards me. I dived out of the way as the bolt barely missed me. All the fur on my body was standing on end from the lightning that almost struck me. This was really bad, that blaziken hasn't even stepped foot into the fight yet and we were already losing horribly.

"Leave him and the jolteon, remember," the blaziken called out.

Everyone who had fallen victim to the lightning was now struggling up onto their feet.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

I silently snuck through the darkness of the night. I was now approaching the back of the hotel that Black and his friends were staying at. All the windows to the hotel were covered with blinds so I couldn't see inside. All side entrances were locked along with the front door. That left me with plan B:, breaking and entering.

I approached one of the windows and began charging up a shadow ball. Before I launched my attack a solid object tackled me onto the ground, my body slammed into the brick wall of the hotel.

"Who the hell are you." a Charmander yelled as he stood over me with his arms crossed. I could feel myself mentally snapping from the random act of assault.

"I'm going to give you a ten second head start to run like hell," I stated. The Charmander just continued to cross his arms and stare at me as if he wasn't afraid.

"Nah, I got something important to do here lady. Are you one of those assassin people or just a burglar?" the Charmander asked.

"Assassin?" I repeated "No… What do you know about them?"

"You know about them too?" The charmander said with surprise. I nodded back in response. "Wait does that mean the creepy face skull guy visited you too!" the Charmander exclaimed.

"Yeah he told me to come here to save Black and his friends, I'm assuming you're on the same mission?"

"Yeah that creepy thing forced me into this as well," the lizard replied.

"We need to hurry then, Mew knows how long they actually have before they show up. We may already be too late," I said.

"Let's go then." The Charmander grabbed a rock on the floor and threw it through the window I previously tried to destroy. The glass shattered and we made our entrance. I didn't waste a second, and I jumped up on the ledge and entered the hotel. The Charmander struggled to pull himself up the ledge and fell through the window and made a loud thud upon impact. I looked around cautiously to make sure that that alerted no one.

"Let's keep it quiet," I whispered to the Charmander who was groaning on the ground. He gave a thumb's up as he crawled up to his feet.

"Just so you know my name is Aiden, just so you can properly address me if needed" he stated. I could really care less about anyone's name at a time like this. Plus it's not like I had plans to see him after this.

"Let's keep moving," I whispered as I walked silently down the hallway we were in.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Our fight continued on as everyone in our team gave it everything they had. Most of us had felt the high voltage of the raichu's electricity at least once. The only one who wasn't helping was Ebony, but that was because we made her hide. She was too young to face this kind of stuff. That one time back at Genesis was enough for her.

"Aren't you all getting tired of getting shocked," the raichu asked us.

"Not as tired as I am of hearing your mouth run," Hesh yelled out.

Hesh and the raichu were engaged in a spiteful argument that wasn't contributing to anyone. That is except for the big opening the raichu had behind him. I concentrated flames around my body and I charged toward the raichu with flames hot enough to melt the skin off of him. I leapt towards him but right before I made contact he jumped above me. The raichu pointed his handgun at me and struck me with lightning. Every nerve in my body lit up as I hit the floor. The raichu quickly jumped on top of me and pinned me to the ground.

"Flare!" Kana and Hesh yelled in sync.

"Let him go or I'll-" Kana yelled before she was cut off.

"You'll what? I'm in full control of this situation. I have been holding back this whole fight. If I wanted to right now I could fry his brain to the point that he'd be drooling all over himself for the rest of his life. Do you want that?" Kana instantly froze from the thought he put into her head. I tried to resist but my muscles wouldn't cooperate due to the electricity they endured. All I could do is watch the raichu decide my fate.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ebony coming out of her hiding spot. The eevee looked at me with eyes that showed her fear. The fear in her eyes instantly converted to a growl as she gritted her teeth and dashed towards the unsuspecting raichu. Ebony pounced towards him with her tiny fangs ready to taste blood. The raichu extended his left paw towards Ebony and caught her by her throat. Ebony let out a loud whimper of pain from being stopped with that much inertia by her throat. The raichu jumped off me with Ebony in his grimy hands.

"Let her go" Black shouted at the raichu.

"This eevee is my trump card, why would I do that?" the raichu asked as he tightened his grip around Ebony's neck and she whimpered from the pain.

"She's just a child, you can't be serious!" Hesh yelled.

"Exactly, none of you want's her blood on your hands. So I suggest you listen well or I'll break her little fragile neck," Raiden demanded.

"What do you want," Hesh spoke up. Everyone waited in silence as we all feared his demands.

"The fennekin and jolteon will fight my comrade in a separate area," the raichu demanded. Why was this raichu and blaziken singling out me and kana? Why are we the odd members of the group right now?

"Any objections?"

"Flare, Kana, will you two be fine with meeting his demands" Hesh asked us. "It's that or-"

"If it saves Ebony we don't have a choice," Kana responded.

"Excellent," The raichu said. "Blaze escort them to another area to do your thing." The blaziken nodded at his friend and waved his hand to indicate that we were supposed to follow him.

"Do you two think you can do it" I asked the two friends that I may never see again.

"It's not about what we think. It comes down to the fact that we have to win" Black responded to my question. "Just win and come back safe," Black added with concern in his voice.

"You too," I responded back. After our small little parting Kana and I both followed Blaze down a hall. The blaziken didn't even seem slightly concerned about us attacking him from behind. Then again every attempt at that against the raichu failed, he didn't even have to look to react appropriately to our attacks.

"Where are you taking us" Kana asked the blaziken that was guiding us down the hall.

"We're going to the park, the moon is directly above us now and it will light up the area for our battle. There we will be secluded and we can get some things out of the way in privacy," the blaziken answered.

Neither of us had anything to say, for now our walk was stalling any serious danger and the moment we get outside I planned on running to the nearest form of help. Before I could plan to far ahead the blaziken turned around with a dart gun in his mouth, he shot two darts with great precision into both Kana and my neck. My vision quickly grew blurry and I began seeing double's.

"It's alright, go to sleep. You can trust me Flare," the blaziken said as I fell to the ground fighting off the drowsiness. It was too much and eventually my eyes closed and they refused to open back up.

The last thought I could think about before I blacked out completely was who this guy was and what was up with his obsession with me.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"Bang." Hesh and I both quickly dived out of the way from another lightning bolt.

"I thought we had a deal" I yelled at the raichu who still had Ebony in his custody.

"Don't complain about a fair fight to me, there are two of you and one of me. I'm only evening the playing field" the raichu stated.

Veins were now bulging out on Hesh's face as he clenched his fist "Evening the playing field! You're taking a child as a hostage and on top of that you're going against your word!"

"This is why you and all your friends are going to die. You don't understand the concept of a real fight. This isn't one of your gym battles where you have rules and honor. No in a real battle you die and hang on to your morals, or you do whatever it takes to win." Neither Hesh nor I knew how to reply to that speech. It was clear now that this raichu didn't care. He was a survivalist that would do anything to achieve victory. It was clear now that we had to assemble a plan to win or Ebony was going to die.

"Any ideas on how we win," I whispered to Hesh who was right next to me.

"What is there to do, if we move Ebony dies, if we stand still we die along with Ebony," Hesh responded stressfully.

"Wait you aren't implying that-" I began to ask before Hesh stopped me.

"No" Hesh quickly interrupted "I just don't know what to do, no matter what someone dies…"

"I get what you're saying, but there has to be a way." I understood Hesh's mood. The only thing we could do is dodge his lightning attacks until we exhaust ourselves. In the end we would die if Ebony wasn't freed from his grasp. I couldn't live with her blood on my hands… not just so I could save myself.

'Mew… if you want to do something for once, then please… please send us a miracle' I prayed as a last resort.

Almost as if it was on queue a shadow ball tore through the air towards the raichu. He quickly dived out of the way with Ebony held between his arms. I quickly glanced in the direction from where the shadow ball came from and I couldn't believe who it was. My prayer was answered by Nia. Standing behind her was that one Charmander that pissed me off, although under tonight's circumstances I'd let it slide. I could almost say I was glad to see him.

I quickly looked back at the raichu who was already back up on his two feet. This time the charmander launched an ember. The raichu quickly dodged out of the way. The grip on Ebony's neck loosened and gave her an opening. She bit down on his arm and blood squirted out of the wound.

The raichu flinched back and swung the eevee off his arm. A piece of his flesh ripped off along with the eevee. She slid across the ground and recovered to her feet immediately. She stood up and spat the chunk of the raichu's flesh out of her mouth.

"Looks like I lost my trump card," the raichu stated as he observed his wound.

Ebony quickly ran back to me and Hesh, Nia and the charmander quickly came over towards us as well. I was impressed with Ebony taking that chance, she responded perfectly.

"Is everyone alright," Nia asked as she kept her eyes on the raichu.

"Yeah we're just struggling to get by is all," I responded. "Thanks. That could have gotten really ugly if you didn't step in when you did."

"Yeah but he got around my attack. I meant to take off his head originally." That was a dark idea, I never knew she would resort to violence like that.

"How does he keep dodging us without even seeing us" Hesh asked out loud.

"He's a good fighter that's why," Nia responded.

"Does he like have the sixth sense or something? He's dodging attacks that aren't even possible" I added in.

"We'll come up with something" Nia told me.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

My eyes slowly creaked open as I came back to reality. It appeared that I was still alive at the moment. The blaziken wasn't lying we were going to the park. I quickly remembered that Kana was knocked out too and I quickly got back up on my feet to locate the jolteon.

"Kana" I shouted as I looked around frantically but it was difficult to spot her due to a thick fog that covered the park. Eventually I spotted her. I ran over and gave her a nudge, but she didn't even move. I placed my head against her chest to make sure she was even breathing; thankfully I could hear her breathing.

"Glad to see you're awake" a voice called from behind. I looked back and I saw the blaziken standing behind us.

"What do you want from me" I shouted at the bird like pokemon.

"I just wanted to talk a bit, I'm not going to trick you or anything" the blaziken said as he took his knife out of its sheath and dropped it on the ground.

"Who are you" I asked the fire type. The blaziken just stared at me with a blank expression.

"Who am I?" the blaziken repeated the question "Apparently I'm a forgotten face." I launched an ember straight towards him in response to his question. The blaziken just dodged it by only moving his upper torso.

"I haven't forgotten your name… Flare."

"Don't make me ask you again, who the hell are you!" The blaziken walked closer to me until his shadow overlapped my smaller form.

"Say my name," The blaziken demanded.

"What!?" I jumped back away from him as I began charging another ember in my mouth. I launched it and the blaziken punched it and caused a mini explosion that blew away some of the fog, but replaced it with smoke. He flew out of the smoke cloud and landed directly in front of me.

"Say my name," he demanded again. I quickly swiped my claws towards his legs but he jumped over the attack. "Say it." I didn't know what to say, I had no idea what his name was.

"I don't know your name now stop messing with me," I yelled back at him.

"Think back Flare, don't remember me by my appearance now, remember me from six years ago." An illusion popped into my head and the blaziken was masked with a mirage of a familiar combusken for a split second.

"H-Hunter?" I said in disbelief to what I was witnessing.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** So here we are with another cliffhanger. Well everyone hang around for the next chapter because things will get catastrophic for our characters. I kind of feel bad for the owner of the hotel... hope his/her insurance is good. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who supports this story. Also feel free to fav or follow this story, it would mean a lot to me.


	60. Flare's Name

Sorry it took longer to get this chapter up then usual. I literally stared at a screen for like two days and couldn't even write one word. I don't know why, I knew what I wanted to do this chapter but I just couldn't put it into words. Anyways enjoy this chapter and thank you to everyone who reads.

**Another thank you to genericgamer207 for beta-reading and making this chapter much better. He puts in a lot of work and does a great job. *Round of ****applause***

* * *

**Chapter 60: Flare's Name**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"Naomi what are you doing?" Raiden asked as he stared at me with his arms crossed.

I glared at the raichu as I stood my ground. "I'm here to kill Jack," I replied back.

"I doubt you have the skill or gut to go through with that," Raiden told me.

"Watch me. I'm not some weak pokemon anymore," I snapped back at him.

"Is that so? Then show me how much you've grown in this past year." Raiden extended his paw and made a handgun out of his fingers.

"Get ready," I warned everyone around me. "Hesh, Aiden, you two provide me with support. I'm going to get up close and give him no room to attack. Ebony hide somewhere safe" I said. Everyone nodded in agreement and Ebony made her way to somewhere safe.

"Hey! What about me?" Black questioned.

"Your absol friend where is he?" I asked everyone.

"He's upstairs fighting a riolu," Hesh told me. If he was alone, then that was a bad call for whoever decided that.

"Black go find and help him," I commanded.

"Nia Gray and I don't real-"Black started to say before I cut him off.

"Black just shut up and help him, you don't have to win. Just stall him until we are done here."

"Fine" Black said reluctantly. Black then looked at the raichu who still had his hand extended forward, Black dashed towards the door to the staircase.

"You're not going anywhere," Raiden yelled out as his hand jolted with electricity and shot a bolt towards Black. I launched a shadow ball and it collided with the bolt of electricity and spared Black from the shocking pain.

"Your fight is with us!" I shouted as I charged towards the raichu. He pointed his handgun towards me and launched another attack. I slid under the attack and got back up onto my feet. I swiped my claws towards his eyes, but he jerked his head back to safety.

"You're dead," Raiden taunted as electricity circulated throughout his whole body. Raiden's body exploded with electricity. The electricity was conducted into my body and I hit the floor. I tried to struggle to my feet but my muscles refused to operate properly.

Raiden stood over me as he pointed his hand at me "Don't come back this time," he said. Before Raiden could finish me a fireball flew by and forced him to jump back. Despite my muscles screaming in defiance, they recovered just in time for me to force myself onto my paws. Aiden and Hesh continuously launched projectile attacks towards the raichu. He jumped away from each attack with very little effort.

Raiden dashed towards Hesh once he saw his opening, and he fell back in shock from the unmatchable speed of the raichu. Raiden quickly grabbed Hesh by the neck and held him up. Hesh struggled to get free, but his efforts were futile.

"I'm done wasting my time," Raiden said in a cold voice. Raiden charged his body with energy, and sent it into Hesh in one large jolt. Hesh screamed in pain as he was shocked. Once it was over, Raiden dropped Hesh onto the floor. We all stared at the pikachu as every muscle in his body quivered from the electrical shock he endured.

"You still want to play with me Naomi? That's what I can do to someone with their own element. I want you to think of what it will do to someone who is fragile like you." I was growing sick of him talking to me like that. Not just him though, everyone talking to me like I was weak.

"I told you before, I'm not weak like I was a year ago," I snarled at him.

"Prove it then. You can't hurt me," Raiden taunted. With that challenge given to me I darted off towards the raichu. I formed dark matter around my right paw to use as a weapon. Aiden joined in too as he followed behind me. I swung my paw towards Raiden but he just stepped back. Aiden launched a fireball that missed and exploded against the ground. The air around us was now covered in a thick black smoke. The smoke cleared and I saw Raiden's fist coming towards me. I lowered my head just enough to dodge to the electrical punch.

Aiden came from behind the raichu and tried to tackle him from behind. Raiden's tail swung back and shocked Aiden with electrical currents. The lizard fell to the ground groaning in pain. Raiden continued to throw punches at me and I continued to dodge each attack.

"Do you think anything has changed in one short year?" Raiden asked as he continued to throw punches at me "You're too fragile for this life. You were never one of us from the start." One of Raiden's punches made contact with my face and sent me sliding along the floor. I groaned as I crawled back up to my feet.

"You're right… I was never fit to be a killer, but I'm not fragile," I growled. Raiden let out a frown and he charged towards me. He swung his right fist towards me as electricity circulated through his fist. I didn't move I only held my ground. Right before his fist contacted me, I formed a dark shield of dark matter around my body. The instant Raiden made contact with my body he flinched back. Raiden now clenched his injured fist that no longer had any skin on it.

"You bitch!" Raiden pointed his good hand at me and launched another bolt of lightning towards me. I stood still as the lighting made contact. The dark matter around me completely shielded me from the attack.

"Sorry but lightning can't conduct through dark matter," I said as I approached the now defenseless raichu. His eyes widened in fear from the disadvantage I put him into. Despite the fact that I only told the truth, he tried to attack me again. He launched another lightning bolt towards me, which, like the first one, just exploded off my armor.

"Who's fragile now?" I taunted as I dashed towards him. I tried to tackle him with my whole body but he dove out of the way. I continued my assault and kept trying to hit him with my dark matter. Within less than a minute I could feel my body exhausting from exerting so much energy. The dark shield around my body started to grow more shallow with every second that passed by. Once this shield was gone I had no advantage against him.

In one final effort I put everything I had into one attack. I charged up a shadow ball and launched it straight towards the raichu. The shadow ball tore through the air, Raiden's eyes widened as he dove out of the way. The shadow ball made contact into the wall and blasted a massive hole in the wall. The dark matter shield around my body was now completely gone, and I was once again defenseless. Raiden got back up off the ground and simply dusted himself off as he observed my lack of power.

"That was the duration of your attack? This is why Jack always viewed you as expendable. You're weak and fall short of your predecessor." I replied to his insult with silence. He was right though, I fell very short to everyone's standards when I was with Jack. Not that that was a bad thing, I hated my old life. The truth was though, I was a horrible fighter and detested violence, but that doesn't make me weak.

"No, I'm not the one who is weak" I replied back to Raiden.

"Oh, and I am?" he asked.

"You're nothing but a shell of your former self. I remember back in the day's you actually had morals, the Raiden I knew wouldn't take pleasure in killing."

Raiden just watched me as he began to clench his fist "What do you know about me."

"I know that you were a lot more caring. You also never would have considered killing a child. You say I'm weak but in the end I'm the one who has changed from a killer. I'm still me, you're just some worn down Raichu with no future," I said with honest words that had bite to them.

"You know what they say, right?" Raiden asked. "The weaker the houndour, the more it barks."

"You're talking just as much as I am," I replied back as I braced myself for an attack.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I made the long ascension to the top of the hotel, which wasn't very easy due to the big cast around my arm. I had no idea why Nia told me to come up here and help Gray. Does she not realize that Gray and I are basically enemies to each other? Once I reached the top I entered the hallways and looked around. It looked as if a war had taken place. The walls were covered in cut marks and ice pellets littered the floor. No doubt that thing's got intense up here without us. Despite the fact that I hated Gray I still hoped that he wasn't injured or worse.

Cautiously I entered the hall and looked around carefully for any sign of danger. Along with all the damage I found blood trailing down the hallway. I followed the blood trail knowing that it would lead me to someone. I made my way to the corner and I went around it. I stopped dead in my tracks from what I saw behind the corner.

"G-Gray," I stuttered in disbelief. I quickly dropped our feud and checked to see if he was possibly alive. At the moment my hemophobia was overridden by the sight in front of me. Gray was covered in his own blood. I looked towards his chest and located a stab wound that went straight through him and came out the other side. Blood dripped out of the wounds along with blood that found its way out of Gray's mouth.

"Gray wake up!" I nudged Gray repeatedly in an attempt to find any sign of life. My efforts to wake him up were in vain and he only lied on the ground in silence. I honestly hated Gray… he always treated me as a lesser being, but I still didn't think he deserved this, not many people would. This whole scene was just like how I found my sister dead that one night. This was all some kind of sick mockery as if something divine wanted me to relive that night again.

"I'm sick of people dying" I said to myself as I gritted my teeth and I felt the urge to kill the one responsible. That riolu was going to pay.

I turned away from my fallen comrade and sprinted down the hall in pursuit for that riolu's blood. I flew around the corner with not one concern other than collecting his life. Then I spotted him, he was walking down the hall whistling as if he did nothing wrong.

I sprinted from behind at full speed on my three good legs. I don't know how I was going to do this, but I intend to slaughter him like the monster he is. I leaped towards the unsuspecting riolu as I targeted his neck with my razor sharp fangs. Right before my teeth could clamp down around his neck he ducked below me. I slid down the hall with inertia and I spun back and looked at him.

"That was a close one, almost got me by the neck," the riolu said playfully as he rubbed his neck. I snarled at him as a reply. He talked as if this was some kind of game. I'd love to see how happy he is when I am tearing him limb from limb.

"Why so grouchy, you found your absol friend back there I take it?" The blue haired fighting type asked. My growl only intensified as he talked about Gray so casually.

"I'll take that as a yes." The riolu smirked at me as he got pleasure from my anger. "Try and not die so quickly like he did. Pokemon like him annoy me, they talk all big and in the end they just end up another corpse in a grave." The riolu's words only fueled my anger, my teeth felt as if they were about to shatter I was gritting them so hard. Everything was becoming a blur now, and my mind couldn't process information properly. My mind just repeatedly screamed for me to kill him and make him suffer.

"I'm going to tear your fucking throat out," I yelled as I felt strong urge to go through with it.

The riolu's smile grew "I like it! Try and kill me, make me feel afraid, show me a fight I'll remember!" he yelled as if he was insane.

I dashed towards him as fast as my legs would let me. The riolu held his sword and waited for me to attack him. I lunged towards him and in midair I concentrated my emotions. My entire left paw was consumed in dark matter. I swung my paw towards him in an attempt to slit his throat wide open. The riolu jumped back away from me with shocked eyes. I landed on the floor and paused for a second. I was shocked that I actually managed to use dark matter, but I was more shocked by the power I felt when using this ability. I could feel the hatred in my paw ready to spill his blood, almost as if the power had a mind of its own that thirsted for his blood. That was fine by me, at the moment I myself wanted to spill his blood, now I had the tool to fulfill this vengeance.

"You're just like-" he started to say before I sprinted towards him again. He swung his sword horizontally towards me. I slid below the attack and jabbed my dark matter paw towards his legs. He jumped over my attack. I got back to my feet and thrusted my shadow paw towards his heart. Sam deflected the attack with the blunt side of his blade or was it possible that the dark matter shielded me from his steel?

"You're just like a colleague I had about a year ago," the riolu told me out of the blue. "You both use dark matter, therefore you're both killers. I didn't think a pup like you would be the type, but you are." The riolu took a step towards me as I braced myself for any kind of an attack. "Just curious but who was your victim, and how did it feel to know you erased someone from existence?" the riolu pried.

Screams echoed through my head as I remembered those memories "How about I tell your friends how it felt to erase you from existence," I snapped towards him as the dark matter around my arm intensified.

"Don't make me laugh."

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

My vision slowly restored itself as I slowly came back to reality. Flashes of blinding light frequently strayed from the battle between the raichu and umbreon. What a shame, I could be asleep by now if I wasn't dragged into this shit. I rolled over onto my belly and crawled up onto my feet.

That umbreon was dodging a series of ranged attack from that raichu. I mentally psyched myself for another assault, and I charged towards my enemy. I approached his back and threw my fist towards the back of his head. The raichu stopped focusing on the umbreon and extended his paw back to catch my fist without looking. I foresaw this outcome, and I quickly retracted my fist back and instead went with a kick. The kick made solid contact with the raichu's hip and caused him to jump away from me.

"How'd you like that, Bitch!" My voice echoed through the hotel lobby.

"Sneaky one aren't you," Raiden said as he rubbed the area I kicked. After we all tried sneak attacks on him so many times and failed I assumed it would be best to assume he'd know my attacks.

I shifted my glance towards Nia who was eying up the ceiling for some odd reason and not the fight in front of her. Without a second of warning she launched a microscopic shadow ball into the ceiling and blew one of the water sprinklers off the ceiling. Water poured down onto the raichu and flooded the area around him. Luckily we were out of the sprinklers reach.

As the water poured down from the ceiling I noticed something odd. The area around the raichu had electrical currents running through the puddle formed around him. Sure he was an electricity type but it was still odd that he was conducting electricity through the water.

"I understand now," Nia said out loud.

"Understand what," I shouted out to her completely oblivious to what she just noticed.

"How he can block attacks without seeing us," she answered.

The raichu looked furious for being drenched and he gave a death glare towards all of us. "Even if you did figure out a move or two of mine it doesn't change the game," he told us.

"Aiden do you see that electrical field around him" Nia asked me as she cautiously made her way towards me until she was next to me.

"Yeah I see it, isn't that just because you drenched him though?"

"No if that was the case a raichu would fry everything in the water and it would be a hazard issue with their species, he can control it, and he's not just wasting his energy for nothing," Nia stated.

"Go on," I said with slight interesting to what she was getting at.

"Those electrical waves are like a radar he's making around himself. He's sending electrical waves back and forth in a low voltage around him, a low enough voltage that we'd never notice, but one that he could still detect himself. He sends the electrical wave back and forth and if its' interrupted by someone he'll be able to detect it when the electrical wave doesn't make it back to him" Nia explained and completely lost me.

"I get the gist, just please don't get all sciency again" I replied back not having a clue on what the hell she just said. He's a living radar and that's all I needed to hear.

Our conversation was interrupted by the loud sound of clapping from the raichu "Well done Naomi, you're one bright little star. You're the first pokemon to ever catch onto that. Honestly I'm impressed, you may be a lousy fighter but your intellect is something else," Raiden said in amazement.

"Skill and strength mean nothing. You can beat anyone with the right strategy, or so that's what my predecessor taught me," Nia replied back.

"Then tell me do you or lizard brain have a strategy to beat me or are you just postponing it for some silly reason," Raiden asked with a slightly racist comment. I glanced over towards Nia who seemed to have broken eye contact with Raiden.

"Oh shit," I said in disappointment. I seriously thought she would have a plan after that big science lesson she just gave me.

"Aiden, follow my lead I actually just came up with a plan" Naomi whispered to me. That put a smirk on my face. I like not dying and having a plan was a good step in that direction.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

"Why do you look so shocked? Did you just expect us all to disappear or something," The blaziken asked me as he crossed his arms and sighed. I didn't know what I expected to happen to everyone from back then. I just never expected to be confronted by one of them like this.

"W-Why are you here," I asked not knowing what else to say at the moment.

"Six years and that's what I get? Not going to ask me how I've been or maybe catch up with me," Hunter said back as he stomped his foot.

"Yeah I would love to know why you are here actually! You and your friends are trying to kill me and my friends!" I shouted back at Hunter.

Hunter let out a sigh of annoyance before he spoke another word "Are you familiar with Genesis?" Hunter asked.

"I'm familiar," I responded.

"They placed a hit on you, you and your friends are loose ends in their eyes, and you all need to be silenced," Hunter told me.

"Then why are you trying to kill me!" I screamed out loud and my voice echoed back to me through the silent empty night.

Hunter didn't flinch at my outburst and remained calm. "I never knew it was you I was being sent to kill. Not until I kidnapped you a few nights back."

"As far as I'm concerned you're an enemy now. You tried to kill me back there, and I barely made it out alive," I said as I showed my fangs.

"I knew you would get out just fine. I didn't anticipate your other friend living though. Why else do you think I used rope and not chains? I'm not stupid, I knew you would find a way to free yourself," Hunter said.

"If you don't intend to kill me then why are you here?"

"I thought we could talk a bit, I purposely gave your friend more drugs so she won't wake up anytime soon. Don't worry about her, because I'm not allowed to kill or even harm her," Hunter told me. Back in the day I knew I could trust him with my life, but now I was unsure if I could even trust him not to kill me.

"And why's that?"

"I don't know. Just what I was told to do," Hunter shrugged. "Speaking of your friends, why do you stick with them? 'Totally out of character for you to be with pokemon like that," Hunter questioned.

"Would have been out of character," I corrected. "I'm totally different now, and I like these pokemon along with the second chance I have been given."

"Oh right. How could I forget? Everyone didn't get a happy ending like you," hunter said as his glare stabbed my nerves. "Most pokemon that got away were dealt with in a court of law, some put to death and other's forced to do labor until their crimes were paid for and some like me barely made it away safe. Most human survivors were put behind bars," Hunter said as if I was supposed to be punished equally.

"Well I'm sorry, I can't help that I was a little luckier," I replied back.

"The only reason you got off easy was simply because you are a stereotype starter pokemon that everyone deemed as innocent and incapable of causing harm to others."

"What does my species have to do with anything!?" I yelled back at him "Would it really make a difference if I was a braixen or delphox!"

"I'd say yes," Hunter responded.

"Simply because I'm the standard starter pokemon!"

"Yes! They viewed you as innocent, when really you did far worse things to other people and pokemon than the rest of us" Hunter yelled as he clenched his fist and continued to beam me down with a glare that could kill.

"I can't even evolve so stop blaming me for still being in my first evolution!" I yelled as loud as I could. Hunter's face instantly froze in place as those words reached his ears, and the only thing that could be heard was a breeze of wind.

"What do you mean you can't evolve?" Hunter asked in curiosity as he stopped staring at me as if I was guilty of something I couldn't help.

I shifted my head up to reveal a small scar right below my jaw that usually went unnoticed. "See that?" I asked. Hunter nodded as he observed the scar.

"That is from someone ramming a piece of everstone into my neck during a fight back about eight years ago. I had it stuck there for so long that by the time it was finally removed it altered my DNA and now I can't evolve… ever" I said with a pause. Old friend or not, I never wanted anyone knowing, but at this point I just wanted him to shut his mouth so I was desperate.

"That's enough to stop a pokemon from evolving forever?" Hunter asked as he tried to comprehend the concept.

"When a pokemon is near an everstone it prevents evolution, but if a pokemon's bloodstream comes into direct contact with it, it will have more extreme effects. If you don't believe me then tell me why I'm still a fennekin, I should have evolved years ago." I refused to make eye contact with him simply out of embarrassment of my situation. I really hated talking about this with anyone. I could only imagine how everyone would think of me if I told them I couldn't evolve.

"Hmm, I guess I should be sorry then," said with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"Whatever," I replied back not really caring for his sympathy. "Since you apparently wanted me to ask, what have you been doing these past six years?"

Hunter sighed as I asked the question, almost as if I wasn't supposed to. "Seeing as I needed a new line of work, I took up wetwork to make a living. After five or so years a human invited me to team up with him. Jack Jaeger," Hunter said.

"So you're a killer now," I said snidely.

"Yeah is that a disappointment or something? Sorry that I don't get a cozy loving family like you," hunter spitefully replied as he dug his foot into the dirt.

I sighed in utter annoyance as I clenched my teeth and resisted the urge to burn his face off "Stop blaming me for your position in life, you did this to yourself so get over it," I snarled back at him as my heart rate increased from the emotions I was feeling.

"Try saying that from my perspective!" he retorted as he took a step towards me.

"It's not like my life has been a walk in the park!" I shouted. "I've watched friends die, I've hurt people close to me, nor am I happy with what I did in my previous life, but I'm trying to be a better pokemon and live a good life now. I just want to put everything behind me and move on." Everything was building up, and I felt as if I was going to explode from the stress. Hunter began laughing hysterically at what I said.

"What's so funny?" I asked with a growl feeling insulted by his change of mood. Every cell in my brain urged me to punch him, yet every muscle in my body resisted those compulsive urges.

Hunter's laugh ceased and he looked me dead in the eyes, "You're name," Hunter said with a pause "You want to forget, yet you still go by that name when it's a complete mockery to your past life."

My ears fell low along with my gaze upon hearing that observation. The name I had was a complete reminder and every single time I heard someone call my name I was reminded that I was a part of Team Flare. This name was given to me by those egoistic bastards and I was unfortunate enough to carry this name to my second chance at life with Alex.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well hopefully everyone enjoyed this chapter. Once I got past my writers block it was actually pretty fun to write. I'm excited to continue things from here and I hope every liked the end as much as I did.

Here's two questions, feel free to answer them if you want to. Who is your favorite villain in this story? Second how do you feel about Flare with these recent chapters, now that you you learned a bit about his background?

Thanks to everyone who has read this story and supported it in any way. Also feel free to follow or Fav this story to show that you enjoy it.


	61. Angel of Peace

**Well here's the next chapter. This was a fun chapter to write and I almost worked non stop on it. Also thanks again to genericgamer207 for editing and for creating a new cover art for this story. Anyways last chapter left off on a "Tiny" cliff hanger and now we can resume the chaos. Thanks to everyone who reads I appreciate the support I have gotten up to this point.**

* * *

**Chapter 61: Angel of peace**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

I stood in a big open field of grass. For as far as my eyes could see there was nothing in sight but a field of grass. The sun was at the peak of its cycle and illuminated everything with its warm rays. Along with the perfect temperature, there was a nice summer breeze blowing through the air that created a smooth relaxing song for my ears. This was paradise.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" A voice called at me from behind. I didn't have to look back to know who it was, but regardless I looked back to see him.

"Aaron?" I replied back. I couldn't tell what was wrong but I sensed that something was off, like I was supposed to be doing something.

"How's life been treating you," Aaron asked as he sat next to me. The question ran through my head as every part of my brain tried to recall recent events.

"I… I don't know," I replied unsure of anything.

"Think back Gray. Remember the friends that need you now?" Aaron told me. Then it clicked, I remembered everyone running down the hall before my fight, I told them I'd be able to handle myself and they believed me.

"Where am I," I quickly asked upon my recollection.

"Relax. Don't you remember what happened last?" Aaron asked as he tilted his head slightly. A memory of me being impaled by a sword flashed through my head.

"Am- Am I dead," I stuttered. As I spoke those words, gray clouds formed in the sky and masked the sun in darkness. Seconds after the temperature became frigid and snow began to fall from the sky. The summer breeze was replaced by an ice cold wind that whipped violently through the air.

"Hmmm… Well you've been dead for eight years now," Aaron replied. I froze completely from the shocking news.

"Eight years," I repeated in shock.

"Well… the Grayson I knew died eight years ago and a shell of his former self has been walking around moping all the time," Aaron answered.

"What do you mean?"

"You're not technically dead, you're just on the verge of death." Aaron replied.

"You're making no sense at all!" I yelled in frustration.

Aaron frowned at my ignorance to what he was saying. "Gray ever since eight years ago you've just been a shell of your former self. You don't socialize like you used too, you don't try to make friends, and you couldn't care less if the world around you died. That's not the Gray I considered my brother," Aaron spoke as he stood up.

Even though Aaron claimed me to be different I still couldn't help but feel a little angry at him. He had no clue what life has been like since I lost everything, the emotions I have been fighting off for eight years. As my dark thoughts continued, the snow around us picked up, and the clouds grew darker as the temperature conditions became extreme.

"Stop thinking like that!" Aaron barked at me and startled me out of my thoughts. "This is a form of subconscious that reflects who you are," Aaron said. "The way this place was before, was who you were before you lost us, what do you think this gloomy weather represents?"

My head fell low as I refused to make eye contact with Aaron "I'm pathetic, I know," Upon saying that a gale of wind whipped me in the face.

"Gray, please don't forget us, but you must move on. None of us want you to mourn our deaths. You're full of so much hatred, and you need to let it go" Aaron insisted.

"How can I forgive someone like Eclipse for taking you all from me? He betrayed us, and he's solely responsible for everything! That other white umbreon and riolu are also monsters that need to die!" I yelled in fury.

"That umbreon and riolu need to be served justice," Aaron spoke.

"I'll kill every last one of them and make them suffer," I snarled.

Aaron sighed in response. "Gray, you seem to be fighting for the wrong reasons. Do you care for those around you now?"

I thought about the question for a while before I replied. "Flare's a good guy, and I guess he managed to make me smile a few times. Kana is slightly annoying and overly energetic, but she's a good hearted pokemon. Hesh and Ebony I can tell are good even though I've hardly known them." I finished saying.

"And what about Black?" Aaron brought him up.

"What do you mean what about him? He's an umbreon, he'll most likely betray us or get us killed," I replied back.

"That's not why you hate him" Aaron responded.

"Yeah I think it is."

"The truth is really that you're afraid of him," Aaron said.

"I'm afraid of him? Not even close," I snarled back at the flareon.

Aaron just shook his head in disapproval. "You still hate Eclipse with your entire heart. Every time you see Black you see Eclipse and you fear that the past will repeat itself," Aaron spoke as if he knew everything. "The truth is Gray, the past did repeat itself, but not as you envisioned it. Your fear of Black caused you to betray him back when pokemon came to abduct him. In the end you were the one who was the traitor." What Aaron said ran through my head. I did betray Black, that night I helped the enemy try and capture him. My fear of being betrayed by those close to me had caused me to betray them instead...

"You're right," I said in self-disgust. "I let myself fall so low these past eight years, I've wasted away my life hating someone who doesn't matter anymore. You died for me, and I choose to waste my life like a pitiful caterpie."

"Hey-hey you got plenty of time left to better your life, but you need to start by waking up," Aaron said with a reassuring smile.

"You're right. I promise I'll live life to its fullest." I smiled. The sun's rays broke through the clouds and warmed the area around me. The snow that fell from the sky also began to lighten up.

"Gray I know you'll make the right decisions from here, you're a good pokemon just a little lost," Aaron said as he turned into some form of dark particles and faded away and I felt myself slowly awakening.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"Aiden, do you think you can keep him distracted for a minute?" I whispered to the lizard next to me.

"Ugh… I could probably manage," Aiden replied back "This better be a part of your plan though."

"I got something." I nodded back.

"Leave it to me. Don't be afraid to hurry though." Aiden said as he began sprinting towards the raichu. I set off with my own objective, I ran to the desk where Ebony was hiding. I jumped behind the desk to find Ebony hiding in the shadows below the desk. She let out a loud gasp before she realized it was me.

"Shhh... it's just me," I said to Ebony. The young eevee fell silent and cautiously crawled out from below the desk. I quickly noticed that Ebony was quivering, the poor thing was terrified.

"I-Is it over?" she asked. I shook my head left to right as an answer. Ebonies ears fell low and she continued to shake in fear. I grabbed the small eevee and gave her a small reassuring hug.

"Ebony I need to ask something of you," I said as I released the eevee from the hug. Ebony waited for me to ask my favor. "I have a plan, but I couldn't risk telling Aiden out there since I didn't want to risk Raiden hearing it. Can I trust you to get what I say to Aiden?" Ebony gave a small nod in reply.

"That's what I like to hear" I said with a smirk. "Listen carefully I may only have time to say this once."

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I panted in exhaustion as I felt myself running out of energy. I shifted my gaze up towards the riolu. He patiently waited for me to recover. He was dragging this out, even with my shadow paw I wasn't a match in any confrontation

"Come on, you got to avenge your friend. Doesn't it infuriate you that I slaughtered him like that?" Sam taunted in an attempt to motivate me. I concentrated and reformed the dark matter around my left paw, but in the same instant the energy faded away almost just as fast as I summoned it. I began panting even harder due to the strain on my body. That attack was effective, but it took up so much energy.

My balance slowly shifted, and my body ended up leaning against the wall for support. I slowly slid down the flat surface until I was on the ground too exhausted to move. "Dammit," I muttered in dissatisfaction of my current state.

"I guess I had my fun," Sam stated as he walked towards me. Sam stood over me and glared down at me. He raised his sword into the air and swung it down. Something sparked in my mind letting me roll out of the way and get back to my feet. Sam let out a grunt of annoyance and swung his sword at me again. I jumped out of the way, but in the end my exhaustion caused me to fall to the ground again. I slowly forced myself back up to my feet. It wasn't my muscles keeping me going, it was my will to live.

"I guess you still have a little energy left." Sam smirked. The riolu jumped into the air and delivered a kick into my snout. I flew into the air and slid across the floor. I shouted in pain as blood seeped out of one of my nostrils. I planted one of my paws on the floor and tried to stand. My muscles shook as I raised myself. Halfway up, I fell back down to the ground.

I attempted to get up again as my muscles showed no sign of cooperation "Get the hell up!" I grunted to myself. Almost as if I had complete control over my body I forced myself up, I waivered back and forth as I struggled to keep my balance. Sam charged towards me and threw his sword at me. I ducked below the blade as I heard it cut the air above me.

Sam approached me and delivered a punch between my eyes. I fell to the ground as my vision became slightly dazed. Before I could get back up, Sam grabbed me by the tail and pulled me closer. Before I could retaliate, he stomped on my side. I yelled in pain. Sam then grabbed me by my ears and pulled me up. He wrapped his free arm around my neck and released my ears from his other hand. He placed his now free hand below his arm and used it to help increase pressure around my neck.

Air was now cut off from the rest of my body as Sam choked me. I anxiously squirmed in every direction in an attempt to break free, but my efforts only caused his grip to tighten around my neck. My lungs became empty and my body's natural reflex was to breathe in, but I couldn't and only ended up making a gurgling noise.

"Shhh," Sam whispered calmly in my ears.

My vision began to blur and my limbs started to fall limp. No matter how much I didn't want to die like this, I was going too. And after I die… my friends would be next. If I would have known I was going to die here I would have been more honest with everyone. I wish I could have told everyone how grateful I was for them being my friends. I wanted to thank Alex and Flare for taking me in and accepting me as family.

After a few more moments my brain lost the capability to think about regrets, and I began to pass out. My eyes began to slowly close one last time. The grip around my neck was released and I fell to the ground gasping for air. I uncontrollable inhaled as if I hadn't breathed in years. I felt dizzy but my senses came back to me along with my vision.

Confused on why I was freed, I separated my gaze from the ground and looked back at Sam. A giant spike of ice was sticking out of his arm. Sam's hand trembled as he pulled the icicle out of his arm. 'Ice,' I thought in my head 'but only-' my thought ended as I spotted Gray standing at the other end of the hall.

He walked down the hall not paying any attention to me. As he got closer I noticed that he was no longer bleeding. His wounds were cauterized. Every step Gray took towards Sam, Sam took a step back. Gray stopped walking once he was standing over me. His glare didn't break with Sam.

"Are you alright?" Gray asked.

"Y-Yeah," I replied back "Thanks," I said almost wanting to cry from the idea that I really would have died if he wasn't magically alive. "Gray?" I asked the absol standing next to me.

"What?" he replied back in a non-hostile voice that I wasn't used to.

"How are you alive, I thought you were dead?" I asked.

Gray remained silent for a moment without an answer "Aaron" he replied back.

"What?" I said in confusion.

"Aaron saved me" Gray answered again. I didn't bother questioning what the hell he was talking about. Instead I slowly got back up to my feet.

"I'll handle this Black" Gray spoke calmly.

"Are you kidding!? You almost died when you took him on alone, now you expect me to just si-"I was saying before Gray cut me off.

"Black" Gray said as he finally made eye contact with me "This isn't like before, I have a clear head now" Gray answered and looked back at Sam who was trying to stop the bleeding in his arm. The look Gray had in his eyes was different than the hateful glare I was used to. His eyes were full of determination and confidence. It was strange. I've never seen that look in his eyes.

"I can't let you go at him alone again," I replied back.

"Fine I guess we can give teamwork one more try," Gray said to me as he took the lead. I, on the other paw, shot a quick glance to my broken arm… I couldn't help but slightly cringe at the idea. Sam noticed us beginning our attack and he released his wound and picked up the sword he threw at me earlier. His arrogant smile was now replaced with a serious look, almost as if he now viewed us as a threat.

"You know, because of you and your friend, I've gone through a lot of pain" Gray spoke up. "Because of you, I lost everything I held close to me" Gray continued to speak. "It took me awhile to realize I lost one other very important thing that wasn't my friends."

"And that would be?" Sam replied back as the grip around his sword tightened.

"Myself," Gray replied back as he took a step forward "Because of the trauma of losing everything, I choose to give up and shut myself out from the world. I guess I died when I was left all alone" Gray continued to speak "But things are different now," Gray said with confidence as he continued to walk towards Sam. "I don't have to kill you to protect the memories of my friends. I have to kill you to protect the friends around me now." Gray's words echoed through the hall. I couldn't tell what got into him, but he was different.

As Gray continued to confront the riolu, a strange light began to glow around his paw. The light began to crawl up his arm and engulfed his body in the divine light. I closed my eyes as the light blinded my vision and made it impossible to see what was going on. After a moment the light stopped and I opened my eyes to see what happened.

"Gray?" I said in confusion as I saw the new and transformed Gray. His fur grew much longer, along with fur growth the horn on his head doubled in size along with a miniature horn growing on the opposite side of his head. The detail that stood out the most to me was the fact that he had wings coming out of his back, wings that resembled an angel.

"W-What the hell are you!?" Sam yelled out

Gray let out a small chuckle of satisfaction "I'm an angel of peace," he replied.

* * *

**Point of view Naomi**

After I finished explaining the plan to Ebony, I jumped over the desk and re-entered the battlefield, this time with Ebony behind me. I approached the battle between Aiden and Raiden as the charmander continuously dodged bolts of lightning.

"Aiden switch out with me!" The charmander didn't waste a single second and I took his place in the battle.

"Follow me," Ebony said to Aiden and he followed the eevee. The two ran off towards the hallways. Raiden pointed his fingers towards the group but I stopped him with a shadow ball. Surprisingly that tactic has worked pretty well.

Raiden charged lightning throughout his whole body and got onto all four of his legs. The creature ran towards me with speed I've never seen before. Moving wasn't even an option, the raichu tackled into my body and my body lit up with electricity. I would have screamed if possible, but I found myself not even able to do that. Once the muscles in my body calmed down I was able to get back to my feet.

"Not so fast" a voice whispered from behind me. Before I could even turn around I felt something solid smash down on my back left leg and all I could hear was my own screams as my leg snapped. Every nerve in my leg felt raw, and the pain overwhelmed me. My vision began to blur due to the minor stage of shock I was entering.

Before I could recover from the pain Raiden kicked me over onto my back. The raichu sat on top of me and completely pinned me down. Raiden bashed his fist right into my chest and sent electrical charges through my chest cavity. My heart rate spiked out of control. My heart felt as if it was about to explode from the electrical charges being sent through it. Raiden stood up off of me and watched as I struggled.

After a few seconds my near heart failure began to fade as my heart began to beat properly. I attempted to stand but the moment I attempted to stand I found myself unable to use my muscles. They've endured too much abuse from this fight, and now they were at their limit.

**Point of View Raiden**

I stared down at Naomi as she failed to get to her feet. Even if she did manage to get to her feet, she wouldn't be able to fight with her leg injury. All that was left to do was to hunt down the charmander, that eevee, and possibly finish up that pikachu from earlier.

Naomi continued to squirm on the floor as she tried to get to her feet. Why would she throw away her life like this? She had another chance to be happy, but she chose revenge instead. Although I can't say I blame her, I would have been the exact same way. But she's old enough to take responsibility for her choices.

I stood over Naomi as I charged all of my electricity into my right paw. One touch from this would fry her brain. It'll practically kill her instantly. I held my hand up as I readied myself to kill an old colleague. Naomi looked up at me. I could see the fear in her eyes. Those terrified eyes I've always seen her with ever since we took her life away.

'Why are you hesitating?' I asked myself. 'You're trained to kill anyone without remorse!' I yelled in my head. With those motivational thoughts fresh in my head I jabbed my electric hand towards Naomi. Before I could make contact she launched a shadow ball towards me and caused me to jump back.

In a final attempt to save her life, Naomi got up onto her feet and began limping away from me. She was only able to go slightly faster than walking speed due to her injuries. Naomi managed to get to the hallway and began limping down it. I followed behind her not even bothering to run after her, I knew she would exhaust herself fairly soon.

As I followed her I increased the intensity of my electrical radar due to the fact that I had no idea where her friends were. No matter what kind of ambush they had planned I would be able to counter it. They could prepare for days, months, years and they'd never come close to beating me.

"Give it up Naomi" I yelled at the struggling umbreon. Eventually Naomi reached an open door and walked in. I followed behind her only to discover that we were in a cafeteria. This part of the hotel was hardly used and had quite a bit of dust collected.

Naomi continued limping away as she pushed open a door and went into what I presumed was the kitchen. I let out a sigh of annoyance "This has gone on far too long," I said as I concentrated and formed electricity around my arm again. I also increased the intensity of my electrical field around me to the point that I could see its pulses.

With those final preparations I entered the kitchen to finish the job. I kicked the door open and I spotted Nia limping down the middle of the kitchen. The kitchen had grills and stoves scattered throughout in a mess along with some tables for preparing other meals. I sprinted towards her at lightning speed as electricity coursed through my entire body ready to kill her. When I was halfway through the kitchen I stopped running as I heard a hissing noise coming from my left. I turned my head and spotted a propane tank that was placed behind a table next to me, just out of my sight with its valve set to OPEN. My eyes widened at the object. "Ah, crap," I blankly said as the electricity circuiting all around my body ignited the gas that was leaking from the tank, and it combusted in a fiery explosion. I flew back and smacked into the wall and then fell on the floor. Before I could recover I was blasted back by another explosion. This time it was from all the gas stoves and grills in the kitchen. Fire shot out towards me as I covered my face.

The fire managed to hit me and caught my leg on fire. I screamed as I shook my leg frantically as the flames melted my skin away. The fire continued up my leg as my nerves were singed. I looked around frantically until I spotted a fire extinguisher. I dragged myself nearer to the extinguisher until I was close enough. I charged as much electricity as I could, and I shot a concentrated bolt at the extinguisher. The extinguisher blew up and covered me in concentrated CO2. Most of the flames that didn't go out I was easily able to smother with my hand.

I looked around at the rest of the kitchen and the whole place was on fire, the fact that I was alive was purely a miracle. Within a few seconds an alarm started going off from inside the hotel and along with that the sprinkler system. My body was drenched in the wonderful substance known as water.

I looked down at the scorches on my right leg. My entire leg was burned, I needed a hospital of some kind or I was going to die. I attempted to use my arms to pull myself up, but I quickly found a metal chunk impaled deep into my arm. Instead of crawling on three legs I began to slowly drag myself along the ground. The burnt flesh on my leg scraped against the floor leaving behind a trail of burnt skin. Eventually I managed to drag myself out of the kitchen and into the safety of the cafeteria.

My eyes widened as I was confronted by that charmander from before. He stood in front of me along with that eevee.

**Point of View Aiden**

"It's over" I said as I looked down at the defeated raichu.

"Nothing's over!" he screamed as he charged electricity into his hand. Before he could do anything I jumped on top of him and dug my claws into his burnt flesh. Raiden's electricity instantly discharged and replaced with a scream of agony.

"Try something again!" I screamed at him as I dug my claws deeper into his burnt leg. The deeper my claw went the louder his screams got. Raiden tried shoving me off with his hand but in return I punched him in the face. I pulled my claws out of his burnt leg and punctured that exact same leg in a different spot.

"Try it again!" I screamed at him.

"Stop!" A high pitched voice screamed at me. I looked up to see Ebony crying.

"Get out of here," I growled at her "This isn't something a kid should watch."

"Stop it, we've won!" Ebony screamed.

"After what he tried doing to you, you think he deserves to be treated with respect?" I snarled at her.

"I just think enough of us have suffered today, please just let this be the end," Ebony whimpered. I looked down at the raichu, he was barely even conscious at this point. I cautiously pulled my claws out of his leg and stood up off him. She was right, we did win and there was no point in continuing this violence.

"Stay down," I said in a stern voice to the raichu.

* * *

**Point of View Sam, before the explosion**

"Did he just… Mega evolve?" I asked myself as I readied myself. This was bizarre, there is no way a pokemon could evolve without an evolution stone of some kind, and on top of that most can't even evolve without their trainers. So why's he so special that he breaks the laws of evolution. The area around the absol had ice forming around him, very intimidating if you ask me. Standing behind the absol was that umbreon. He specifically didn't worry me since he was practically spent a minute ago.

'My best bet is cutting off those wings, they're an open target' I strategized in my head.

Before I could think things through anymore that absol darted towards me at a blurring speed. As he glided through the hall he froze everything near him. I quickly ran the opposite direction from him. There was no way In Hell was I getting close to that thing.

Halfway down the hall I tripped and smacked against the ground. I glanced down to see my foot frozen to the ground and a giant sheet of ice leading back to that absol. I pulled my leg free and quickly got back to my feet.

The absol began flapping his wings and created a gale towards me. The gale was ice cold but nothing I couldn't handle. Then his true motives were revealed. The absol opened his mouth and shot razor sharp hail towards me. The wind excelled the hail's speed and it was impossible to even predict where to go. Multiple shards of ice pierced my body as if it was glass.

"Mother fucker!" I yelled as I darted towards the absol to make this kill quick. Right when I got close I pointed my sword for his head. He didn't even flinch and watched as my sword came towards his face. Then that umbreon jumped onto the absol's back and launched off him. He flew just over my blade and smashed his head into mine. My vision blurred along with a headache after that impact.

"I'm going to kill both of you!" I yelled as I targeted the easy target. I swung my sword downward to kill that umbreon, but before my blade made contact a pillar of ice blocked my sword. I looked over and saw that the pillar extended from the absol's arm. Before I could pull my sword out of the pillar, the ice expanded up the blade, I tugged on it as hard as I could but it wouldn't break free. Doing the only thing I could, I abandoned my blade.

I quickly jumped towards the absol as I swung my fist towards him. Before I contacted him another solid object knocked me out of the sky as it sunk its teeth into my hip. I looked down to see that the umbreon getting in my way.

I ripped the umbreon off my hip as he took a chunk of flesh with him. "Don't move, or I'll break his neck" I yelled as I placed my hands around his neck. The absol didn't flinch from my demands. He just stared me in the eyes.

"Think you can break it in time?" he asked me.

"Wha-"I started to say before he flashed in front of me. A blade of ice that formed around his arm sliced down vertically. The blade sliced through my arm so fast I hardly even felt it. Blood shot out of my arm as my arm and that umbreon fell to the ground.

I screamed from the mental shock of having my left arm severed. My heart rate spiked and I began feeling woozy from blood loss. I applied pressure to the area that used to have an arm attached in an attempt to prolong the inedible.

"This isn't happening" I said to myself in disbelief.

"An arm for an arm" the absol spoke out loud. I fell to my knees from the lack of strength and I shifted my gaze up to the absol.

'An arm for an arm' I repeated in my head as I recalled who he was completely. Before I vaguely remembered him, but now I remembered his face. I also remembered his friends that we slaughtered along with that flareon whose arm I cut off. This guy was an angel of death coming back from the dead to get revenge.

"Wait stop you can't kill me!" I pleaded. The absol stood over me as he extended his arm forward and ice formed around it in the shape of a scythe. The scythe went behind my neck and it touched the back of my spinal cord as it drew a taste of blood.

"What stops me from killing you?" He asked in a voice that was colder than ice.

"I'll help you find that umbreon, Eclipse right!?" I shouted desperately. The absol let out a chuckle as if it was the wrong answer.

"Sorry, but I promised a friend years ago that I wouldn't seek revenge for him." My mind tried to process other alternatives in exchange for my life, but in the end things didn't look to good.

"I'm sorry, please!" I pleaded as I held my head low. I looked upward and I saw the absol raise the scythe. "Please!" I screamed as the blade came towards me. I clenched my eyes shut and heard a stabbing sound next to me, but no pain came. I opened my eyes to see no blade around my neck, but stabbed into the floor in front of my face, and the absol and umbreon looking down at me.

"I'm not going to kill you," The absol said. Before I could question why the absol slugged me in the face with his paw. Due to the blood loss and damage previously taken I was no longer able to endure it. My vision slowly faded as I fell unconscious.

**Point of View Gray**

"We did it," Black panted in exhaustion. Before I could reply my whole body lit up with a bright light, and I felt myself become exhausted. When the light disappeared I was back in my original form. I fell to the ground no longer able to support my weight.

"Gray!" Black called out to me as I hit the floor.

"I'm fine, just give me a moment," I asked as I rested on the floor.

"I'm sorry, but can I ask what the hell just happened to you," Black asked excitedly.

"I don't know, it just happened," I replied back with no real answer. Black frowned at the answer. For about a minute we both sat in silence as we recovered.

The silence was then disrupted by a loud explosion noise that shook the whole hotel. Black and I both swapped glances with each other before we looked at the dying riolu. I slowly got to my feet even though I was exhausted.

I made my way to the riolu as I observed the severed wound. He'd bleed out at this rate, and he'd never see proper justice like he deserved. I formed ice around my paw with the little strength I had left and placed it over the stump where his arm used to be. I numbed the wound with ice so it would slow the bleeding enough for me to get him medical care. After that I picked the riolu up in my mouth and flung him over my head and onto my back.

"We need to get to everyone else," I said to Black.

"Agreed," he replied.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **So now that Sam and Raiden are taken care of we will be able to move onto Flare and Hunter. Sorry I left you all on a cliff hanger with what just happened but next chapter will continue Flare's side of the story. Anyways I tried something new this chapter also. I decided to switch to the POV of Sam and Raiden as they got defeated. Obviously I won't do that every time but I thought it was a cool way to do things. Tell me how you liked it, it could determine if I do that again in the future.

Anyways thanks for reading and hopefully I'll have a new chapter up sooner or later. Till next time my readers.


	62. An old friendship ends

**So here we are the next chapter. Now things get to continue for Flare. Things get a little heated this chapter... literally. Anyways excuse the poor puns... Thanks again to genericgamer207 for beta reading.**

**Guest review response (Just one lol)**

**LuckyWhisker: **I actually laughed when I saw what you hoped would happen on how Gray would survive. It was ironic because to an extent that did happen. Also glad to see you're relieved and enjoying the story to this point. Anyways people in this story may not always be that lucky in the future... Thanks for taking the time to review I appreciate it.

* * *

**Chapter 62: An old friendship ends**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

"You know, I still remember the old Day's Flare. Back when we were friends, and things were different. We trusted each other, and yeah sure we got into trouble here and there, but that time still meant something," Hunter reminded me.

I too remembered those days. I was a completely different pokemon back then. "Yeah, I haven't forgotten either," I responded back to Hunter.

"Don't you miss the days we worked as a team? We were unstoppable, people and pokemon respected us," Hunter asked.

"We were looked up to by a bunch of psychopaths, people who wanted to commit mass genocide," I snidely replied.

"I remember back then you had no problem with that. Technically, you are responsible for assisting team Flare in almost creating a holocaust," Hunted said.

"That's because I was sick in the head back then!" I screamed back.

"So what, you're different now? You're just going to sweep that under the rug and pretend it never happened?" Hunter snidely asked.

"After what happened I was given a family. They took me in only knowing my name. I hated them all so much at first, I even considered hurting them. But over time I was changed by those around me," I truthfully said as I looked back at Kana's unconscious body.

"I don't buy it," Hunter spat out. "I know you're the same pokemon, you're just sitting here and lying to yourself and making yourself believe you're a good pokemon, when really you're just the same pokemon I knew," Hunter stated as if he knew me better than myself "Just think, is this really who you are, or are you just living a lie?"

In response I let out a sigh of depression. "There's nothing left for us to talk about if you won't accept me for who I am."

"I guess it seems that way," Hunter said as he walked over to the knife he dropped earlier and retrieved it. "Let's make this a memorable one," Hunter said as he sheathed his knife.

Hunter took his battle stance and I took mine. Even though this fight would result in one of our deaths, I still couldn't help but feel nostalgia. Hunter and I have always been sparring partners, although never once have I managed to beat him. Out of us two I was the weaker one, yet somehow I still advanced further in Team Flare than him.

Hunter and I both remained in our battle stance hesitating to be the one to strike first. Within a split second Hunter and I both launched an ember at the same moment. The two masses collided and created a smoke screen around the both of us. I ran blindly through the smoke without a clue where he was. Upon realizing how pointless it was, I stopped running and inhaled a deep breath, which I nearly gagged on due to the smoke. I blindly fired a continuous stream of flames from my mouth in hopes it would hit something.

'Nothing,' I thought in my head as a bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. A force suddenly smacked into the side of my head and knocked me straight onto the ground. My head throbbed in pain as I recovered to my feet. The smoke finally began to clear up and revealed Hunter standing right where I was.

The blaziken sprinted forward with his fist ignited in flames. He jumped towards me, and I jumped away as his fist smashed into the ground. I quickly turned towards him to launch another ember, but before I could even open my mouth, I saw a foot between my eyes. I went flying back onto the ground from the force of the kick. Hardly conscious I rolled onto my back; Hunter appeared in the airspace above me ready to pulverize me. I shot an ember directly towards him. Without a chance of dodging the ember made contact with Hunter's torso. The air above me ignited in a fiery explosion, and I lost sight of my opponent. Hunter flew through the flames unscathed, and he landed directly on my stomach, and used it as a landing pad. All the air in my body was forced out of me as he crushed my much smaller form. Hunter then used my chest as a launch pad and jumped off me.

I was so out of breath from the attack, I couldn't even scream or moan in pain. My stomach on the other hand felt like it was on fire, and along with that, I heard a few of my lower ribs crack when he landed on me. I tried to move, but the instant I did so, my ribs and stomach shot up in pain.

"Just as I thought" Hunter scoffed. Through all my pain, I managed to direct my blurry vision towards him. "This loving family of yours has only slowed you down. I've never seen you so weak."

With newfound motivation I forced myself over onto my stomach, and I forced myself to stand despite just recently being crushed into a pancake. "My fighting skills may have gone down a little, but they didn't make me weaker. Because of them I'm stronger," I proudly replied back.

"Let's see how far that'll get you," Hunter snarled as he took off towards me.

Hunter flicked his foot outward towards me. I jumped over the kick and attempted to smash my head into his gut, but instead, his hand came down and grabbed me by the back of the neck. He held me high and used all the force he could to smash my head into the ground. Instead of releasing me, he swung me around and threw me. Back first I collided with a tree as pain shot through my body. I tried to move but the instant I did my lower back filled up with pain. I screamed in pain as I quickly gave up on moving. I didn't know what it was, but something was seriously messed up in my back and it was impossible.

"Get up!" Hunter yelled at me. I looked up to see the blaziken hovering over me. "I said get up!" he yelled as he grabbed me from the back of my neck and held me to his eye level. My injured back screamed as I was forcefully held into the air.

"S-Stop," I begged as the pain in my back only became worse. As the pain became worse I could feel my vision becoming blurred and my head began spinning. The grip around the back of my head loosened and I fell to the ground. A yelp left my mouth as the pain worsened from the impact with the ground.

"I guess it can't be helped," Hunter said as he slowly unsheathed his knife and crouched down to my level "I really wish it never had to come down to this, but I think this is better for you in the end," Hunter said as he looked at his reflection in his steel blade.

As I stared at the knife he held, I realized that things were pretty bad on my end, and there wasn't even a chance that I would win. "Someone help!" I yelled out loud as I looked for anyone that would save me. "Kana!" I screamed at the unconscious jolteon who lied on the ground still asleep. She didn't even show a response from my screams of terror.

"Shhh, I promise this won't hurt a bit," Hunter gently whispered as he stroked my fur with his free hand. My heart throbbed in my chest as he slowly pressed the knife against my chest right where my heart lied. The steel blade was cold and I could feel how sharp the blade was just from him poking me.

"You don't have to do this," I pleaded as a tear began to drip down my eye as the fear of death grew until it was all I could think of. I wanted to remain strong but I couldn't. I didn't want to die, not like this. What would happen to everyone, and how would they react. I couldn't bear leaving any of them. There was so much I haven't made up for yet.

"You know I can't do that," Hunter replied.

'This is it, I'm going to die,' I thought in my head. In the end I guess this could be described as karma. I've done horrible things in my life, and I guess I wasn't destined to make up for what I've done. Death would be my atonement.

"Make it fast," I said in defeat as I accepted my fate. "Just promise me that you'll leave Kana out of this. She doesn't deserve to go down with me," I asked as a final wish. Kana meant so much to me, she was like a sister. If it wasn't for her I would have remained sick in the head and I probably would have done horrible things. She has always been there for me and never questioned who I really was. Someone like her deserved a better life without constant threats of dying.

"You have my word, the jolteon won't ever be harmed. I'll personally make sure of that," Hunter reassured me. Silence filled the air as I waited for Hunters knife to penetrate my heart. I looked Hunter in the eyes as I waited. I wanted him to remember the look in my eyes when he killed me. Hunter hesitated and withdrew his knife from my chest and sheathed it.

"I guess I'm not ready to kill you yet," Hunter said in disappointment. "I'll be back one day, and when I am, I'm going to finish what I couldn't today. Until then, I'd advise that you stop playing around with these friends of yours and learn how to actually defend yourself." Before I could say anything, Hunter grabbed a syringe from the sling that went over his shoulder and stabbed me. The effects of the syringe almost worked immediately, and I passed out.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Gray and I both moved quickly down the staircase as an alarm went off in the hotel. Gray still had the riolu on his back, thankfully still unconscious. After a long walk down some stairs we reached the bottom and entered the lobby. To our surprise everyone was gone and there was no sign of any life.

"Where are they," I anxiously asked Gray as I looked in every direction possible.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Gray responded.

"Hey, you two!" a voice called from one of the hallways. Gray and I both turned our heads and saw Aiden running down the hallway alone.

"Where is everybody!?" I yelled over the loud alarm that was non-stop beeped.

"They're all outside, everyone is fine!" He yelled back. "Follow me!" he added on as he signaled us to follow. Gray and I both followed him outside the hotel. Aiden lead us around the hotel to the back where we were reunited with everyone.

"Black, Gray!" Ebony called out excitedly as she dashed towards me. The kid practically tackled me to the ground in excitement, I couldn't be more thankful that the eevee wasn't a rhyhorn. I responded to Ebony's excitement with a hug. She was probably scared out of her mind this whole time.

I looked around and spotted Hesh who was lying unconscious on the ground, along with that raichu who was also unconscious and Nia who was, again, lying down wearing an uneasy look on her face, but at least conscious. I released Ebony from the hug and ran over towards Nia.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Hardly," she replied. Nia was pretty banged up. She had a piece of metal sticking out of her side which caused blood to stream down her side. Then I saw her leg and noticed that it was awkwardly bent. I cringed at the sight of her leg. She was in really bad shape and needed medical attention.

"You can stop looking at me like that," Nia barked at me. "I'll be fine," she reassured with her usual grouchy voice. From the short amount of time I've known her this was very typical. She seemed to not like anyone feeling bad for her or showing any form of sympathy towards her. She was like me in the sense that she liked her space from people.

Before I could ponder off too much on irrelevant thoughts something clicked in my head. "Wait, where are Flare and Kana!" I yelled out as I looked around but no one replied.

"No one knows, they haven't come back yet," Nia replied from the ground.

"And none of you went out to find them!" I shouted in anger.

Nia let out a growl of anger from my outburst "Listen we all almost died in there, right now I need medical attention, and the only pokemon capable of that is unconscious," Nia said with a point. It was true. They were all banged up. Nia couldn't even walk, Hesh was unconscious, Ebony was just a child, and well, Aiden probably didn't give two craps...

"I have to find them," I said out of impulse.

"I'll come with you," Ebony called out. I looked back at the eevee who had a determined look in her eyes that I've never seen before.

"You need to stay here, it's too dangerous," I responded to Ebony. I really hated the idea of saying no to her, but I still felt somewhat responsible for keeping her out of danger, which to this point I have done a horrible job on that.

"But you may need me," she retorted.

"No Ebony," I replied back in a stern voice. The eevee's ears fell low in disappointment as she frowned at me. Before the argument could have continued, but we were all cut off by the loud sound of police sirens and horns blasting through the silent night. Soon I could see red and blue lights flashing in the air.

"Great the police," I muttered.

"Probably some fire fighters too," Aiden added on.

"I'm going, you all stay here," I ordered as I took off running in pursuit of Flare and Kana.

* * *

**Third person point of View**

"Well sir, it seems the mission failed" a gardevoir telepathically told two middle aged men. Three people sat in a bar that was completely vacant: Jack Jaegar, John Hayter and Alex Hayter. Alex was the only member of the three who was completely unconscious.

"What do you mean they failed!?" Jack yelled as he slammed his hands down on the wooden bar counter. The gardevoir didn't flinch at her master's fury and remained calm.

"Everyone appears to be alive sir, but Raiden and Sam are being taken into police custody," the gardevoir answered.

"And what the hell is Blaze doing, taking a walk in the park!?" Jack yelled at the gardevoir.

The gardevoir knew completely well what really happened to Blaze, but she didn't really care to get him into trouble with Jack. "He failed too, but he managed to get away from the police."

"Just fucktastic," Jack sarcastically said as he grabbed a whiskey bottle straight off the table and took a swig.

"Excuse me mam," Alex's dad politely got the attention of the gardevoir. "As I said I would, I drugged my son. You said you'd be able to add artificial memories in his head to fill in the blanks to why we were out so late?" John asked.

"I'll begin that in a moment. I do apologize for things not going as planned today," The gardevoir sincerely apologized.

John let out a small sigh but didn't accept the apology. Instead, he turned his attention towards Jack. "Well I have to say, I truly thought you were one of the best," John said in disappointment.

"We are the best. Obviously something went wrong if my pokemon lost. Those pokemon shouldn't have been a match on any confrontation," Jack defended his pride.

"Well, I have to thank you for screwing things up to the point that I can't fix it," John snidely replied as he snatched the whiskey out of Jacks hand.

"Hey!" Jack yelled as John took a gulp and threw it across the room.

"Do you not realize what this means for me and my son?" John piped up. "Now Alex is going to be fully aware that people are after his pokemon. I came to you so you could just get this out of the way and keep him out of this," John firmly stated "Now I have to worry about things getting worse because the police got involved! You put me, my son, and all of Team Genesis in jeopardy because you bit off more than you could chew!" John yelled.

"Who do you think you're taking to?!" Jack snapped back. "Talk to me like that again and you'll find me knocking on your door one night!" Jack yelled as he got close to John's face, and poisoned the air with his smelly alcohol breath.

"No," John bluntly said. "You clearly don't realize who you are talking too. I am one of Genesis's top scientists. You don't threaten me, I threaten you. I am the one who sends people to do my dirty work. You're just a houndour to Genesis. You even think about hurting me or my son and I'll send someone to peel the skin off your face and force feed it to you." John threatened "Are we clear?" he asked in a stern voice as he shadowed Jack.

Jack remained silent as he processed the threat. "Fair enough," he hesitantly replied.

"Glad we have an understanding," John said as he gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked towards the gardevoir.

"Would you kindly transplant the memories into my son now, please?" John asked in a kind voice with no sign of emotions from the previous conversation.

The gardevoir looked over towards her trainer who gave her a nod of approval. "Right away," she responded as she headed towards Alex who was lying unconscious in a booth.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Now that was a heated talk at the end lol. I should use that tactic to get people to read my story "Read or I'll peel the skin off your face and force feed it to you!" lol I'd get banned so fast lol. Anyways this huge battle will come at a price, I mean they blew up a hotel and had a violent battle to the death in it. The whole time I was writing this chapter I so wanted to make a shining reference "Here's Johnny." for anyone who's seen that classic horror film.

Anyways here is a question for anyone who feels like answering, what is your opinion on John Hayter (Alex's Dad)

Thanks to everyone who has review so far and another thank you to all those who follow and support this story. I appreciate it!


	63. Aftermath

**Well here it is, the next chapter. Anyways things continue from where the last chapter left off. As usual thanks to genreicgamer207 for beta reading. Anyways enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 63: Aftermath**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

The police arrived along with some firefighter and some paramedics. At the moment, we were all being transported to a pokecenter by an ambulance. Sadly all of us were injured except for Aiden, which left him to be the first to talk to the police. I hardly knew the lizard, but I could tell he wasn't as bright as his tail.

Accompanying me in the ambulancte was Ebony. She was also unharmed, but she was thrown in the same vehicle as me for some reason. Due to a lack of staff, Ebony and I were left alone in the back without anyone to help my injuries. Although that was perfect for me, because this provided a perfect opportunity to slip away.

Seeing as this was my best opportunity, I slowly forced myself up to my feet as I felt the piece of metal in my side create a tearing pain. I gasped in pain as blood gushed out of the wound. By the time I forced myself up I was out of breath, and entering an early stage of shock.

"What are you doing?!" The small eevee cried out to me. Despite her concern I proceeded, and I jumped off the bed I was on. The force from the small jump was too much for me in my current condition, and my legs didn't support my fall. My side and injured leg pulsed with pain as I blacked out for a split second. Every movement I made felt as if I was tearing open my wound even further.

"Nia you need to stop moving or you're going to-" Ebony began to say before I interrupted.

"I-I need to… get out of here," I managed to say with all the pain pulsing through my body. Again I slowly forced myself to my feet. Blood continued to seep out of my wound as I forced myself up. I felt myself becoming dizzy, but I was able to keep my balance.

"Nia they're going to help you!" Ebony yelled at me. I peeked over at the eevee, her eyes were dilated, and she was trembling from the site of me torturing myself like this. I wish the poor thing wasn't here to see me like this.

"Help me open the door," I asked the eevee as I struggled to stand, at this point holding my head up was too much, and I could feel my legs slowly lowering me towards the ground.

"You'll die if you jump out," Ebony warned me.

"Not if I get out at the right time," I replied.

"You'll still die from blood loss. You're barely even able to stand!" Ebony shouted.

"They'll kill me if I stay here!" I screamed at Ebony. She may not know it, but I've done things that I'll be killed for. Sam and Raiden are captured by the police, and there's no doubt that they will bring me down with them. After all Jack was my trainer, and humans won't listen to my side of the story. Being an umbreon didn't help my case either.

"Nia!" Ebony yelled as I tackled the door in an attempt to open it. The instant I smacked into the door, my impaled side ignited with pain as the wound widened. A scream exited my mouth as I tackled the door a second time. Before I could try a third time, my body gave out and I fell to the ground with minimal energy.

Ebony looked down at me with a pitiful look "Why would they want to kill you," Ebony asked as she stood over me in my appalling state.

"Because I've done bad things," I answered in a weak whisper as I resisted the urge to close my eyes.

"That doesn't mean you're going to be killed. Humans can be understanding," Ebony defended.

I let out a small sarcastic laugh which triggered a trickle of blood to come out as well. "Is that what you honestly think?"

"Of course, they won't harm you if you're a good pokemon. I'm sure of it," Ebony spoke with an uneasy smile that was forced.

"So naïve," I replied in a weak whisper. She was so oblivious of the status of our kind in this world. In the eyes of humans, we merely get to live in this world with them. If we cross the wrong line, there is no second chance. A human destroys my life, and now I'm going to be killed for something I was forced to do. Despite what Ebony thinks, I won't go to court like humans, and they won't hear my side of the story; they'll just kill me as soon as it's confirmed. Pokemon like me don't get the luxury of a happy ending.

Ebony began to say something to me but it sounded as if she was out of hearing distance. My vision slowly became darker and darker as Ebony started to yell something louder and louder, but her voice only got further and further with each yell. Within seconds I lost consciousness.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I sprinted at full speed down the empty streets of Cyllage city. The streets were completely silent, creating an eerie feeling where every small noise alerted me. I had no clue where Flare or Kana could be, but I prayed they were still alive. Quickly turning a corner I spotted a figure down the street. My eyes strained to make out this figure, and it turned out to be a jolteon.

"Kana!" I yelled as I ran towards her.

"Good guess," the jolteon answered in a voice that belonged to a male. Then it snapped in my head and I realized who this figure was.

"Listen, I don't have time for your bullshit. Can you just haunt me some other night after I find my friends," I snarled as I walked past the pokemon that took the form of my dead brother.

"You should be more kind to the person that saved your friend," the electric type said to my back as I froze in place.

"Excuse me?" I responded as I stopped walking.

"Your absol friend, do you really believe he just magically survived like that? Then on top of that his wounds were cauterized and he had no internal bleeding," the jolteon said.

"You're the one who saved him?" I responded in disbelief.

"Correct," he replied as his body turned completely black and formed into a different form. The darkness around his body soon showed color and revealed that he morphed into a flareon. "Hello my name is Aaron, nice to meet you," the shape shifter spewed out of his mouth with sarcasm.

"Aaron, that's who Gray said saved him," I said in surprise.

"Correct, I took this form and saved him. I also had a heart to heart talk with him," the flareon said with a small smirk.

"Why did you save Gray, Does he have something about him I should know of?"

"Nothing of note, I simply saved him so he would save you. I prefer to keep a low profile so I took that approach, also consider it a reward for listening to me," The shape shifter answered.

"A reward for what?" I asked with confusion.

"You listened to me and got Nia to teach you dark matter. As I said, it would save your life when the time came, and it did."

I held up the paw I used to try and kill that riolu. The way I felt when I used it was different. I know why Nia told me not to learn it now. That power is purely full of negative energy. When I used it I really wanted to do more than just kill that riolu, I wanted to tear him into pieces, and make him suffer. That power overwhelmed me with hatred.

"Is something wrong?" the flareon asked me and snapped me out of my thoughts.

I hesitated for a second as I collected my train of thought "Nothing, I just need to find my friends," I lied to the flareon.

"Your friends are in the park, they are alive," the flareon reassured me.

"They're fine, how do you know!?" I said excitedly.

"You'd be surprised on the things I know," he responded proudly "Come follow me, I'll take you to them."

"Thanks," I replied as I followed his lead.

"One more thing," the flareon said as he shape shifted forms again, this time he took the form of my brother again. "If Gray wants to believe that Aaron's ghost or something like that saved him, let him believe it. Gray really needed to see his friend."

"But it's a lie, and you're giving him false hope," I barked back at him.

"Yes it is a lie, but I said nothing the real Aaron wouldn't have said. Gray viewed this Aaron fella as his brother. He needed some form of closure after what happened and I gave it to him," The jolteon said.

"And what did you tell him," I asked as I tried to keep up with his walking pace.

"What he needed to hear," the jolteon responded with tight lips not letting up on anything to personal on Gray.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"So then Nia that umbreon chick told me to set up a trap, and as you can tell I went with her plan. So I went to the kitchen and built a complex bomb using only what I had in the kitchen. After brilliantly building a bomb, the trap was ready. Ebony and I got to a safe distance, and Nia tricked the idiot into walking past the bomb, and then boom!" I excitedly yelled as I startled the arcanine from the police force in front of me. "Then as the explosion went off we all dove out of the way barely escaping with our-" I continued to say before I was cut off by the arcanine in front of me.

"Okay-okay, first off let me get some things straight. First you didn't build a bomb you just opened up the valve on a propane tank. Second, this is not a movie, and didn't you just say you and Ebony were at a safe distance, so why would you need to dive away," The arcanine unhappily criticized me.

"Well you see sir, we-" I said before I was cut off yet again.

"Third, there is no way I can possibly let anyone write down half the crap you said on a police report. I mean seriously it sounds like you're pitching me a crappy action movie. I mean you doing a three-sixty twirl kick, seriously?! Do you not realize that this is serious, and your friends are hospitalized along with some that are missing!" the arcanine barked at me.

Seeing his point I sunk deep into the chair I comfortably sat on. "Okay, maybe my story kind of got exaggerated just a tad, but I assure you that it is most certainly accurate," I defended myself.

"Like how you dramatically pushed your friend out of the way and took a lightning bolt for them, and then magically got back up to do some other ridiculous stunt?" the arcanine questioned.

"Yeah…" I answered awkwardly.

"Johnson!" the arcanine yelled across the police station. Coming through a door was a machop with a tie around his neck along with a police badge pinned to his tie. "Please escort Mister Aiden to a cell for arson," the arcanine said.

My jaw dropped as the machop literally picked me up, slung me over his shoulder, and began walking away. "I was doing what I was told too!" I yelled as I tried to break free from the machop's arm that was wrapped around me. Kicking and clawing like a maniac, I attempted to escape, which resulted in the machop's grip around me tightening to the point that I couldn't breathe.

"Yeah-yeah, your friend will probably get in trouble to, till then try actually coming up with a good story for the next person you try to bullshit with that crap," The arcanine said as I was carried off towards a cell. All the way through the police station everyone stared at me as I yelled and kicked like a five year old throwing a tantrum.

"Let me go! Let me go!' I continuously yelled trying to use repetition to persuade the power house that was carrying me. Eventually we reached the back room where all the prisoners were kept.

"Open cell five!" the machop yelled, and a cell door opened. Without a word he literally threw me like a ball into the cell and slammed it shut.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer, and you didn't even read me my Miranda rights!" I yelled back to the machop.

"Stupid people don't have rights," he rudely replied as he walked out of the room.

"You get back here, and say my rights!" I screamed across the cell block.

"Keep it down little man," a voice snarled from within my cell. I've seen this stuff in the movies before, in jail you got to show your dominance or they'll do things to you… horrible things…

"Bitch, who the hell do you think you're talking too!?" I aggressively snapped back as I turned to face whoever was behind me. My jaw trembled as I saw a totally ripped machoke with hardcore tattoos standing behind me cracking his knuckles as he looked down at me.

"They called me skull crusher before I was put behind bars," he replied in a deep voice as he continued to crack his knuckles.

"I-I'm so sorry," I cried as the machoke approached me.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

My fake brother and I eventually made our way into the park. I anxiously sprinted through the grass as I searched for any sign of life. After a minute of looking I spotted the real Kana lying unconscious on the ground and a few meters away I saw Flare lying unconscious below a tree.

"Flare, Kana!" I shouted as I went to the jolteon first since she was the closest. "Kana wake up," I said as I gave her a few gentle nudges with my cast. Kana let out a groan and her eyes slowly opened.

"Where am I?" she said quietly in a weak voice.

"You're in the city park," I replied.

"What about Flare?" she asked me, I looked over towards Flare who was lying unconscious on the ground by a tree.

"I'll check on him," I said as I sprinted towards him. Once I reached Flare I quickly noticed multiple swollen bruises all over his body. I reached out my paw to give him a nudge.

"Don't," the shape shifter called out from behind me. My eyes glared at the jolteon as I waited for his reasoning. "He has multiple broken bones, a concussion and some damage to his back. I'll take him," the jolteon said as he picked Flare up gently and cautiously swung him onto his back. I didn't like the idea of him taking Flare, but at the same time he did help me find them.

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked with concern. The shape shifter remained silent before responding.

"Let's go," he said without answering my question.

'Why did he just ignore me?' Shaking off the questions in my head, I ran towards Kana who was attempting to stand on her own.

"Can you stand?" I asked.

"Yeah, I just feel weak," she answered. "Where's Flare?" she then asked me. I looked in the direction of the jolteon that was carrying Flare. Kana noticed the mystery pokemon and asked, "Who's he?"

"Someone who's helping," I vaguely responded as I led Kana in the direction of the jolteon. Kana walked very sluggishly as she waivered back and forth hardly keeping her balance. After a long walk the jolteon led us to a pokecenter. The jolteon walked through the door as he carried Flare on his back.

The instant the jolteon walked in the pokecenter a doctor took notice. He ran up to the jolteon, kneeled down, cradled Flare in his arms, and took off to help Flare. We all watched as Flare was taken away. Hopefully he'd be just fine with the help of the doctors.

"Well, I think you've seen enough of me for tonight," the imposter said as he headed towards the exit.

Despite him pissing me off a lot in the past I still couldn't help but feel grateful for his help "Thank you," I said to the jolteon as he walked away. "I guess I owe you now."

"Just keep doing what you're doing, and the favor will be repaid on its own," the jolteon said as he disappeared out the door. I don't know what his intentions with me were, but I really had to wonder whether he was good or bad. I always hated him, but tonight he helped me. It was just hard to trust someone wearing the face of your dead brother.

* * *

**Third Person Point of View**

The shape shifting creature known as Skull Face walked deep into the woods where no one would be at this time of night, excluding wild pokemon of course. The ground of the forest was covered in a thick fog, and it was almost too dark to see your own hand in front of you. After hiking miles upon miles, the imposter jolteon finally stopped walking once he entered a clearing in the forest. In the middle of the clearing was a small body of water that reflected the moon's lunar lights, and provided light. Many would view this area as a beautiful spectacle. Although the look on Skull Face showed that he wasn't too impressed.

"Hey, I'm here, we need to talk," Skull face called out to the shadows of the forest. "Seriously, I walked a long way to get here at a late hour," the false jolteon added on. Silence filled the night for a few minutes, and the only thing that could be heard was a wind blowing through the trees.

"What is it you wish to talk about," a smooth feminine voice asked from the shadows.

"I've been doing what you've asked of me, but I'm starting to worry," the jolteon said.

"Worry about what?" the anonymous voice asked from the darkness.

"It's becoming hard to protect Ryder from these dangers. I almost had to directly come out and save him," the fake jolteon complained.

"You saving that absol, and giving him power was creative, I thought it worked perfectly," the voice spoke with obvious satisfaction in her tone.

"Yes-yes, it worked perfectly for now. But what if that absol really thinks he can mega evolve on his own, and that causes problems, what if he catches on. We need a better strategy other than me just appearing as a dead person and verbally guiding them," Skull face impatiently stated.

"You're welcome to approach them as you please, although you'll probably terrify them with your real face," the entity said followed by a laugh.

"Wanna come out of the shadows and say that to my face," the jolteon snarled as he showed his fangs.

"I apologize, that was uncalled for," the voice said with sincerity. Skull Face let out a deep breath as he tried to let the insult go.

"Don't ever insult me like that again. I don't care if I owe you."

"You got it," she agreed. "Anyways back on subject," the voice redirected the topic "A few weeks back someone told me something bad was going to happen, something really devastating," the voice urgently stated as she exited the shadows and revealed herself.

"Who told you, Celebi?" the shape shifter asked the strange pink cat creature that floated in the air above him.

"Celebi envisioned a great tragedy. Mandus is going to make his move very soon. Casualties will be high," the cat like creature warned.

"If Crimson is making their move, then that must mean Black is almost ready."

"Indeed, just remember to let them do what they need to, it's important that they mold Black the way they need him," the pink cat instructed.

"You're horrible, all of you legendaries are horrible. This can all be prevented," Skull face spat out with slight hatred. "Anyways, this conversation is over Mew." the shape shifter turned away and began the journey out of the forest.

"Remember the mission. It may be horrible, but greater things are at risk. A few pokemon dying is a very small toll to pay compared to the bigger picture," Mew said as the jolteon walked away.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** So they finally get thrown into the story now. Legendaries that is. I'm not sure if this would really come off as an unexpected surprise, or something people anticipated. I mean a lot of stories have legendaries, that is why I held off on bringing them in until now. Anyways the thing I like about legendaries in stories is that everyone portrays them differently. Some portray them as bad asses, snobby jerks, or even cute creatures that add all this fluff to the story. I can promise you that I am not doing that last one... So my point is that hopefully I can set my story apart from others.

**Anyways thanks for reading, and thanks again to everyone who follows this story. **


	64. Confession

**Alright here we go chapter 64. Things continue from where things left off. Thanks again to genericgamer207 for editing.**

* * *

**Chapter 64: Confession**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

For now, everything was calming down. Kana, Ebony and I all waited in the pokecenter lobby. Surprisingly, that shape shifter took me to the same pokecenter that everyone else was at. Gray, Hesh, Flare, and Nia were all being helped with their injuries. Aiden on the other hand disappeared off the face of the planet.

Silence filled the lobby as we all waited for the status of our friends. I was exhausted, but I didn't want to sleep, not after what just happened. I stared out the window keeping watch for anyone suspicious. Every few minutes I found my eyes closing on their own, and I had to snap myself out of it. I gave a quick glance at Ebony who was curled up in a ball sleeping in a corner. I envied her currently for being able to sleep after what just happened.

"If you want to sleep, I'll keep watch," Kana offered as she sat down next to me.

"I'll be fine, I'm just a little tired," I responded. Even though I wanted to sleep, I just couldn't sleep soundly with danger lurking through the night.

"Listen, you just fought, and almost died multiple times. Everyone fought tonight, and I didn't."

"It's not like you could've helped it. You were drugged, everything turned out fine in the end," I said even though it was an obvious lie, everything didn't really turn out that well, but in no way was it her fault.

"Flare is in really bad shape, he could have died, I should have been there to help him," Kana said.

"He didn't though, he'll be fine. He won't blame you for anything, Flare's just not that type of guy," I said truthfully. If Flare could tolerate me almost getting everyone killed frequently, then I'm sure he wouldn't hold anything against Kana. Although the origin of this problem is based off me; I was the one who got them dragged into this…

"I know he's not that type of person, but I still can't help but feel this way," Kana said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Guilt is a normal response," I said as I let out a long yawn and felt myself slowly phasing out.

"Go get some rest, I'll keep watch. If anything suspicious happens, you'll be the first to know," Kana said.

"You sure you got this?" I asked her. Kana responded with a nod. "Alright, don't hesitate to wake me if any news on Flare or Nia comes in," I said. After our talk, I crawled under a bench in the shadows. This was one of the only spots with a shadow in the lobby, or in other words, the nocturnal creature oasis of the pokecenter. My eyes closed, and I gave into the heavenly feeling of sleeping after a very long night.

* * *

After a long peaceful power nap, my eyes eventually opened back up. Light beamed through the windows of the pokecenter, and my nocturnal eyes were instantly blinded. I cautiously crawled out from under the bench and stood up. I let out a tired yawn as I stretched out my muscles. The sun finally rising was reassuring; it felt like that night was never going to end.

I looked over into the corner of the room, and was surprised at what I saw. I saw Alex hunched over on a bench with his arms in his lap and his hands clasped together as if he was praying. Along with that, he just kept staring at the floor, not looking up at all. Lying down next to him in a deep sleep was Kana. I had to really wonder how long he was here, or better yet where the hell was he last night.

"Alex?" I said to my trainer who stared at the ground. Alex didn't even notice me. It appeared that he was deep in his own thoughts. "Hey, Alex," I said even louder in order to get his attention. Alex looked up slowly as if he was a zombie version of himself. Once I made eye contact, I noticed that the white part of his eye was a pinkish color along with his eyelids, a strong indication that he'd been crying.

"Oh. Hey Black, you're not hurt are you?" Alex asked in a quiet voice.

"No, I'm perfectly fine," I responded.

"I'm glad you are alright," Alex said fully understanding what I said. An awkward silence filled the room which only made things feel worse than it was. Sensing that Alex really needed a friend right now, I jumped up on the bench, and sat right next to him.

"I really wish I could have been there last night to help in some way," Alex said out loud as he looked towards the ground.

"It's not your fault, at least everyone is alive," I responded to my trainer. Alex didn't know what I said, but the kid was smrt enough to get the gist of my tone. Alex then reached out his hand and stroked the fur on my back repeatedly. The feeling sent shivers down my spine. I never let humans touch me, let alone pet me like a house pet. Although out of all the naïve stupid humans in this world, Alex has earned my trust, so if it made him feel a little better in his time of need, I'd put up with it, just this one time.

For the longest time, Alex and I sat silently. Eventually a male doctor walked into the lobby. The doctor was middle aged, yet he was already bald. "Mister Hayter, it's okay for you to see your fennekin now," the doctor spoke. Alex's eyes lit up as he stood up almost instantly.

"What about Gray, and Hesh?" Alex asked.

"The pikachu and absol are both completely fine. I just want to talk to you about something regarding your fennekin. Alex looked back at Kana and Ebony who were both asleep, then he looked down at me.

"Is it fine if my umbreon comes along?"

"That's fine, now come along," the doctor said as he guided the both of us to Flare. I kind of felt bad for Kana since she was asleep, and I knew her and Flare were a lot closer than me and him. After a few minutes of walking down empty hallways Alex and I finally made it to Flares room.

Before we entered the doctor stood in front of us "Your fennekin is still asleep, please don't disturb him," the doctor spoke as he opened the door for us. Alex and I both quietly entered the room. There we saw Flare sleeping on a bed. It was actually kind of hard seeing Flare wrapped up in bandages all over his torso, and other spots around his body.

"Your fennekin suffered a lot of injuries last night, he has been given medicine to help him cope with the pain, but he's also going to be out for a while," the doctor warned us.

"He's okay right, like no permanent damage?" Alex asked the doctor.

"It appears your fennekin is fine, just in really rough shape. His lower ribs are broken, and he has a concussion, and along with all of that we believe he has an injured back. Hopefully that will heal up; it may hurt him for a very long time though. I'd recommend keeping him away from any physical activity for a bit,"

Alex let out a long sigh "Well, it could have been worse." Alex walked over to Flare and looked down at the injured fennekin. "I just have one more question," Alex asked.

"And what would that be?"

"What happened to the pokemon that did this?"

"As you know, your pokemon defeated them. They are being kept under watch in this exact pokecenter, they're both too injured to do anything at the moment, but police are watching them very closely," the doctor answered.

"And why are those pokemon allowed to be in the same pokecenter as my pokemon? They almost killed them, I wouldn't even want them in the same city after this," Alex complained.

"It's just how things are currently; after they heal up they will be out of here. They'll probably be questioned, and then put down."

"Still, it bothers me," Alex added on.

"Anyways, onto a new topic, your absol is fine to leave now. His injuries were very… strange," the doctor said with a peculiar voice. "Follow me and you can fill out the papers and take him home," the doctor said as he led us out of the Flare's room. As I walked out, I looked back at Flare really quick, but my sight of him was cut off as the doctor shut the door.

The doctor led us a few rooms down the hall until we reached Gray's room. The doctor unlocked the door, and he let us in. As I walked into the room, I noticed Gray sitting up on the bed alive and well. Gray had a bandage covering the right side of his chest where he was stabbed, and there was also a bandage on his back where the sword exited his back. Despite past feuds, it was still nice to see him alive. Things kind of felt odd around him after I thought he died. It's strange since I always envisioned him dead for his horrible personality, but in no way was things patched up between the two of us.

The doctor walked up to Gray, and examined him, "We examined your Absol very carefully, but oddly he is perfectly fine. His wound was cauterized but he still didn't have any problems with internal bleeding. He is perfectly healthy at the moment. We want to prescribe him anti-biotics to prevent him from getting an infection where his wounds were cauterized. Other than a big scar on his back and his chest, he will recover just fine," the doctor optimistically said as he picked some papers up off a table. "Just fill this out and you can take him home. We will send you a bill in the mail, or you can get one at the front desk."

"Alright," Alex responded as he filled out the papers without even reading it. After a small chat between the doc and Alex, we were ready to leave the room finally. The doctor guided us back to the lobby. In the lobby, I found Kana and Ebony finally awake, although I found that they weren't too talkative after such a rough night.

"What about Hesh," Alex asked in concern for the prankster pikachu.

"He's fine, his muscles are just strained. It's best that he just doesn't move for a bit. I'll take you to see him when there is more time. For now, I have got to tend to other patients."

"Alright, thanks," Alex responded as we joined Kana and Ebony.

"Oh, Sir just one last thing," the doctor said, regaining Alex's attention. "The other umbreon, she'll be fine as well, she just needs time to recover from her injuries," the doctor said.

Alex didn't respond for a few seconds as he processed what he just heard "I... don't have another umbreon…"

"My apologies. She must belong to someone else," the doctor said as he walked away. There was no doubt in my mind that he was referring to Nia. I could only hope that her wounds would healed over well, she was really messed up last time I saw her.

Silence filled the room for quite some time. Alex's mood improved though, and he was no longer moping around. I still remembered how he stuck by my side in Ambrette when I was having my mental breakdown from all the stress. I knew I didn't show it, but ever since then, I did view him as a friend, even if we couldn't talk.

"Black, can we talk outside for a moment," Gray asked me out of nowhere. The idea of Gray asking me to go somewhere alone with him sent chills down my spine. Gray and I may have had a 'moment' where we were good partners, but that did not clear up any suspicions I had on him with his hatred towards my kind.

"Why?" I asked nervously as I inched away from him.

"I'd like to talk about a few things privately, that's all," Gray answered. His voice lacked the hostile tone he usually attacked me with. I'd even say he almost sounded like he was being nice… if that was possible.

"Okay, sure." I stood up off the ground and walked towards the exit of the pokecenter in good faith that Gray wouldn't start something at a time like this. Once we were outside Gray looked in every direction as if he was hiding from something.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked nervously as I stayed out of arms reach from him.

Gray remained silent for a second as he avoided my eyes. Gray muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't hear it.

"You got to speak up," I told Gray.

The absol let out a long grunting noise as if he was fighting himself "I said I'm… I'm sorry," Gray spoke really fast. My jaw dropped and refused to rise back up. "I know I've been… cold to you, and I just wanted to apologize for it."

I repeated what he said mentally a thousand times before I could even fully comprehend what was going on. I then just remembered that the shape shifting creature said he talked to Gray. I really wanted to know what the hell he told him back there because obviously it took effect immediately.

"You're… apologizing?" I asked him. Gray responded with a slow nod. "Yeah-no…" I said snidely. "Do you have any concept of how you made me feel, you have mentally and physically attacked me. Do you have the slightest idea of how you made me feel?"

"Yeah, I don't really expect you to just forget what happened… but I just want-" Gray started to say before I cut him off.

"You're damn right I'm not going to forget what happened. You assaulted me! You constantly reminded me of things I couldn't help. Because I'm an umbreon my family paid for it, do you know what it is like being reminded that your family died because of what you are?!" I shouted out loud. "Every racist thing you said about my kind being monsters reminded me of what happened!" I yelled at Gray.

Point of View Gray

I stood frozen without a single clue on how to respond. My past racism was always meant to hurt Black… I will never deny that, but I had no clue of what I was reminding him of. Thinking back to it now, me viewing every umbreon like Eclipse really got out of hand, just the idea of how I acted made me want to cringe.

"I know… I screwed up so bad, I said things without even knowing you. The truth is, I was afraid of you," I truthfully said.

"You were afraid of me?" Black repeated back.

"Long-long ago I had friends that were practically my family. One of them was named Eclipse; he was an umbreon just like you. I'd even say he looked like you, just not a shiny," I said with a hesitant pause. I never told anyone this before. I never thought I'd be telling Black of all pokemon first. "I trusted Eclipse; he was like a brother to me. One day Eclipse backstabbed us. The end result was the death of every friend I cherished."

"So why'd he backstab you," Black curiously asked me with a calmer voice than before.

"Back in the day I worked with a group that devoted to helping the world. Well, people hated what we did, so they hunted us down and killed our members. I guess they found Eclipse and cut him a deal. He led us all into a trap and he walked away with his life." I said.

"So because one umbreon did something bad, you assume were all bad?" Black snidely replied back.

"Two umbreon's ruined my life, one of the mercenaries was an umbreon as well," I corrected him. "Every time I looked at you I saw Eclipse. I remembered what he did. I couldn't get the images out of my head. I could never understand how someone so close, someone I trusted with my life, could do something so self-centered. I was afraid that things would repeat." After my small anecdote, Black remained silent as he processed my story. I didn't expect his forgiveness; I just wanted him to at least understand why I was so cruel towards him.

"Listen, I don't know if I forgive you. I have mixed emotions currently, but I'd be willing to try and get along and maybe, just maybe we could one day actually be friends," Black said with a more than reasonable proposal.

"Thanks, I know you don't owe me any form of cooperation."

"Anyway, I'm going back inside. Hopefully things really can be different from now on," Black said as he made his way towards the door.

"I hope so too," I said as he walked away. That conversation took a few turns I didn't expect, but in the end, I felt that it went the way it was supposed to.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

** Author Note: **Ever had someone apologize to you, and your just like screw you! I have lol. Even though Gray is apologizing Black is pretty cold about it, if I was him I'd be pretty angry even if he apologized. But now Gray has a scar on his chest/back, I guess that makes Black and Gray scar buddies... no not funny? okay I'll shut up now...

Is it really worth thanking everyone for reviewing this chapter? I've like written it down on every chapter. I need new ways to thank my reviewers/followers. For a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone skips over this thank you I put in every chapter XD. So here I'm just going to write a fun fact fact about the story, hopefully something that'll catch everyone's interest. I'll try and come up with one every chapter or so that doesn't spoil anything.

Fun fact about Black Dawn: Would you believe that when I was still brainstorming for this story I actually considered having Black and Gray being female characters. Obviously they both wouldn't have both been female if I choose that route, and their names would have changed. But imagine that, Black, and Gray as female characters.


	65. Bound to a horrible fate

Well here is the 65th chapter. Hope you all enjoy. Thanks again to genericgamer207.

* * *

**Chapter 65: Bound to a horrible fate**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now getting late. Alex, Gray, Kana, Ebony, Hesh, and I were all heading back to the hotel now. Fortunately Hesh was lucky enough to leave the pokecenter today. We all stood outside the hotel as we prepared to enter. It was odd returning to the place we almost died in the previous night.

"Ugh, this sucks," Hesh pouted as he stretched out his arms "Ever strained a muscle really bad? Yeah, it feels like that, everywhere!" Hesh whined as he stretched out his muscles. "Is this what I do to people every time I shock them?"

"Pretty much," I responded dryly, "Although you got it good."

"Alright guys, lets go in," Alex said as he opened the door for us. We all entered the hotel. Alex cringed as he observed all the damages caused in the previous night. The desk was destroyed, there was burn marks everywhere, and there was water damage from a sprinkler that got broken in the fight.

"Hey, what are you doing back here!?" A voice yelled at us. Approaching us now was possibly the owner. This guy looked… interesting. He wore what probably used to be a fancy red polo that was tight against his body. Along with some cache's that were constricted around his waist cutting off his blood circulation. What I'm basically trying to politely hint is that this guy may be just a tiny bit overweight…

"We have a room here," Alex responded.

"Your pokemon destroyed this place last night," the man barked at us.

"I can't help that they were assaulted, they could have died and you're primarily worried about your hotel!" Alex yelled back.

"I don't care about any stupid pets of yours! You're not staying here another night with those things," the impolite fatty responded.

"Ouch," Hesh bitterly replied.

"Seriously? It's late at night, and you're just going to throw us out!?" Alex yelled back at the man.

"I'll let you stay, but not your pokemon. Umbreon's are bad luck, second your absol should have foresaw this danger. Now, because of them, my hotel is trashed, and I don't have the money to pay for this," the man snorted.

Alex clenched his fist as he started to walk towards the owner. I quickly jumped towards Alex and bit down on his pant leg. Alex stopped walking as he looked down at me, obviously I didn't appreciate the discrimination, but I'd much rather prefer to keep Alex out of jail for assault.

"It's okay, Alex. I'll just piss in his coffee in the morning," Hesh snidely added. Judging from what Hesh has done to me so far, it wouldn't be farfetched to assume he'd really do that.

'Note to self: If I piss Hesh off, be sure to check your food and drinks before you eat,' I noted mentally.

We all stormed out of the hotel pretty upset that we experienced such rude behavior. It has been a really rough time since that fight, at this point I just wanted to bask in the moonlight all night, and relax. From what I've noticed me sitting in the moonlight is the equivalent of a human taking a hot bath, except the moon actually gives me energy.

"Where are we going to go now," Kana asked.

"We'll find a cardboard box, and we can all cuddle up together, maybe share it with another homeless person," Hesh joked.

"I'm not sleeping in a box with you Hesh… That's just wrong on so many levels," I said back to the weirdo pikachu.

"Would you like to be wined and dined first?" Hesh said. This conversation was rather disturbing if anybody had to ask me. Obviously I knew he was kidding, but just no…

"Hesh, I'm not really in the mood for jokes," Kana bitterly said. Ever since Flare was injured, Kana took it to heart, and felt like she was responsible.

"Jeez, just trying to brighten the mood," Hesh said in dissatisfaction. Silence filled the air for quite awhile as we all walked through the streets. Every second that passed was another second the sun went down, and I didn't want to be out here if people were after our blood.

The silence was interrupted when I heard a weird ringing noise come from Alex. The teen reached into his pocket, and pulled out a device that he put to his head. "Hello," Alex spoke into it. That's when I remembered the purpose of such a device.

"Yeah, that jerk wouldn't let us stay there," Alex said into the device. It would have been real nice if I actually knew what Alex was hearing. A few seconds passed by as Alex listened to the device.

"Really, okay, we'll be there soon," Alex said with a newfound smirk on his face. Alex then clicked a button and placed the device back in his pocket.

"Alright, good news guys, my Dad knew this would happen, and already got us a new hotel. Hopefully they will be more kind than the last one," Alex gleefully told us.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

I comfortably lied on a bed within the pokecenter, as I stared at the clock on the wall. I watched as every second went by, and the window of escape closing. The clock read two-fifty-seven AM. It was time for me to make my move before it's too late. I cautiously forced myself up to my feet. The wound I had shot up with a ripping pain, but I managed to deal with it. The physical pain I endured these days didn't really affect me like it should have. The pain I felt was only in my head, physical pain fell short to the pain I always felt in my head.

After completely standing up, I jumped down off of the bed I was on. Pain ran through my entire body, but I didn't stop for a single second. I continued towards the door of my room. I looked up towards the handle that would release the latch on the door. I felt as if it was unreachable with my current state. I gritted my teeth as I prepared for the pain I was about to put myself through. I jumped as best as I could, and slapped the handle downward with my paw. The latch on the door made a clicking noise and the door slowly creaked open.

I held my head low as I felt light headed from the pain. As I looked down I noticed a few drops of blood below me. I looked at my hip, and I noticed a stain of red on the white bandages. I disregarded my health, and exited my room. The halls to the pokecenter were vacant, and not one living soul inhabited it.

I walked down the hall slowly as I left a trail of blood following me. Eventually I found the exit that led downstairs. I stared at the door that I could easily push open and escape from. Instead of leaving I turned my head, and continued down the empty hallway. The pokecenter was completely silent, silent to the point that I could hear a buzzing noise coming from the lights above me.

'You should turn back,' a voice whispered into my head as I slowly walked down the hall.

'He has to pay,' another voice whispered.

'Murdering is a sin' the voice continued to whisper.

'Think of what they have done to you, you can't even look at yourself without seeing a monster,' the other voice countered the other.

'This isn't who you are, what would your family say, and your friends?'

"Shut up!" I yelled aloud at the voices arguing in my head. Despite my attempts the voices continued to speak, and torment me. As the imaginary voices continued to argue, I fought the urge to scream as loud as I could to release my mental pain

Halfway down the hall, I spotted a police guard standing outside a door. The policeman was equipped with a gun. I continued to walk towards the man. His head turned as he noticed me bleeding all over the floor.

"Hey are you alright?" the man asked as he ran towards me. As he made his way towards me, I fell to the ground with my eyes closed. I listened as the man kneeled down next to me. Without any hesitation, my eyes shot open, and I jumped up, and smashed my head between his eyes. The policeman fell to the ground, I watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his eyes shut.

Once I was sure he was taken care of, I directed my attention towards the door he was guarding. Using the same strategy as before, I jumped up and smacked the lever with my paw. The door opened just like the first time.

'It's not too late,' my conscious warned me as I stared into the room, unsure if I could go through with this. Lying within the room was Sam. The sight of the riolu sent chills down my spine, along with that my fur stood up, and my legs felt as if they were stuck to the ground.

"I have to do this… He's a demon disguised as a pokemon," I told myself in an attempt to justify the sin I was about to commit. Sam didn't show a single sign of consciousness; he almost looked harmless like this. I stood next to the bed, and jumped up. I nearly fell off as I tried to pull myself up.

I stood over Sam as I looked at his unconscious face. A calm and steady breath exited his mouth as he soundly slept. 'You can do this, just one last murder,' I thought in my head as I opened my trembling mouth. 'Just one bite in the throat, that's all, and it's over.' Memories flooded my head of the specific taste of blood. I could already taste the metallic taste in my mouth. No matter how much I tried, I could never get the flavor out of my mouth. I lowered my head and braced myself to rip open his jugular.

Sam's eyes shot open as his hand grabbed me by the throat. The riolu forced me off the bed and we both tousled to the ground. I screamed in panic as Sam tried to regain his grip around my neck with his one remaining arm. Sam gripped his fingers around my neck and began hitting my head against the floor as he strangled me.

"Shut the hell up!" Sam yelled "Now, I'm going to let go. You scream, or move, and I'll kill you." Out of fear I gave into his demands and stopped struggling. Sam kept his grip around my neck as he observed his surroundings, eventually he spotted the unconscious policeman. Sam released his grip and ran towards the policeman. Before I could even make it to my feet Sam had already gotten a hold of his gun.

I froze in place as I stared at the barrel of the gun that pointed at me. "Think you can just come in here and kill me?" Sam asked. "Come on, we're going on a walk sweetie," Sam said as he pointed what was left of his severed arm at the door. I cautiously walked out the door as Sam continued to point the firearm at me. After taking a bullet to the head, I never really wanted a gun pointed at me again. To an extent I had a slight phobia of them after that.

"Don't try any of that dark matter crap, I'll kill you right here if you do."

There was no doubt in my mind that he would do that if he needed to. "Now, where is Raiden?" Sam asked me.

"I don't know," I responded tensely.

"Then get moving, we're going to visit his ass," Sam said as he pointed the gun at me. We both walked down the hall, not one word was exchanged. The only sound that could be heard was my heart pounding in my chest.

'Arceus what have I done?!' I screamed in my head.

"Stop," Sam whispered right before we turned a corner. Sam kept the gun pointed at my head as he quickly glanced. Before I could take the chance to counter him, Sam jumped behind me, and kicked me. I slid across the floor as blood trailed behind me.

"Beg for help," Sam demanded as he pointed the gun at me. I looked down the hall, and spotted another policeman. Instantly I understood Sam's intentions. "Beg, or I'll just kill him with my gun, and then you after," Sam snarled.

Seeing my only choice I complied "Help me!" I yelled at the police officer. The officer jerked his head towards me in surprise as if he just woke up from a nap. The instant he noticed the blood he began running towards me. Right as he got close Sam flew around the corner, and delivered a solid kick in his face. The police officer flew back onto the floor. Sam ran towards the officer and placed his foot over his throat.

"Don't!" I cried as Sam repeatedly stomped his foot on the police officers neck over and over. I felt the strong urge to vomit as I heard the sound of bones breaking along with the police officer making a pained gurgling noise.

"Let's go," Sam snapped at me. Sam waited for me to take the lead as I walked towards the door the police man was guarding. Unexpectedly Sam kicked the door open, and a loud banging noise echoed throughout the pokecenter.

"Ladies first," Sam snidely spat out at me. The image of the policeman being violently murdered stuck in my head, it just felt like a horrible dream, yet this was my reality. No matter how many times I tried to escape the madness of this world, I was bound to it.

"You didn't have to kill him," I quietly whispered.

"I don't give a single fuck about mister police officer. I'm in a real bad mood right now, so why don't you do me a favor and shut up before I rip your tongue out." I tried to pretend it didn't bother me, but the images repeated over and over in my head with the exact details etched into my mind.

"Raiden wake up, I'm not carrying you," Sam snapped at the raichu that lied on a bed completely unconscious. Sam instantly grew impatient and jumped up on the bed. He took the pistol and whacked the barrel against the leg that received severe burns. Raiden responded instantly with a loud pained scream as his eyes shot open.

"Good, you're awake, now get up," Sam commanded. The raichu shot the riolu an evil glare right before he rolled off the bed. Raiden sloppily landed on the ground as he grunted in pain. After a moment Raiden struggled to his feet.

"What's going on?" Raiden asked the fighting type.

"We're having a slumber party. 'the hell does it look like we're doing?" Sam sarcastically replied.

"Not what I meant, why is Naomi here?" the rodent asked.

"Oh, she tried to kill me, now she's our hostage," Sam said as he kept the gun pointed at my head. "Anyways girly, why don't you lead the way," Sam ordered me. With a full understanding of my situation I did as I was asked, and led the way.

I exited the room as the two followed me. As we walked down the hall I looked back at Sam, and Raiden. Raiden was limping as he groaned in pain from being forced to walk with a severe burn on his leg. "Eyes up front Naomi, wouldn't want you tripping," Sam said as he kept the gun on me.

'When does it end, Naomi,' the same voice from before asked me. 'Things have always been like this for you.'

After a while we made it to the stairs. I don't need to mention how painful it was for Raiden and me to walk down them. Raiden and I both panted in exhaustion once we made it to the bottom. I looked back at the stairs, and stared at the trail of blood I was leaving behind. At this point I was beginning to feel woozy. I never originally planned on moving this much, and it was beginning to take its toll.

"Over there," Sam said with a small smirk as he pointed his nub at the back exit. Without another word I headed towards the exit. Once I left those doors, I would be in danger of being murdered any second, or did Sam have other plans with me. I shook my head remorsefully as the horrible memories began to play in my head. Sometimes I just wish I'd stop taking my medication just so I could forget everything and live life as a naïve fool unable to remember anything.

Sam passed me and held the door open for Raiden and me. I was hesitant for a second, but I took my only option and walked out of the semi-safety of the pokecenter. Once I was outside, I felt a chilling wind blow through the air.

"What are you going to do-" I started to ask.

"Just shut up Naomi, I'm not in the mood right now," Sam snapped.

"Well hold on Sam, why don't we just knock her out and leave? I don't see a point in taking her with us," Raiden said.

"Simple reason actually, Jack is going to murder us for failing our mission. If we bring Nia, he'll probably be too busy killing her to fully punish us," Sam said as he looked at me. "Besides if Jack doesn't kill her, we can always sell her like we originally planned," Sam said with a demented smirk.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I replied back fearfully as I took a step away from them.

"Who's the one with the gun, I'll cap each leg if you don't listen," Sam threatened.

"Then just kill me here, I refuse to put up with Jack's mind games again," I said as I feared being his puppet again.

"You have family right Naomi?" Sam asked. My eyes grew wide as he mentioned them, "Yeah, I remember hearing you mention them to Stark, outside Vaniville isn't that correct?" Sam said with complete accuracy.

"You stay the hell away from them!" I responded as I showed my fangs, along with a vicious growl.

"What did I hit a nerve or something? Do as I say, or I'll go find one of your siblings and make them a new member in our team." My growl instantly seized the moment he mentioned family. Sam would do what he said. He may be a liar, but there are some promises this riolu wouldn't break.

"Is that a deal then?" Sam asked me.

"Just leave them alone, okay," I said with defeat in my tone. Even though my family, and I weren't that close anymore, I still loved them too much to involve them with my dysfunctional life.

"Alright then get a move one Naomi, we got places to be," Sam said as he pointed me towards the back streets of the city.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"Are you serious!? You blew up a fucking hotel!?" My dumbass of a trainer screamed at me from the other side of my cell. At the moment I didn't view this place as a cell to keep me in, no it was clearly meant to keep psychopaths like Erika away from me.

"I'm sorry Erica, I'm just an incredibly dumb charmander that doesn't know better," I sarcastically retorted.

"I mean seriously, what the hell is wrong with you, someone could have died!" Erica continued to yell.

"That was kind of the point…" I replied back honestly. "I love how the stereotype is that all charmander's have little tiny lizard brains, but now that something bad happened, I'm smart enough to be responsible," I muttered to myself.

"When you get out of here, you're so dead, you just wait," Erica said with a menacing tone.

"I like my old trainer!" I yelled back. "If I almost died, he'd buy me ice cream or something! Not sit here and threaten me, for a matter of fact, I think he'd praise me for my act of awesomeness!" I continued to yell back at my inconsiderate trainer. Even though we couldn't understand each other, I think we were having a serious break through and we were making progress on having a healthy bond between trainer and pokemon.

After a few minutes of us yelling at each other, that same machop that threw me in here entered the cell block. "Open cell five!" the machop yelled at me.

"Wait! I think I need more time to learn my lesson!" I yelled at the machop as my only protection opened up and left me exposed. I looked back at the machoke, who was lying on the bed looking at a magazine "Please help me," I asked in terror as my trainer grabbed me by the part of my tail that wasn't on fire, and started dragging me away.

"Have fun," the machoke said as he waved me goodbye.

"For the love of Mew, not the tail!" I yelled as I scratched my claws along the floor in a futile attempt to get any form of grip. I'd take my chances with that whole group of mercenaries before I spent a minute alone with Erica, she was ruthless when pissed.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"We're here," Sam said. In front of us, was what appeared to be an abandoned bar. The building had weeds growing around it, along with that it was unmaintained.

"Well, let's get this reunion started, shall we," Sam said with a smirk as he opened the door. Inside the bar, I couldn't see anything but a black abyss that would certainly be my end. My paws trembled as I tried to control my muscles enough to at least walk in. To think this whole time, I was looking for Jack, but now I was realizing that I was still terrified of him.

"Come on Naomi, your beloved trainer is waiting for you. He's missed you so much," Sam taunted as his smiled.

This could end in many different ways. Jack could force me to be his pawn again; I could be killed, or worse. Not one scenario I thought of in my head ended happily. I took in a deep breath as my trembling paw attempted to move forward. My paw touched down on the cold floor of the bar, I gave one quick glance back up into the sky, and got one last glimpse of the moon.

'What a cruel fate, you could have been so much more," a voice whispered into my head. Of course I could have done so much more with my life, yet I'm bound to be stuck with the lowest of humanity.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Alrighty things are looking a little bad for Naomi. But I can't help but feel more sorry for Aiden... I'd be scared of Erica as well. Anyways I'll keep my talking time short this chapter.

**Fun Fact:** Before I choose to make Kana a jolteon, I was highly considering a cubone... Glad I went with a jolteon, I can not visualize Kana as a cubone. Kana is a sweet, high spirited girl, and I just can't see that in a cubone. I'd imagine a cubone would be more rebellious, and maybe even violent, when Kana is a gentle pokemon. Anyways that's it for the the fun fact.

Thanks for reading!


	66. I could have been so much more

Welcome to the next chapter. As always, thank you genericgamer207 for helping out with editing. Anyways as of 8/13/14 I am starting my junior year at high school. I already did my 1st day, and I feel like its going to be a tough year. I can already tell one of my teachers is a complete stuck up asshole... Anyways my point is that I can't promise that I'll make every week with chapter updates. I do want to try and take this year seriously, and I'm taking honors, and AP classes, so I may be busy at times. I will still probably update once a week, just don't be surprised if I end up to busy. Then again writing is what I use for stress releif, and its a good way to unwind after a long day. So it could also work the other way. Anyways for all my readers that are starting school, I wish you all a good, and successful year.

Guest review response

**Anonymous**: I know a lot of people worry for Naomi. As for you hoping that I won't quit? It is highly unlikely since I enjoy writing, and as I said, it provides good stress relief, and I love it. Thank you for taking the time to review.

Anyways sorry for the long author note, I just wanted to warn people.

* * *

**Chapter 66: I could have been so much more.**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

I exhaled a deep breath as I stepped inside the dark bar with the floorboards creaking from my weight. The first thing I noticed in the bar was the dust that tainted the air. Everything in here was dark. Even though I was a nocturnal creature, I still could hardly see.

"Turn on the lights," Sam snapped at one of us. It took about a second, but a dim light flickered on, and dully illuminated the room. The light flickered repeatedly as it created a buzzing noise that filled the bar. In the back of the room, I saw a long bar table that stretched across the whole room. Behind the bar table was an infinite supply of alcoholic beverages. Following the bar table was a long row of stools with leather seats, the seats were worn down, and torn in many spots. As for the rest of the bar, there were booths along the perimeter, and a few tables with broken chairs scattered throughout the center of the room. There were also windows around the perimeter, but they had shades drawn over them.

A loud slamming noise echoed through the air, my head shifted back to see the door behind me closed. Here I was now, trapped in a cage with vicious demons disguised as the creatures that inhabited this world. My eyes were quickly redirected to Sam, who was now taking a seat on one of the torn up bar stools. The riolu didn't waste a second, and exchanged his firearm for a beer bottle, and took a gulp. A breath of relief escaped Sam's mouth as he wiped his face clean of any alcohol that escaped his lips.

"You want some, Raiden? May as well have some before Jack shows up again," Sam said as he took another gulp straight from the bottle.

"I don't drink, and I don't think someone like you should be drinking either," Raiden replied as he climbed up onto one of the tables, and observed his burnt leg. He was lucky to have bandages, but even that wouldn't stop an infection if he didn't properly treat it.

"And why should I specifically not drink?" Sam asked as he beamed the raichu a glare.

"Just forget it, I'm not doing this tonight," Raiden replied back. I remained silent as I looked around for an exit. The bar door was inaccessible for me, since it had a knob, and not a handle. Breaking one of the windows could be an option as well, but trying to escape would be pointless if they saw me doing it.

"What about you Naomi, I'll pour you a bowl. Maybe we both get drunk, and we can have a little-"

"Just shut the hell up!" I yelled back before he could finish his sentence. Chills ran down my spine from such a horrible thought. How could someone do such horrible things, attempt murder, and then think like such a pig?

"Just leave her alone Sam, she shouldn't even be here, right now," Raiden sternly told the riolu as he gripped the edge of the table.

"Why the hell does it matter, you just tried killing her!" Sam yelled as he banged the beer bottle against the wooden bar. "Because of her, and those pokemon, I lost an arm. If you think I'm just going to sweep that under the rug, then you're dead wrong," Sam said with an insane chuckle mixed into his frustrated words.

"Yes, we did try to kill each other. That was business back there. This is uncalled for. She didn't have to get involved in this any further," Raiden said in my defense.

"Like hell she's not in this. The bitch tried to kill me in my sleep! She is linked to those pokemon that beat us!" Sam yelled as he jumped off his stool.

"So what? We're just going to force her to stay with us? She's not able to do it. Naomi isn't like us, she never has been, and never will be," Raiden replied back.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do to her; we'll cut off her limbs, and leave them where those pricks can find them. It'll be a message: we got their bitch, and every day she's with us, she's suffering a slow and painful death," Sam replied to the raichu, as he glared at me, his lust for blood could be seen in his psychotic eyes.

'Kill, or be killed,' A voice whispered into my head. I inhaled a deep breath, and without any warning, I shot a shadow ball towards Sam. Sam moved to the side, and instead the ball ripped through the bar table, and destroyed the shelf that the alcohol rested on. The sound of glass shattering filled the air as Sam ran towards me. Before he got too close, I used my shadow claw and swiped it towards Sam. The riolu jumped back from the darkness that would easily eat away his flesh.

'Run,' another voice whispered mentally.

I slowly backed up into a corner as Sam slowly walked towards me. The look in Sam's eyes… the eyes of a demon. I felt every muscle in my body quiver as I slowly sunk lower to the ground. No matter how much I hated him, no matter how far my anger would drive me on, my fear always over ran it.

"Seriously, how pathetic are you? Fight me," Sam said as he closed in on me. Sam cocked his one good fist back, and extended it towards me. I quickly dove out of the way. Suddenly I felt a tearing in my side, and my wound opened once again.

'No, no, no, not now!' I screamed in my head, as I tried to overcome the pain. Even worse than before, blood exited my wound, this time I tore open the wound much more.

"Sam, that's enough!" Raiden shouted as he jumped off the table. The raichu struggled in my direction with a limp I also limped towards him, and hid behind him as my body continued to shake.

"Move," Sam firmly told him.

"Sam, just take a minute to think this through," Raiden reasoned.

"Three," Sam counted.

"Sam, none of us are in the shape for-"

"Two," Sam continued.

"I… I just want to go home," I cried as a tear fell from my eye.

"One," Sam said, paying no attention to anything but his selfish desire to inflict pain on others.

"Naomi, it's going to be alr-" Raiden's words stopped as Sam slammed his fist into the raichu's face. Raiden flew back into a table, and knocked everything around him over. Before I could even flinch Sam flung his foot at me. His fist connected with my injury. A sharp breath exited my body as I fell to the ground. The world turned black and white, and everything became quiet.

"Get up, get up now!" Sam's voice echoed through the air. Everything was so hazy, and unclear. Every pained second that went by, I felt more and more numb. My vision began to go black as I watched Sam walk towards me. My vision completely faded as Sam's stood right over me.

* * *

"How memories work is actually pretty simple actually. Once one of your five senses picks up something, it's stored in the hippocampus, and the frontal cortex as information. Then those parts of the brain simply converts the information into electrical signals that go to different parts of the brain that are connected to nerves, and synapses, and then your body can remember a smell, taste, sight, something you felt, or heard… Are you following any of this?" I curiously asked the leafeon I was walking beside. It was yet another day that my brother Dante and I were going on a walk in the woods. As usual, I lectured him on fascinating things he never really took the time to understand. Well, it wasn't just him that didn't care of these things, practically all wild pokemon were like this. Arceus for some reason found it funny to make me different.

"No… I don't have the slightest clue what you just said," My older brother replied in a baffled tone. "Are you just saying stuff, or is this stuff actually real stuff?"

I paused for a second as I thought of a proper answer "Well, that's just what I've read out of a book, or two, I found in the city. Books on how neuropsychology works change constantly. The brain is really complex, and to this day no one fully understands how it works," I responded.

"I really don't get how you're just an eevee… You're not even that old, and you already outsmart everyone in our family put together," Dante said to me as he let out a tired yawn, but still maintained his walking pace.

"I'm sure if you all tried, you could learn many fascinating things. Try learning to read, it's actually really handy!" I said excitedly as I practically jumped up in hype. Although what I would never tell him is how difficult it was to actually handle a book without thumbs or even fingers.

"Alright calm down Naomi," Dante said with a chuckle, "I don't understand literature. It's… bizarre," Dante said awkwardly. "I don't really understand how you understand those squiggly lines. They make absolutely no sense," Dante continued to question in confusion.

"I could teach you, and I think it'd be good for you to learn something other than survival skills."

Dante let out another lazy yawn, I took minor offense to him yawning at me, but I kept my thoughts to myself. "You know when I was your age I dreaded the idea of learning basic things. I wanted to go out, and play. Maybe get into a scrap or two, or hell, pull a good prank. Not just sit around, and try to learn how the world works." I let out a small laugh; it was strange how different my brother and I were. He was the muscle of the family, and I was the brain, although, despite our differences, we always got along, and Dante was a really awesome brother. He was probably the one pokemon I could trust my secrets with.

"I guess our definitions of fun are quite different, I for one enjoy learning new things," I gleefully responded. "Besides, once I'm an espeon, I'll be able to learn so much more. I'll have more of my brain unlocked, and I'll be able to discover so many things," I said with excitement building up, I could hardly wait to evolve; it was almost comparable to a human child waiting for Christmas morning.

"Yeah, I couldn't see you as anything other than an espeon, I think it will fit you perfectly," Dante smiled. "Anyways, we should probably hurry back, mom's going to kill us, if we're not back before dark," Dante suggested. I looked up over the trees, and noticed that the sky was a fiery orange, indicating that the sun was setting.

"I didn't even notice it was so late," I said in surprise.

"Last one home has to help get tomorrows breakfast," Dante shouted as he took off running without me.

"Hey!" I shouted as I ran after my older brother. Luckily for me, my speed easily exceeded his, probably due to the fact that I was much lighter. Within seconds I was easily, leaving him behind in the dust. It was actually pretty funny, since he tried cheating by catching me off guard, and I still won.

As I looked back, I saw him slowly falling behind, then as I looked back, I felt something solid smash into my skull. I instantly tousled to the ground, scraping my side against the hard ground. My vision became dazed for a second, but I looked off into the tree line and spotted three familiar faces. Standing in the brush of the forest was a sandslash, a vulpix, and an elekid. The two bipedal pokemon held rocks in their hand, as they twiddled them with their fingers, while the vulpix just watched with a grin.

"Ah, did you see that! Right in the face!" the elekid shouted as he gave the sandslash a hive-five.

"W-what'd you do that for?" I asked in confusion as I felt blood drip down my head.

"Because you're annoying, always talking like you know everything," the vulpix piped up.

"That's your reason?!" I said as tears began to escape my eyes. I began to sob as they all laughed at my pain.

"Just what the hell are you three doing!?" Dante yelled as he finally caught up to me. I looked up, and despite my teary vision, I could make out the fangs he was showing.

"Crap, it's her brother," the sandslash yelled in surprise.

"Shit," the vulpix spat out as he looked back to see if it was safe to run away.

"I asked you a question!" Dante yelled, causing them all to jump up in surprise.

"W-We were just p-playing around," The elekid stuttered.

"Oh, so you hurt my sister on accident, and you laugh at her?" Dante piped up.

"D-Dante just let it go," I said as I tried to control my sniffles. The bleeding on my head was slowing down on the most part, but my head still had this numb pain in it.

"No," Dante growled in defiance, "I'll give you three one chance to apologize, or I'm going to shove his face up your ass, and his face in your ass," Dante shouted as he pointed to them in the order, in which their faces would defile each other.

The three looked at each other nervously, silence filled the air before another sound was made "We're sorry," The three replied snidely.

"If you call that an apology, you better pray to Mew they don't put you to sleep in the pokecenter after I'm done with you," Dante snarled, as his eyes focused on them. Not even giving them a second chance Dante dashed towards the three. On sync each of them ran away shouting in terror, one of them even tripped on accident. Despite the temptation, I could see in Dante, he chose to stay with me.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked as he walked up to me, "Can you stand?"

"I think so," I said, as I began to get a grip on my emotions. Tears still streamed down my eyes, but I had a grip on myself. I stood up, but the instant I did, I swayed around unable to maintain my balance.

"Whoa, are you alright?" Dante asked as he used his paw to help stabilize me.

"I… I" I tried to speak, but my emotions began overwhelming me again; I could feel a stinging sensation in my throat, making it feel as if there was a brick blocking my wind pipe.

"It's alright, just take a deep breath for a second, and calm yourself," Dante said as he patted me on the back. Almost a minute passed by before anything else happened. "Alright, let's head back now, Mom's waiting," Dante said. Without warning the leafeon gently bit on the fur on my back, and swung me onto his back.

"I can walk," I complained as I tried to struggle. I never liked being babied by anyone; it was embarrassing, since wild pokemon are supposed to be able to remain independent.

"Just relax, you look a little dizzy, so just let me get you home, then Mom can look at your head," Dante said. Seeing his point, I stopped resisting, and I repositioned myself so I was sitting on his back instead of lying on it. I was much smaller than average, so I was small enough to make myself comfortable.

Dante continued to carry me back home; I could only wait to see how my parents react to yet another bullying incident. Making friends seemed impossible for me. No one wanted to be around a runt like me, nor did they care for my way of thinking. My whole life, I only had two real friends, one would be a friend I had from the city, but he moved away long ago, the other would be my brother.

* * *

I now sat on the dirt ground in middle of an opening in the forest. This was the sanctuary I got to call home, or it was sanctuary most of the time. Our family's home had everything, a clean pond to drink water from, located along the edge of the opening. Our home also provided shelter, in the middle of the opening, there was an enormous tree, which had a huge hollow opening at the bottom that could comfortably fit my whole family when we went to sleep. This was a place I could somewhat escape those who didn't appreciate me.

I flinched, and cringed as my vaporeon mother examined the wound on my head. "I cannot believe those bullies did this to you again, poor girl," my mom said in a gentle voice as she used her mouth to pick up a leaf, and applied it on the gash on my head. The leaf stuck to my head, and acted as a bandage. I would have preferred a human first aid kit, but out here in the wild, you needed to use what you had to survive.

"Naomi, you should really get back at them, teach them to mess with you," my jolteon dad said as he lazily lied on the ground, with nothing better to do with his time.

"Dad…" I said shyly. My father and I weren't really that close. We had nothing in common. He was a hot headed Jolteon, who enjoyed doing risky things back in his youth. I on the other hand was cautious, and I'd easily just find a book from the city we lived near to read. It was rather painful at times… knowing that I was a disappointment in my fathers' eyes. I'd never forget the time I heard him tell my brother, that he never wanted a daughter, and that he wanted another son. Reason being that a female isn't viewed as dominant in the wild, and he wanted to raise another son to be like him, and it just wasn't possible with me.

"Naomi isn't into violence Dad," Dante spoke up, "She's more of a pacifiz," Dante said.

"Pacifist," I corrected him.

"Right, that word," Dante said with a nod in my direction.

"Then you should do something Dante, you're strong," Our Dad egged on a fight.

"No, Dad," Dante said as he nodded his head in disapproval "Naomi doesn't want to settle this dispute in violence, she doesn't view things your way."

"Right cause she wants to go live with the humans," My Dad muttered.

"And what's wrong with her dreams? She's smart," My mother defended. Of course, my Dad also hated my dreams. This place was my sanctuary, but it still had its flaws. Everyone here accepted me, but him.

"Because she's a pokemon, and humans, and pokemon don't belong together. We're completely different creatures. Humans thrive on their technology and us pokemon use what we were given at birth," Our Dad spoke up in annoyance.

"What's wrong with me wanting to integrate into human civilization? It has much more to offer than what's out here," I spoke back.

"Because humans enslave pokemon, it's as simple as that," The jolteon said with a growl.

"Actually, in many cases, a lot of pokemon can contribute to society. Think of it like mutualism, both benefit from each other. Pokemon help the police, pokemon help at pokecenter's, and some even contribute to scientific studies," I said, putting emphasis on the last one, since that's what I wanted to do.

"Naomi, enough of your nonsense, humans don't want you around, even if you are smart!" Our dad yelled as he stood up, his eyes filled with hatred towards humans. As our father stood up, his back left leg remained completely limp, just as I always remembered it. Our father developed a strong hatred for the human species after his leg got snagged in a trap meant for pokemon. The end result was his leg having very little muscle control, therefore rendering it useless.

"Fine!" I stubbornly yelled as I stomped away from my father.

"Naomi, come back here," my Mom shouted as I began running off into the forest.

I continued to run nonstop without a single care to where I was going. Tears formed in my eyes, and the substances blurred my vision. After running for a while, the sun set, and it was pitch dark out. I fell down on the ground, completely in tears. My body curled up into a tight ball, and I pushed my snout into my fur, and let out a muffled scream as loud as I could to release all my stress.

Life with my family could be stressful at times. I loved every last one of them, but my father was just too harsh, and unsupportive. No matter how hard I tried in the past, I couldn't please him. I gave up on trying to be the second son he never got, and began perusing my own future. But even when I learned the human literacy, became more educated than any wild pokemon I have ever met, I was still just an embarrassment to him.

I just didn't like my life; I hated living in the wild. It's a big world, and I couldn't stand being ignorant about how things worked. I wanted to live a life worth living, not to die in the forest I was born in. Most wild pokemon don't even live full, healthy lives, most die from the food chain, or disease. Every wild pokemon is stuck on two simple meme's, dominance, and survival. Not one of them sought out to better their lives. Why was it that us pokemon were the ones that didn't evolve culturally? What made us so stuck on the idea of living such pointless lives? Why didn't we strive to build our own civilizations, technology, or maybe find out how we got on this planet?

"Naomi?" a voice called out aimlessly through the darkness of the night. My head shot up as the voice registered in my head.

"Dante?" I said as I looked in the direction he came from. I saw a shadowy figure moving towards me, and it sat next to me. I could hardly make out my only brother, but I preferred it so that he couldn't see me crying again.

"Hey, what are you doing all the way out here? I know Dad can be a little stubborn, but it's dangerous to storm off this late at night."

"I know, I just… I just couldn't take it anymore," I replied back with melancholy in my tone.

"I know, I'm sorry things are this way," Dante said as he pulled me into a hug, burying my face into his warm fur.

"I'm going to leave one day, you know that right?" I asked my brother.

"I know," Dante said as he held me tighter, "I just worry about you is all. Dad may be prejudice, but he is right. Humans can be cruel, just like any pokemon," Dante responded with some truth. Of course, humans could be cruel, there was a bad apple in every barrel.

"After I find a job doing research, I'll be sure to come back, and show you what I've been longing for," I told my brother.

"First you've got to grow up a little more, maybe evolve into an espeon to go with your brain," Dante said as he released me from the never ending hug, and just as I was released the moon went high enough to illuminate the forest.

"Why don't we head back, it's getting late. Maybe Mom talked some sense into Dad; she was going nuts on him before I left to get you."

"Yeah, I guess it is late," I replied back as I gave out a tired yawn. My brother led the way back, and I followed him.

* * *

My eyes slowly cracked open as I came back to consciousness. To my surprise I was still alive. Currently I was lying on the cold floor with a perfect view of Sam sitting on a bar stool drinking more alcohol. He was no different from the sandslash, the elekid, and the vulpix. He was nothing more than a bully that tortured those that were weaker. Regardless of how I viewed him, it wouldn't change the end result of my fate.

'Where did my life go wrong?' I asked myself. I had such big dreams, I wanted knowledge, I wanted to know how the world worked. But why did this happen to me? I was so much more when I was younger; maybe a little naïve on how things worked, but I had a purpose. Now life was just wrong to me. I thought it was the forest I couldn't stand living in, but as I continued to fight against the horrors of this world, I just realized that I can't stand living in a world. I just want to start over, forget everything I've seen and done.

I could have been so much more, yet for some reason, I get mixed in with demons. I was smart when I was a child. I was smarter than some of the brighter humans. Arceus gave me a gift, but why would I be gifted if I was going to continuously fall through the ground, and down into Hell. Even after I escaped by sheer luck, I ended up falling back into Hell. This life just isn't worth living with so much pain.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note: **This chapter was actually pretty different from previous chapters. I personally like how I developed Naomi's background, she had everything planned out at such a young age. Anyways I hope all of you who enjoy Naomi, really liked this chapter.

**Fun Fact****: **In the early development of this story, I actually was going to make this story solely about Black wanting revenge. Yes he does want back at Vincent, but not on the level I originally planned. We are talking about some Kill Bill shit. (I'm not saying whether this story is about revenge or not, if I followed the original plot I made, Black would have encountered so many more fights) Anyways I hope these facts are actually interesting to you guys and gals.


	67. Calling to the night

**Hello and welcome to chapter 67. Luckily I'm getting back into school, and surprisingly things are going smoothly so far, so nothing as of yet has messed with the production of the story. Anyhoo, here is the next chapter, hope you all enjoy it.**

**Thanks to genericgamer207 for beta ****reading**

**Guest review response**

**Anonymous: **Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed the little info I gave on Naomi's background. Hopefully you'll enjoy the upcoming chapters. Also good luck on that first story you mentioned.

* * *

**Chapter 67: Calling to the night**

* * *

**Point of view Naomi, Flash back**

Rain drizzled down from the sky, as gloomy clouds blocked the sun from giving us any light. Every couple minutes a flash would be seen in the sky, and shortly following the flash would be the booming noise of thunder. I currently stood exposed in a small opening, my brown fur was drenched from all the rain that fell from the sky. The air was cold, and the world around me felt bitter as usual.

I stared down at a patch of dirt on the ground that didn't have any grass growing over it. On top of the dirt patch, there were a few freshly picked flowers. Coming back to this site every day for the past week was always just as depressing as the first time. My eyes grew heavier, and heavier, until a tear escaped, and streamed down my face.

"Hi Mom, I'm still thinking about you constantly. I can't really prove that there is an afterlife, but I still like to think that you're listening when I talk to you. Anyways, I just wanted you to know that we all miss you."

Before I could even say anything more to the grave in front of me, I felt a strong prickling feeling, and every muscle in my body tightened up. I fought to stay standing, but whatever force was attacking my body, was too strong for me to withstand. As I fell to the ground I caught a glimpse of three figures, three pokemon that would never leave me alone. A ninetails, an electabuzz, and a sandslash, all laughed as I lied on the ground in pain. Sadly ever since those bullies started evolving, they began becoming more of a problem, since I was still an eevee, and they thought it was funny.

"Got her!" the electabuzz shouted in excitement. At the moment I wasn't in the mood for these bullies, I just wanted to be left alone. Feeling rage building up, I forced my muscles to cooperate, and I began climbing back up to my paws.

"You suck, look she's already getting back up," the sandslash joked with his friend as he gave him a small shove, as if this was some kind of game

"Leave," I growled at the three.

"And why would we do that?" The ninetales replied back, with a snide smirk.

"I'm really not in the mood for this today, leave me alone," I snarled back as I showed my fangs, and I got into a fighting stance.

The three looked at each other, and all laughed together. The sandslash clenched his gut, while the ninetales fell over laughing, and the electabuzz tried to control his laughter by covering his mouth. "You're joking right? Your brother isn't around, so he can't bail you out of this," the ninetales reminded me as he got a grip on himself, and stood back up.

"Shut up!" I shouted back at them, followed by the sound of thunder booming through the rainy setting.

"It's kind of cute seeing you act tough," the fox continued to taunt.

Losing my patience, I felt a vein bulge on my head. I let out a loud scream, and I tackled the ninetales to the ground. As we both fell to the ground, I sunk my teeth into his arm, and drew blood. I bit as hard as I could, until my teeth wouldn't go any deeper. The ninetales yelled in pain, as he tried to shake me off. Before I could make another move, I felt another bolt of electricity hit me, my muscles tightened, and I fell to the ground. The ninetales got up to his feet, but he backed away from me in fear.

"She's a psycho, did you see what she just did to me!" the ninetales said as he held up his paw, that was gushing out blood. Once I started to regain control of my muscles I tried to stand again, but before I got up, the sandslash punched me in the side of my head. I fell back to the ground feeling dizzy from the blow to my head.

"Think we're just going to let you walk away after that," the sandslash said as he pinned me down with his foot. I tried to bite at his foot, but I couldn't reach it with my fangs.

"Can't you three just leave me alone… " I said as tears began to escape my eyes.

"And why would we do that, you just attacked our friend," the sandslash said as he added more pressure onto me.

"Because my mother just passed away, and I just want to be left alone!" I screamed as loud as I could. Silence filled the air, and the only thing that could be heard was the rain. I felt the pressure relieve off my body, as the sandslash took a step back away from me. His face no longer showed anger, instead it was replaced with a bitter glare, almost as if he pitied me.

"Let's go," The sandslash said as he walked away, with a wave signaling his friends to follow.

"I'm going to get back at you bitch," the ninetales said as he followed the sandslash with a limp.

The three walked away from me, and left me to myself. As the three left my sight, I climbed back up to my paws. Once I was sure that they were gone, I looked back at my mother's grave. Her death was so sudden, no one expected it. She came down with some kind of disease, and she died within a month. We tried everything we could to help her, but there was nothing that could be done with our resources.

Dad took her death pretty hard, but on the most part he bottled up his emotions, and has been spending most of his time in silence. Dante was emotionally affected as well, ever since our mother passed away, he was grown more quiet, and didn't really want to talk much.

I spent the next few hours in front of my mother's grave and reflecting on moments I had with her. I would never forget the time we spent playing when I was younger, or how she was always there for me in my time of need. After the few hours of mourning, I decided it was time to head back, since it was getting late. I let out a sigh of depression as I turned away from the grave. I began making my way back through the rainy weather. The walk back through the forest would only take about an hour, depending on whether I ran into hold ups or not.

Life without my mother was beginning to take its toll, especially with Dante being silent lately. Dante, and I did talk a bit about how much we missed her, but Dante mostly kept it brief since he was still upset. Dante was the type to bottle up emotions, he didn't like others seeing him upset.

As I continued to slowly walk back through the forest, I heard a loud howl coming from some kind of pokemon. I stood frozen as I tried to guess what it was, and how far away it was. I shook my head in an attempt to get rid of my fear. I looked up into the sky, and I could tell that it would be dark out within minutes.

"I just need to get home," I said to myself as I picked up my walking pace. While I continued to make my way home, more rain fell from the sky, and I could hear the thunder getting louder each time it echoed through the sky.

My ears flicked as I heard the peculiar howling again, but this time it was much closer. The strange noise made me feel uneasy; I didn't like being out this late, especially when I was alone. Seeing as my discomfort would only increase, I decided to begin running home. I didn't want to encounter a nocturnal predator that just woke up, and was looking for an easy early night meal. With me being smaller, I have almost been killed by predators a few times. Luckily my speed bailed me out, if not Dante did. But this was different; but at the moment, Dante wasn't here to help me.

Within minutes everything became dark out. I couldn't see anything due to the fact that the moon was blocked by the clouds. As I continued to run, I felt my front paw get snagged on something, and I fell down onto the muddy ground. I let out a pained groan as I raised my head off of the muddy ground. I looked down towards where my foot got snagged, and I spotted a root sticking out of the ground. I let out a sigh of annoyance, and I got up and attempted to shake the mud off of myself.

"Aren't you clumsy," A voice stated through the darkness. I jumped up in surprise, and I hesitantly turned to see who was speaking. I looked in the direction of the voice, but I couldn't make out anything through the darkness.

"Who's there?" I spoke fearfully.

"Just another pokemon," the voice said back to me.

"I'm not playing, show yourself, or go your own way," I replied as I took a step back away from the voice.

"Why don't you come closer," The voice asked. Alarms instantly went off in my head, I don't know what he wanted from me, but I wasn't getting near a creep like him.

"I'm fine, I got to get home, so… bye," I awkwardly replied as I walked backwards, keeping my full attention in the direction of the voice. As I walked back, I felt my backside bump into something, something alive. I jumped forward as I let out a surprised shriek.

"She really is clumsy, rather amusing," A voice said through the darkness, but this voice was different, it was a separate pokemon, there was now two creatures stalking me.

"What do you want from me," I asked nervously, as I looked around in every direction possible in an attempt to spot any movement. The only reply I received was the sound of two pokemon laughing at me, although this laugh was purely out of the enjoyment of my fear.

The rain slowly came to a stop, and the only noise that could be heard now was the wind slowly blowing through the silent night. A few seconds after, the area began to slowly illuminate from the clouds moving away from the moon. A figure began to slowly illuminate in front of me, something canine shaped. As the figure was illuminated more, and more, I made out its gray fur, with black fur that covered its back, and legs. Its ears were pointed up, and its eyes were red. It was one of the most vicious predators of the forest, a mightyena.

"She looks kind of scrawny, I don't even think she qualifies as an appetizer," the canine behind me said, as he licked his lips "Although, she'll make a decent snack, if there is any meat on those bones."

Usually I would have piped up from a comment about my size, but at a moment like this, I was more worried about how I was going to survive. There were two of them, they could easily defeat me in speed, and power, and that's also assuming that they don't know any projectile attacks.

"If I'm not even going to provide a decent snack, then why even bother," I said fearfully as I looked back and forth between the two.

"Aww, but what fun is that? Tell ya what kid, we'll give ya a… I don't know, a ten second head start," the mightyena taunted, followed by a small chuckle.

"Please don't," I said fearfully as the two walked towards each other, and stretched out their muscles, prepping themselves for their game.

"About five second left kid, make this fun would ya," the mightyena said. Without a second more of delay, I took off running. Thankfully everything was illuminated, so I could see what was coming up as I ran. I jumped over roots, stumps, and ran around every tree that came in my path.

A howl echoed through the air indicating that the game had begun. My pace quickened as my heart pumped harder with every second that went by. I would have attempted to scream for help, but what good would that do me if it just gave away my current location?

I could hear the sound of running behind me. As I ran, I peeked back to see how close they were, but the only thing I saw was a mightyena lunging towards me. I ducked down as the canine flew above me, I could hear his teeth smash down, on what was supposed to be me.

Before I could get over the first attack, I felt something bite down on my back. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I was thrown into the air, by the other mightyena. Back first, I smashed into a tree. I groaned in pain as I tried to get back to my feet, but as I attempted to stand up, one of the mightyenas pinned me down with his paw.

"That was rather boring, I was at least hoping you'd give us a bit of a challenge," the mightyena said as he licked the blood from my back off his teeth.

"Should we go for the throat and make it quick, or perhaps eat you from the tail up, and let you die when your body gives out from the pain?" the mightyena asked as he continued to lick the blood off his lips.

"I think I like option two the most," the other mightyena said with amusement. I tried to move, but the pressure on me was too much, all I could do was watch as these two slowly tortured me to death. This was going to be the end for me, I was going to die before I even achieved one of my goals.

The mightyena opened his mouth as he slowly lowered his fangs towards my tail. "Please don't," I begged as he continued to slowly lower his teeth towards me. A laugh could be heard from the other mightyena.

I clenched my eyes shut, as I tried to not think of the pain I was about to feel. Being eaten alive was always the last way I wanted to exit this world, slowly having my body torn to bits as I slowly passed out from blood loss, or shock.

A pained howl exited the mightyena, and I felt something wet splash onto my body. My eyes slowly cracked open to see a familiar leafeon biting down on the mightyenas throat. The mightyenas jaw trembled as blood gushed out of his throat, along with the blood that flowed out of his mouth. The leafeon lifted the mightyena up slightly, and grunted as he threw the mightyena a few meters away from me. The mightyena stood completely still, he didn't move a muscle, he didn't make a single noise, there wasn't even a sign of breathing.

"D-Dante?" I said in surprise, unsure if my eyes were telling the truth.

"Are you alright, they didn't hurt you, did they?" Dante asked. Despite my minor back injury, it was nothing compared to what he just prevented.

"I'm fine."

Dante gave me a small nod, and then turned his attention towards the remaining mightyena. "You're going to regret this, big time," Dante snarled.

The mightyena looked over at his fallen brother and then pointed his snout up into the air, and gave out a loud howl. The howl echoed through the night, it could easily be heard from halfway across the forest. As soon as the howl ended the mightyena looked back at the two of us and growled.

"You think we are alone in this forest? I have brothers, and sisters who will come to my aid, you'll regret messing with my family," the canine said as he snarled.

Dante, and the mightyena's eyes stayed locked onto each other, "Anyone who messes with anyone I love, will suffer the consequence, I don't care, call your pack, I'll kill you all if I have to," Dante said as he growled aggressively. I have seen my brother upset many times, but never to this level, on top of that, I have never seen Dante kill another pokemon.

"Naomi, you need to leave now," Dante said.

"But what about you!" I yelled back.

"I'll be fine, I can't focus on this while protecting you, please just hide until I come get you," Dante said in a stern voice.

"But you'll die alone, you need-" I began to say before Dante bit down on my tail, and punctured my skin.

"Now Naomi!" he yelled at the top of his voice. Before I could even turn around to follow his order, three new mightyena joined the scene. Each of them looked over at their dead brother, and then looked at Dante who was covered in their brother's blood.

"You two will pay for this," A female mightyena snarled.

"Naomi, run!" Dante yelled. My muscles hesitated, and refused to move out of fear, Dante grew impatient and shoved me with his paw, forcing me to move. Doing as he said, I began to run as fast as I could.

'Arceus, please don't let him die, he's all I have,' I prayed in my head as I continued to run as fast as my legs would carry me. After running nonstop for a few minutes, I stopped running to catch my breath. I panted frantically as I searched for a small hole, or something convenient to hide in. As I searched, I realized that there wasn't any good hiding spots here.

My ears pricked up at the sound of footsteps walking through the mud. Without any hesitation I hid behind a tree in case it wasn't Dante. Nothing would make me happier at the moment than to see my brother alright.

"Come on out little eevee, your leafeon friend is already dead," A feminine voice called out into the night.

"Liar," I whispered to myself as I shook my head in disbelief. No matter what she said, I wasn't going to believe I lost another family member. Dante dying would just seem unreal; he has always been a part of my life, and I couldn't imagine him permanently gone.

"I can smell your scent, I can hear your trembling, stop resisting and we can make this painless," the mightyena called out, but this time her voice was much closer. I couldn't negate what she said about my brother, but I knew mightyenas had keen noses that could easily smell me from a mile away.

My ears flicked up as I heard the mightyenas paws squishing in the mud, on the other side of the tree. I could hear her sniffing the air with her nose, and every few seconds I could hear her lick her lips as if she could already taste me.

"You're close," She said through the darkness, as I heard her circling around the tree towards me. I cautiously starred in the direction she was coming from as I circled around the tree in the opposite way. My heart rate picked up, along with my breath that picked up.

As I continued to back up, my back bumped into something solid that wasn't a tree. My fur stood on edge as I slowly looked back to see what was behind me. The first, and only thing I noticed was the red eyes of the mightyena staring at me, along with a smile that lusted for my blood. I let out a screech as I ducked under her teeth that aimed for my throat. After avoiding her teeth, I ran under her legs, but before I could even make it past her legs, I felt something sharp clamp down on my tail. I screamed as I was raised into the air by my tail by the mightyena.

"End of the trail," The mightyena muffled with a mouthful of tail. I screamed as I felt her teeth sink deeper into my tail.

"Dante, help!" I screamed as loud as I could through the forest. The mightyena kept her teeth around my tail, but then she lowered me down, and used her paw to pin me down from the neck. Her fangs released my tail, but then clamped down around my neck, and she raised me back in the air.

"Let her go!" A voice yelled. Out of the corner of my eye, I was able to spot dante standing around two meters away. Dante was covered in gashes, and bite marks. What appeared to be the most devastating wound inflicted on him was the small chunk of flesh missing out of the side of his neck.

"How'd you get past my brothers?!" The mightyena yelled as loud as she could, with me in her mouth.

"They're dead, every last one of them. Now, let her go before you make my shit list as well," Dante said, as he panted in exhaustion. He stood his ground, but it was more than obvious that he was at his limit. Dante took a step forward, as he swayed back, and forth hardly keeping his balance.

"Come another step, and I'll kill her," the mightyena stated, as she slowly increased the pressure on my neck, which caused me to yelp in pain.

"Stop!" Dante yelled. "What do you want from me?"

The mightyena let out a small laugh before she spoke a word, "I want you to kill yourself for my brothers, and then I'll let her go," the mightyena replied back as she continued to bite harder on my neck. I could feel the teeth slowly sinking into my neck, along with the blood slowly dripping down my neck.

"Do I have your word on that," Dante asked.

"She won't be harmed if you do what is right, you killed my brothers, so only your blood will even out the deaths of everyone tonight," The mightyena responded.

"Alright," Dante bitterly replied. "Naomi, close your eyes," Dante instructed.

"Dante, she'll just kill me anyways!" I screamed back at him.

"I don't have any other choices!" he screamed back at me "Big brothers are born first, so we can protect our sisters, it's okay, I'm not afraid to die tonight," Dante said with a small smile on his face. "Please close your eyes, and just remember that I will always love you," Dante said as he slowly closed his eyes, and let out a sigh.

I did as Dante instructed, and I closed my eyes. 'No, no, no, no, no' I screamed mentally in an attempt to block out what was happening. 'Arceus please, help, please!' I continued to scream in my head. Suddenly the grip around my neck tightened, I felt as if my neck was about to break, then the grip loosened, and I fell to the ground.

My eyes shot open upon impact with the ground, and I saw the mightyena lying in front of me, with a leaf sticking out of her eye. The canine's eye leaked blood, from the plant that possibly went into her brain as well. As I tried to put the pieces together, I rolled over, and looked towards Dante. The leafeon sat there panting in exhaustion, then he looked up, and spotted me.

"Dante!" I yelled as I got up, and ran towards him. The leafeon made his way towards me with a limp, but half way towards me, Dante fell over against a tree. "Dante!" I yelled again in fear, as I approached him. Once I reached him, I observed his wounds. He was covered in his own blood, along with the blood of those he just killed.

"Sorry," Dante apologized in a faint voice.

"Sorry?" I replied back with confusion. "Why?"

"I needed to catch her off guard, so I played along with her, I didn't mean to scare you."

My eyes began to water up from the fact that he was injured over me, and on top of that he was apologizing. "Thank you, Thank you so-" I began to say before I heard another howl off in the distance. My head turned back instantly. Four new mightyena approached us. Each of them snarled at us, along with a few vicious barks.

"No…" I said fearfully as I took a step back. "We can't win this, theres too many." My vision was then directed towards Dante, who was forcing himself up onto his feet, even though he was probably about to pass out from blood loss.

"I don't care," Dante said as he limped in the direction of the four mightyena.

"Dante, you can't keep going, you're barely standing," I warned him. Right as I finished my sentence Dante fell back down to the ground. The instant he fell down to the ground, he began to climb back up, but halfway up he collapsed back down to the ground.

"You need to run, forget me," Dante snapped at me.

"I'm not leaving you," I said as I stood between him, and the mightyena. "You wouldn't abandon me, even if you died in the process," I retorted as the mightyena began to form a circle around us. "Let me protect you this one time!" I shouted.

"Naomi… That's really touching, but… you aren't a fighter, you won't win this. Just run and don't stop no matter what."

"Then I'll die with you, life without you isn't any kind of life worth living, you're my brother, and you're a part of my life!"

"Naomi, I'm not afraid to die, just leave!" Dante yelled back at me.

"Well I'm afraid of you dying!" I shouted back at him.

"Naomi?" Dante said, his tense tone was now replaced with a more peculiar tone. Out of nowhere I felt… strange. I looked down at my paw to see it oddly glowing a shiny white color. My eyes then gazed up into the sky, and I noticed the full moon. Something about the moon felt different, almost as if it was calling my name, and bestowing me with energy, I felt as if… I needed it. The strange light around my body grew brighter, until it blinded everyone in the area. My body felt as if it was expanding. The bizarre feeling only lasted for a second, but I felt completely different. The bright white light was now replaced with a glowing yellow aura around my body, that illuminated everything around me. Not only could I see better, I could also see much clearer through the areas that should have been pitch black.

"She evolved!" one of the mightyena called out as he took a step back.

I rose my paw up, and quickly noticed the silky black fur that replaced my fluffy brown fur. 'What am I?' I questioned mentally. I evolved into something I have never seen before. I looked back at my tail, and I noticed that my tail had silky black fur as well, along with a strange yellow ring, that was emitting a strange yellow aura. I looked all around my body, and I noticed a ring on each of my limbs, and each of the rings glowed with a mysterious aura.

"Kill them!" one of the mightyena shouted out. I flinched back as one of the mightyena lunged towards me with his mouth wide open.

To be continued…

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** And cliffhanger. Well hopefully this chapter was enjoyable, I enjoyed writing it. Personally I like writing anything to do with Naomi lol, she's fun to write. Anyways funny thing, while I was writing the end of this chapter I was listening to a playlist of music, so when I started writing about Naomi's evolution, a song came on conviniently called 'Call to the night'. I just thought that was funny since the chances of that song coming on at that exact moment was pretty low (My playlist of music is 300 songs long, so it was a 1/300 chance since I put the playlist on shuffle). Anyways thanks for reading. Also feel free to follow or Fav this story, it would be greatly appreciated :D

**Fun Fact****: **Before I planned on giving Naomi her name, I was considering the name Sarah, or Rin. I like both of the names, but I thought Naomi was a good name for an umbreon. The name to me sounds intelligent, and unique. Anyways I'll share some fun stuff about the name 'Naomi' for those who may care lol. Origin is Hebrew. meaning is beautiful, pleasant, and delightful. I don't know if people would view her as delightful, but I still like the name lol. It could also be noted that Naomi's name spelled backwards is 'I moan' which is weird. The name Naomi is also a biblical name according to the internet. Anyways theirs your fun fact, and I could get more into this, but I think I may have put everyone to sleep XD

Thanks for reading.


	68. A bit of Disappointment

**Chapter 68: A bit of ****disappointment**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"Naomi!" Dante shouted at the top of his lungs. I snapped back to reality, and dodged away from the mightyena that was charging at me. Before I could think of a logical move, another two of the mightyena ran towards me, each coming from different sides. I jumped out of the way as the two snapped their teeth at me. The two then moved back, and the group of four formed a circle around us once again.

I looked back at Dante he was now trying to force himself back up to his feet. "Naomi, can you keep them off me for a minute?" Dante asked as he finished standing up.

I took my eyes off him, and stared down the mightyena that were circling us, "I don't know, what do you have in mind?" I asked.

"I'm going to use some energy I have stored up to heal, but its night, so I won't be able to heal much, just enough to keep me going," Dante said. "Think you can handle that?"

It was unclear what I was capable of since I evolved into this strange form, but I had no choice but to try, "I'll hold them off as best as I can," I said nervously.

"Good, but if you can't, then run," Dante said as he closed his eyes and began meditating. It was a very slow process, but his wounds were slowly healing. Seeing as Dante needed me, I stood in front of him, and blocked him off from the front side, sadly it was impossible to protect him on all sides.

I couldn't quite put my paw on it, but something about the moon made me feel indestructible. It was almost as if I was on a sugar rush, but my mind was fully concentrated. I wasn't an espeon, but this form would have to work.

My ears suddenly picked up the noise of running, I turned back to see one of the mightyena making his move, I ran around my brother, and towards the mightyena as my heart spiked up with adrenaline. Doing the only thing I could think of, I jumped towards the mightyena, the canine stopped in his tracks as my skull smashed into his the pain of headbutting him wasn't extreme, and I could almost say I felt nothing. My ears flicked upon hearing a crack in the canines jaw, and the mightyena ran back as it whimpered in pain.

"You bitch, I'll rip out your throat," the same mightyena scoffed as he shook off the pain. It was strange, I would have never considered fighting like that, it felt as if something possessed me to aimlessly attack him like that.

Before I could ponder the thought too much, my ears picked up the sound of two of them running towards me from behind. I turned around and saw what my ears had told me. Acting on impulse I ran towards the two and aimlessly swung my paws towards one's face. He flinched back, and avoided the claws. The sound of the other two mightyena then hit my ear, I peeked back quickly and spotted the last two running towards Dante, and me.

"Dante!" I shouted as I tried to stop them. Dante's eyes shot open, and he smashed his paw into one of their faces. The mightyena yelped and stumbled back while Dante, having not yet recovered fully, grunted in pain as well.

The other mightyena then jumped towards Dante. Dante dove to the ground, and as the mightyena flew over him, he turned and shot a series of razor leafs. The razor sharp leafs penetrated the mightyena side, and the canine let out a howl of pain as he fell to the ground.

The two mightyena I was dealing with then charged towards me. I moved out of the way, and I attempted to tackle into one of their sides. Right before I made contact, the mightyena bit down on my neck and stopped me. As he held me in his jaw, he clenched his teeth with me between them and penetrated my neck. Blood spilled out of the wound as I fell to the ground.

"That's for my friends," the mightyena growled as he pressed his paw down on me. Blood continued to exit my neck, and everything began to turn into a big blur.

"Naomi!" Dante yelled at the top of his voice.

"How does it feel, to know that someone you love is going to die here, and you can't do anything about it," the mightyena that injured me said. Off and on, I began to faze in and out of consciousness.

'I'm… going to die," was the only thought I could think of.

"I'll kill you!" Dante yelled as he dashed towards the mightyena. Before he could reach me, one of the other two mightyena tackled into Dante and sent him flying to the ground. Before Dante could recover, the mightyena pinned Dante down with his paw. Dante tosses, and turned but he couldn't break free due to his lack of strength at the moment.

"Naomi… I'm sorry," Dante said as he looked towards me "I'm so sorry." I would have responded, but I felt as if my whole body was numb. I could hardly move, and every second was a constant battle to stay awake.

"Guess we'll finish this up," the mightyena on top of me said as he opened his mouth. I looked up at him fearfully as I watched my imminent death coming.

A wave of fire suddenly blinded me. The mightyena flew off me, and fell to to the ground with a scorch mark, burnt flesh could be seen where he was assaulted. The canine struggled to stand up, but another ember collided with his body and exploded. The mightyena didn't move this time, and more flesh was burned away, and I could even make out a bit of his ribs through the charcoaled flesh. The image repeated in my head over and over, as I watched the flesh burn away on the mightyena.

I fearfully shifted my eyes in the direction of the random attacks, and coming out of the shadows was a flareon. The flareon stared bitterly in the direction of the two remaining mightyena that stood by my brother. The flareon appeared average excluding a scar diagonally down his face. The scare went from above his right eye, down to below his left eye, and the sky avoided intersecting with his eyes.

"Great there's another," one of the mightyena snarled as he sprinted towards the flareon with no fear. The flareons body set ablaze, and he charged towards the mightyena. The canine froze in fear right before the flareon rammed into him. Right as the two forces collided, a small fiery explosion set off, and the mightyena flew back with a stream of smoke following him. The mightyena fell to the ground, and didn't move a muscle. Just like the last mightyena, this one had serious burns.

The mystery flareon then looked towards the remaining mightyena. "Don't move leafeon," the flareon said in a calm voice, right before he inhaled a deep breath.

The mightyenas eyes widened as he caught onto what was going on, and he jumped out of the way, and avoided an ember that flew through the sky, but then another pokemon jumped out from the trees and landed on top of the mightyena. The canine let out a whimper as he collided into the ground with a grovyle on top of him. The grovyle then held up a strangely shaped piece of grass, and then impaled the mightyena in the neck. The mightyena let out a gurgling noise before its eyes closed, and it remained completely silent.

The fact that these random pokemon killed those mightyena with zero hesitation was scary alone. The flareon didn't even have to use a strategy to kill the mightyena, and the grovyle planned his attack perfectly.

My eyes were then directed back at the flareon who was now walking towards me. Out of fear I tried to stand, but my neck pulsed with pain, and my vision became even more blurry. As he walked closer to me, my eyes closed, and before I knew it I was unconscious.

"You're going to be alright," a voice whispered gently into my ear right before I lost consciousness.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes and a bright light blinded me. It took a second, but I realized that the light was the sun. Levitating above me was a gardevoir who looked down at me with a smile. I practically jumped upon seeing the unfamiliar pokemon, but her smile was reassuring.

"Where am I?" I asked in a faint voice, "And how am I alive?"

"You're alright, I managed to heal you by using healing pulse," the gardevoir stated as she held up her hand and a pinkish aura glowed around her hand.

"Wait where's Dante?" I asked in surprise as I jolted up, but instead I felt pain pulse through my neck.

"Calm down, he's alright," the gardevoir said as she gently pushed me to the ground "Your brother is talking to my comrade."

"Oh," I bluntly replied as I relaxed.

"You're pretty lucky that you evolved into an umbreon when you did, if you didn't you likely would have died," the gardevoir said. I replied with a depressed sigh. "What's wrong, is something bothering you?" the gardevoir asked as she observed my depressed state.

"I… I really didn't want to be an umbreon out of all the eeveelutions," I responded back with melancholy in my tone.

"Well it can't be that bad," the gardevoir spoke back.

"I'm basically the nocturnal version of a leafeon. The only real difference is that I become all glowy like a glow stick at night," I sarcastically replied. "This evolution doesn't reflect a single thing about me, I don't like the night, I'm not a fighter, I'm a thinker, and I'm terrified of the idea of being an evolution that relies on physical strength," I responded back.

"I can see how this ended up as a disappointment, umbreon's aren't really known for their smarts," the gardevoir said. I responded with a long sigh. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, I felt as if the sun was making me Claustrophobic. On top of the strange feeling, I also felt a little noxious, and the sun was practically burning me alive.

Within a minute I reached my limit, I quickly forced myself up even with the neck pain, and I slowly made my way to a tree that provided shade. The instant I made my way into the shade I felt relief from all my symptoms.

"Hey Naomi, you're awake," Dante called out as he came into my sight. Following behind the leafeon was the grovyle, and the flareon who saved me earlier. "Sorry I couldn't be around when you woke up, we were talking about that attack last night."

"Its fine," I said to my brother. I then looked in the direction of the two pokemon who saved me last night, "Thank you, for saving me. We would probably be dead right now if not for all of you," I said.

"It's no problem, we were hunting those mightyena down anyways. I just wish we could have come before anyone got injured," the flareon replied.

"You were hunting them?" I asked curiously.

"Those mightyena were a pack of killers of traveled around Kalos killing humans, and pokemon for sport, we were hunting them down so we could stop them," the flareon answered.

"Well aren't we lucky?" I said as I looked at my older brother.

"No kidding," Dante said with a nervous chuckle. My survival was purely luck after luck. Not only did I luck out with Dante saving me, but then another group of pokemon conveniently saved me again.

"Zack we should get going soon, are job has long been finished, the threat is exterminated," The grovyle said in a stern voice to the flareon as he crossed his arms.

The flareon known as Zack let out a sigh. "I Guess you're right," he turned to us, "Sorry, we have other pokemon, and people to save, you two try to stay out of trouble," Zack said with a smirk.

"And just who are you guys and gals?" Dante asked.

Zack looked at each of his teammates before looking back at the two of us, "I'm Zack, the gardevoir is Ada, and the not so lovable grovyle is Isaac. We are all members of the WPA, World Peace Association," the flareon proudly responded.

"So you guys go around helping people and stuff?" Dante asked.

"The name is pretty self-explanatory," The gardevoir added.

"Anyways as Isaac stated, we have to take our leave now, so you two take care," Zack said with a small wave.

"Bye, and thanks again," I said as I waved the trio off. I couldn't guarantee if I'd see them again, but I owed the three my life for saving Dante and me. After Dante, and I watched them disappear, we both looked at each other at the exact same time.

"We should probably get back to Dad. The guy is probably worried sick about us," Dante said.

"If that's possible," I scoffed. Despite the fact that I should be thankful right now, I still couldn't help but resent my father, too much damage had been done for me to care about his opinion.

"Anyways…" Dante said awkwardly in an attempt to neutralize my hostility towards our father, "I'm proud of you, you finally evolved," Dante said with a smirk.

"Yeah well… it wasn't really my first pick, and now everything kind of got ruined for me," I replied back in frustration.

"Well if you didn't evolve into what you're you would be dead now, so consider yourself lucky that you evolved into that so you could live," Dante replied back, sounding almost as if he took offense.

"I guess… but I really had my mind set on evolving into an espeon. I asked Ada about umbreon's and she basically described us as strong headed pokemon, who solve problems with brute strength since we have strong bones," I pouted.

"Well I think your form looks nice, I know it isn't what you planned, but I never anticipated being a leafeon, for a matter of fact, I was terrified when I evolved. I thought I was going to hate this form, but it's actually something I wouldn't change, the only downside is the fact that I grew a phobia of fire, but that's to be expected since I'm a grass type," Dante responded with a smirk. "Besides, just because you're an umbreon, doesn't mean you can't achieve your goal. You probably already outsmart some psychics twice your age."

"Maybe… we'll just have to see how this plays out, guess we'll have to start by presenting myself to Dad," I said nervously, as I shuddered from the thought.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**Author Note:** Sorry for the short chapter, but I thought this was a good stopping point. I guess in the end this and last chapter should have been one chapter, but this took a lot less content than I expected, so my apologies on that part. Also thank you genericgamer207 for editing.

**Fun Fact: **Before I planned on making Dante a leafeon, I considered a flareon. I stopped myself though due to the fact that I didn't want to add to many flareon's. That is also why Dante has such a weird name in my opinion. Dante sounds more like a fire type name than a grass type, but that may be due to the fact that I got the name from a game called Dante's Inferno which takes place in Hell... you can probably guess why I think of fire when I hear the name Dante. Regardless the name grew on me, and I kept it.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share your opinions on this chapter, I really enjoy reading what people think. Also feel free to criticize, even if I don't ask for it, I am always looking to improve my writing skills.


	69. You again?

**Chapter 69: You Again?**

* * *

Point of View Naomi, present

For the past hour I have been zoning in and out of reality. Sam was still sitting on his bar stool. At the moment he was carving something onto the bar table with a piece of broken glass. Raiden on the other hand was leaning against a table that got knocked over in the drama from earlier, he appeared to be conscious and doing fine excluding the left side of his face, which was swollen from the punch he received earlier.

"Sam, he's not coming back," Raiden spoke up. Sam remained quiet and continued carving something into the bar table.

After a minute passed, Sam let out a long sigh "I know."

"Listen, we have to go, it's only a matter of time before the police notice the guy you killed, and the other Naomi knocked out, plus Naomi bled a lot on the way, there is a hot trail leading right to us," Raiden said.

"Let them come," Sam replied in a dull voice.

"Sam you can't take on the entire police force with just a gun with one clip, and your one arm." Raiden then began to stand up, and he dusted himself off. "Let's be smart about this, we're on our own now."

Sam remained silent for a second, and then he turned towards Raiden "Fine," he bluntly replied. "Just let me wrap things up with Naomi," Sam said as he picked up the shard of glass he used to carve on the bar table. A chill ran down my spine as Sam got off his stool, and looked in my direction.

"Just stop and think about this for a second," Raiden piped up as he limped his way in front of me and shielded me from harm.

"Out of my way, I'm at least going to start by making her pay tonight," Sam snapped at Raiden as he held the piece of glass up. "Don't make me go get the gun and show you who's in control here."

"Just hear me out for once!" Raiden yelled back as he held up his hand, which had electricity circulating through it.

Sam's glare narrowed as he lowered the piece of glass, and looked back at the bar table where his gun was, and then he looked back at us "Speak," he muttered.

"If you leave her alive, it will hold up the police for a few minutes, for all we know the police could be down the street, we need to leave now," Raiden said with emphasis on his last word.

"That's a horrible reason to leave her alive," Sam snapped back.

"There is one more reason to why," Raiden said as he gestured for Sam to come into whispering distance. Sam cautiously walked towards the rodent, and listened to his words. I couldn't make out what he said, but I feared whatever Raiden told him. Once Raiden finished Sam let out a small chuckle.

"And you're positive we can do that?" Sam asked curiously as he looked towards me.

"It wouldn't be hard at all, so yes," Raiden answered along with a small nod.

"Alright, fine," Sam said as he gave a menacing smirk towards me "I'll be coming back for you Naomi, and when I do I am going to skin you alive."

"Can we go now," Raiden said with annoyance, "The police will be here soon if we don't hurry." Without a word Sam finally stopped looking at me, and he headed towards the back door. Raiden stayed behind, and waited for Sam to leave hearing distance. Raiden then kneeled down over me as best as he could with his burned leg.

"If you still have that tracking device Jack put in your neck, you better get it out fast. I told Sam, we could use you to track down those pokemon by using the tracking device in you," Raiden whispered into my ear.

"It's been out for almost a year now," I whispered back in a shaky whisper. "But why are you doing this for me, I am the reason you're injured right now."

Raiden looked back towards where Sam left, and looked back at me "Like I said before, it was solely business back there. I'm not going to hold that against you, you were only protecting yourself," Raiden said in a quiet voice slightly louder than a whisper "Besides, Sam and I are two completely different people. I don't kill for sport like him." Without another word Raiden stood up, and headed towards the back exit. "Naomi stay here until the police come and get you. Also, don't come after us again, or you will die next time, and I will not go out of my way to keep you alive," Raiden said as he headed towards the back exit. Raiden turned a corner, and he was out of my sight. A few seconds passed by, and I heard the back door slam shut. After that I knew I was completely alone.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now Arceus knows how late, and everyone was sound asleep in the new hotel. I wished I was as lucky as them, there was no way in Hell I could sleep knowing assassins, mercenaries, or whatever they are, were out to get us. Silence filled the room as I kept a close watch on the hotel door. Luckily we were on the top floor, and I doubted those assassins could climb multiple floors from the outside.

Alex's father didn't go scrimpy on this hotel room, he actually bought us a suite and he still had money to get his own hotel room. It was rather comfortable compared to the hotel's we had stayed in previously. The primary difference was that this hotel room was three times the size, almost a mini condo. It even had a kitchen with a fridge, along with that there is two couches, although I still managed to get stuck with floor as usual. Although, me being a wild pokemon, I didn't mind, the carpet was still ten times more comfortable than the cold ground outside.

Before I could ponder any further on our current living conditions a loud knock banged on the door. I jumped up onto my three good paws in surprise as I began to charge a shadow ball in my mouth. The knocking continued, and off in the background, I could hear everyone waking up from the disturbance.

"What's going on," Ebony asked nervously. I heard walking coming from behind me, but I knew it was Alex getting out of bed. I peeked back and saw Alex walking towards the door. Alex let out a tired yawn as he scratched the back of his neck. Before Alex walked past me, he stopped and gave me a quick pat on the back to reassure me or something like that, although that did very little to calm me down after what we went through the other night.

"This is the police, please open up," a voice called out from the other side of the door. Alex looked through a small little hole on the door, and got a glare at who was there. Alex then flipped on a light, and cracked the door open. A small chain connected from the wall to the door, kept the door from fully opening. Alex then peeked one eye through the small cracked open door.

"Is there something wrong, it's very late at night for this stuff," Alex said with a drowsy voice. Seeing that Alex wasn't alarmed, I stopped concentrating the shadow ball in my mouth, and I eased up a little.

"Apologies sir, but we just received news that those fugitive pokemon escaped the pokecenter. They are still out there, and we are doing everything to find them as soon as possible."

"What about Flare, is he okay?" Alex piped up as he unlatched the chain, and opened the door up completely.

"Your fennekin is fine," the police officer said in a reassuring voice. "We're going to have a few police officers stationed outside your room for your protection, we'll give you constant updates on the situation."

"Wait, how did those two pokemon escape?" Alex asked.

"An umbreon let them out, but the strange part is that the umbreon was then treated like a hostage," the police officer said, "No solid story yet though, that's just what it looked like from the cameras."

"Nia?" I said in confusion. Why would Nia let them out, she helped us stop them? There had to be more to this story.

"Anyways sir, sorry to wake you so late, but I'm sure this was a little more important than a little sleep."

"Agreed," Alex said as he nodded his head.

"Anyways, tomorrow we would like to ask some questions to you, and your pokemon, is that fine?" the police officer asked.

"I don't see why not," Alex said without asking our permission.

"Thank you for your time, sir. I think we're done here, just please stay in your room, we're here to protect you."

"You got it," Alex said. The police officer and Alex gave each other a small nod of approval, and then Alex shut the door, and headed back to bed. The lights flipped off, and everything fell dark. I cautiously laid my head on the ground, and closed my eyes. Could I trust these guys to keep us safe, it's not like the police in this region are flawless, many murderers get away every day. I guess I'd just have to trust that the police would scare off the mercenaries.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

A bit of time passed since Sam, and Raiden left me. My body ached, and it was near impossible to try and pass out, unless it was from going into shock. Suddenly the door barged open, and a bright light blinded me. I made out the shape of humans swarming into the room, along with a few canine like pokemon. The humans checked every nook and cranny, and within a second the bright light that blinded me faded. I looked in the direction from where the light came from, and spotted a high powered LED flashlight.

"We got a wounded pokemon here," one of the police officers yelled out. An arcanine then walked up next to me, and looked me in the eyes.

"Everything is going to be okay, we're going to get you to a pokecenter," the arcanine said as he kept full eye contact with me, "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" the arcanine asked. I didn't reply, I just remained silent and played the role of a victim in shock. Mostly because I had one thought going through my head, and that was that no one knew who I was, and what I've done in the past.

"Mam, are you alright?" the arcanine asked again. Again, I replied with silence. To an extent, I legitimately couldn't form words. I was grateful that I was alive and all, but why would it matter. In the end I'd just be forced to live in this Hell longer. I had nothing to live for, killing Sam, and Jack was all I had, and no matter how hard I tried I could never go through with it. Without the option of revenge, I was left with nothing. After what I've done, I could never face my family again, and let them see how far I have fallen. I couldn't stand the thought of facing them again, and telling them I grew up to be a disgusting monster.

A few minutes passed by, and the police officers secured the area. Two paramedics entered the room with a small cot. They lied the cot down next to me, and then cautiously placed me on it. I was then raised off the cold ground, and carried back towards the ambulance vehicle, where I would then be taken back to the pokecenter. As I was taken away, a police officer followed me into the ambulance. No doubt in my mind that he was to watch me, things will go horrible if they knew I let Sam out of his room.

Point of View Black, the next morning

Something bright was shining on me. I didn't like this feeling, it made me feel as if I was sick, or being cramped into a small space. I felt a bead of sweat roll down my head, and I reached my breaking point as I felt my body overheating. My eyes shot open, and I jumped up in annoyance. That's when I realized what was bothering me, Alex opened the damn curtains and let in all the sunlight.

Feeling uncomfortable, I walked across the room, and crawled under a nightstand where I could get a break from the sun's rays. No matter how long I stayed with Alex, he never grasped the concept that the sun was evil in my eyes. Kind of ironic since night symbolizes evil or something like that, but still to me the sun was evil, and I couldn't care less if we just blew it up or something like that.

I scanned the room, and noticed that everyone was up and moving around. Alex had breakfast set out for everyone, and they were all chowing down their meal. Of course I could fast this morning if it meant me not getting incinerated by the sun.

"Black eat up, we have to go down to the police station soon, and give our side of what happened that one night, and see if we can help the police," Alex called out to me. Almost as if a switch flipped, I remembered Nia, and the situation she was in.

The idea of her being with that riolu, and raichu was horrible. Arceus knows what those sick bastards could be doing to her. From the little time I saw that riolu, I could tell he was mentally unstable, and the definition of a psychopath.

Since I wanted to get this interrogation thing over with, and help Nia, I ate my food as fast as I could. After everyone ate up, we were escorted in a police vehicle to a police station. A police officer escorted us into the building and led us into a waiting room. Honestly it was similar to a pokecenter, just a different color scheme. There was a long bench for us to sit on, and a little table with some magazines on it. There was also some fake plants in the corner of the room.

"Alright who would like to go first?" the police officer asked. I did want to help Nia, but I didn't quite want to be the first one to go. Maybe someone else could go first, and then tell me how it went.

"How about you umbreon, you look pretty bored," the police officer said. I wasn't aware that me being nervous about being interrogated came off as a bored expression.

"Whatever," I replied back in annoyance as I followed the police officer through a door. Once we entered the room, I quickly caught onto the bland environment. It was literally a blank room with a table in the middle, with a chair on each side. Seated at the table was actually a very familiar face, one I barely knew, but I remembered this human, and his porygon.

"You again?" I said in confusion, and the porygon mimicked my voice, and even almost sounded like me. That was a different feature than last time, it no longer had the dull robotic voice. "Wait, how come you're here again?" I asked in confusion, and the porygon repeated what I said.

"Because Black, I deal with all the underground stuff and mercenaries do qualify as my jurisdiction," the detective responded. "Anyways, how have you been since that Genesis incident you got wrapped up in?"

I pondered an appropriate response for a second until one came to mind "I'm still alive," I replied as I jumped up onto the chair so me and the detective could be as close to eye level as possible.

"That's good to hear, it's really a shame that they sent mercenaries after you," the detective said. I grumbled in response, of course it was a shame. "Anyways, care to share your side of this story?"

I nodded in response "Well all of this started a few nights back when Flare, and I were kidnapped after a dinner celebration gone wrong. Anyways Flare, and I were saved by an umbreon name Nia," I said, trying to keep this as short as possible. Of course the annoying little porygon had to copy every single word I said.

"Wait-wait, you got kidnapped and you never alerted the authorities?" The detective asked in confusion.

"Well… no one ever asked about it," I awkwardly replied. "Besides, nearly dying is starting to become a little too common for me. I mean seriously since the Genesis incident, this is the third time I have almost died, so excuse me if it's starting to become normal to me," I said defensively as I pointed my paw at the detective.

"My apologies, but go on with your story."

* * *

After a very long story the detective had a notepad full of notes, and I was rather out of breath from all this talking without a break. The detective remained silent as he looked over his notes, and then looked back at me.

"So this is as accurate as possible," the detective asked. I nodded in reply. "Okay, thank you," he said as he placed his notepad down.

"Hold up, now it's my turn to ask a few questions," I said with a serious tone.

"And what do you wish to know?" the detective responded cooperatively.

"Nia, the umbreon I mentioned in my story, she went missing, so where is she?" I asked.

Silence filled the room for a moment before I got a response "The umbreon you speak of has been saved, she is recovering in a pokecenter. She appears to be perfectly fine, excluding a few wounds."

"And what are you planning to do with her?" I asked curiously in concern for her fate.

"No clue, she freed two serial killers. Sadly for her, humans don't really keep pokemon in prison, so she may be looking at being put to sleep after that," the detective responded honestly. A vein bulged in my head as I felt my anger control my actions.

"You listen here, Nia wouldn't have done that without a good reason, she hates those pokemon, and they ruined her life, these killers exist because your system of law sucks ass, and none of you can handle your own job," I snarled towards the detective who seemed unfazed by my outburst.

"Welcome to life Black, get used to it. This is a shit world where shit things are done every day," the detective said with a harsh attitude. Before he spoke again he let out a sigh "I'll try and see what I can do to help your friend, but if she's guilty, she's guilty and there is nothing I can do," the detective said.

"Whatever," I snapped back as I headed towards the exit. A police officer was waiting by the door, and he opened the door for me. Afterwards, I took a seat on the bench next to Kana, and Hesh.

"So how'd it go?" Kana asked me.

"Freaking wonderful," I replied back sarcastically.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well that wraps up this chapter. Thanks again to genericgamer207 for contributing your time to helping me with editing, your dedication is appreciated. Anyways as you may have noticed, I'm somewhat cutting back on author notes since I'm kind of starting to view them as somewhat useless unless I am mentioning something. I made a bad habit of using it as a spot for me to talk about gibberish, so I will be cutting back on that stuff, unless anyone say's otherwise.

**Fun Fact: **The first chapter of The Black Dawn was written while I was faking sick... I bring this up because I was actually sick when I wrote this chapter, and it made me remember back to that day. Sadly I write better now while I'm sick, versus when I started, and I was skipping school. Although I'm done with that stuff on the most part...


	70. Ending all the pain

**Chapter 70: Ending all the pain**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

Yet again I found myself lying on a bed in a pokecenter. I wouldn't even be surprised if I was in the same room as before. It was now mid-afternoon, and everything was dead silent. This left me a good thinking atmosphere. A deep exhale escaped my mouth as I buried my head below a pillow that was on the bed in an attempt to hide myself. Of course I wasn't literally trying to hide, more just trying to mask my pitiful state. Although, I wasn't sure who I was hiding from, those who were around me, or myself.

Last night I had a choice, kill Sam and murder yet again, or run away and hide knowing that I let him live. Why did I always choose the wrong choice? In the end I was half responsible for throwing away my life. Here I was born more intelligent than most, yet my heart always made the wrong choices.

Before I could feel any worse for myself, the door to my room opened, and I pulled my head out from below the pillow in curiosity, and I discovered a man entering my room. Just by looking at his appearance, and the badge on his jacket I knew what he was: a detective. The man also appeared to be accompanied by a porygon. The man, and his robotic, floating, pet duck thing moved through the room, and the man pulled up a chair and sat next to me. The idea of burying my head below the pillow ran through my head once again, but I knew it wouldn't do any good, unless I intended to make a fool out of myself.

"Good afternoon Nia, I am detective Norman," the man greeted with an empty face. I looked at the detective for a moment, and then I lazily laid my head on the pillow and looked away from him to show my disrespect towards him. It wasn't the right choice, but I just couldn't deal with this right now.

"Nia I'm here to talk about your choices last night. Now, I saw video footage of what you did, and I have to say, if it wasn't for your friend, I wouldn't have bothered talking to you," the grade A asshole said as if he knew everything.

"Of course you wouldn't care. None of you humans really care," I replied back as I avoided eye contact. The porygon floating next to the detective copied exactly what I said, and even captured my tone, along with the attitude I had.

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just really obvious what you did, and you will most likely pay some form of a penalty for freeing two serial killers."

"You humans are just going to kill me anyways, so why would anyone care about a depressed umbreon who is just sick of trying to do the right thing," I responded.

"Because, your story makes a difference, now do the right thing, and help set things right," the detective said. My response was only bitter silence. For the most part, I had grown sick of humans, and I couldn't stand them constantly using our kind for their greedy purposes. One of the few things my father proved me wrong on.

"So what's it going to take to get you to talk, would you be happier talking to one of your friends about this while I listen?"

"I am not helping you, just get that through your head," I snapped back.

"Why choose to dig yourself in a hole, you're only making things worse for yourself?"

My teeth gritted together as the years of abuse and manipulation I have endured from humans came back to me, "I'll tell you why," I snapped "I knew the instant I got brought back here, you humans planned to kill me. I am just a pokemon, and I want to vomit every day I watch our kind get manipulated by you humans. So why would my story matter, if you're just going to kill me when this is all over?" Silence filled the room after the porygon finished translating my words.

"Naomi, Years of being with Jack, has made you give up on our kind, hasn't it?" Norman said. My glare slowly met his eyes as I heard him refer to me by my real name. Such a strange chill ran down my spine from hearing my real name from someone who wasn't a psychotic monster.

"H-How do you know?" I stuttered out of my mouth.

"We have been tracking Jack down a long time, we know a lot about him, including his pokemon team. And I can't help but find it too coincidental that you are described the same as one of Jacks umbreon's, and you happened to be mixed in all of this," the detective said. "Now, would you like to talk a little bit, tell me why you let Sam go?"

"That riolu Sam is a monster, I witnessed that first hand… For years I saw the crimes he committed, not only that, he was abusive towards me at times. When I went into that room last night, I intended to end things once and for all, I couldn't move on knowing he helped destroy my life," I said as I feared the worse on not denying who I was.

"So you wanted revenge?"

"He made me into a monster, and I just thought… I thought I could make the right decision for once in my life," I admitted honestly.

"I see, and then he overpowered you, and took you hostage?" The detective asked. I nodded in response. "What happened once he took you hostage?" the detective said as he pulled out a notepad and began writing notes.

A sigh escaped my mouth before I continued to feed the human with knowledge that I planned to remain tight lipped about "He took me to the bar I was found in, nothing happened other than him assaulting me, and Raiden protected me as best as he could."

"There has to be more than that," the detective said as he wrote notes on his note pad.

"There is nothing more to the story from what you saw on the camera, to what I just told you," I said as I broke our eye contact and looked out the window towards the freedom I threw away by choosing to try and get revenge.

"I see, well I am going to let you rethink that story a bit, and I want you to think of more details. I will stop back later tonight," the detective said as he closed his notebook and walked towards the door. Once he exited the room, I felt this strange feeling that I have felt many times. The feeling that I was going to die… I couldn't even count my near death experiences, but now I was going to die by the hands of the warped law the human species has created. Although was there a chance I could live after what I have done?

Of course I was going to die, why would they bother letting me live after I freed a killer who will probably kill many more humans. I pushed my snout into my pillow and I let out a pained scream as I dug my claws into the bed and tore the fabric. A tear began to form in my eye and instantly soaked into the pillow.

I knew more words than most genius humans could begin to learn, yet not one of them could describe all the emotions I was feeling. For the longest time I just wanted to give up, and just end everything, but now that I knew my death was coming, I couldn't help but feel the urge to keep fighting for my life. But why bother? I know I would only survive just so I could go through this pain over and over again.

As a child I was constantly bullied for being different, my father could barely stand looking at me, my mother died when I was still young, I failed at my dreams because I was an umbreon, I was abducted by Jack and forced to kill countless humans and pokemon, I started to develop feeling for Stark and he was murdered because I made a mistake. No matter where I go, what I do, I am always cursed with pain. I am now at the point where I can't stand growing close to anyone because I know they'll just die or end up hating me, it always ends against me.

The many different pains I have endured have always haunted me my whole life. My heart is weak, and it can only take so much before I look for ways to end this pain… But in the past, I have always had people around me to keep me away from these horrible thoughts. Mom, Dante, and Stark have always kept me going through this pitiful life, they helped relieve this pressure that is constantly crushing my heart. But now I have no one to stop this constant pain, and fill the hollow hole where my heart was.

"I'm tired of this," I said as my tears continued to soak into the pillow.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now somewhat late in the evening, and the sun was shining its rays into the hotel as the sun setted off in the horizon. Everyone was practically bored out of their minds, including myself. Since we were in danger Alex forced us to stay in the hotel. Everyone was mostly chilling, or watching TV with Alex on one of those high quality flat screen thingies. Currently I was lying below a nightstand where I could be out of the sunshine, my version of a relaxing beach as most typical people would enjoy.

Thoughts still frequently bounced around in my head about Nia. Would she be okay, was she going to get in trouble for what she did? Of course I was on her side, I just couldn't understand why she would try and kill him when he was already doomed in his state. Although, I didn't fully understand Nia, and I had no idea what those people did to her.

"Why are you sitting there all gloomy, princess." My head peaked up to spot the ever so annoying Hesh standing in front of my little oasis from the light, in his hands he held a bag a chips.

"I'm just tired, that's all," I lied, as I let out a fake yawn.

"I see, so you're not bothered at all by everything that has been going on lately?" Hesh said as he stuffed one of the chips in his mouth, and began chewing up the chip.

"What is really bothering me lately is how I wake up every morning, and I find new drawings on my cast," I snapped back as I held up my broken arm to show him the new details. Hesh's lips curled from the sight. If murder was legal I'd seriously be considering it right now. "But seriously, I actually am bothered by everything that is going on," I admitted to the prankster.

"Agreed, that was to close back in the last hotel. We all almost died at least once, and I don't even know how Grayson survived," Hesh said as he peeked at the absol who was sleeping soundly on a couch that was right next to the night stand. Gray, and I never really told anyone that I found him practically dead, if not already dead. It was something we both agreed to keep quiet about since it was unexplainable, or at least for Gray it was. Although it was no secret that he had a sword stabbed through him, no one understood how serious the wound was though.

Hesh then let out an annoyed scowl "But now that Nia chick had to let them all free, and now we're just waiting for them to come here and slit our throats in our sleep."

It was true that we were in danger again, but I still couldn't find it in myself to hold it against her, especially since this all links back to me, but Hesh only knew parts of the story, he didn't understand Nia herself that well. "She had her reasons for what she did," I said in her defense.

"She let them out Black, we are in danger now. That stuck-up bitch has been a thorn in our side ever since we met her," Hesh retorted.

"Hey, she isn't a-" I began to say until I banged my head on the top of the nightstand as my head jolted up from the insult towards Nia. My head grew numb as I felt a bruise form on my head, this time I crawled out from the nightstand before I stood up. "She isn't that horrible of a person."

Hesh wore a strange look of horror on his face "Black… do you have a thing for women who treat you like shit or something?"

"No…" I said awkwardly, "She just helped me practice at getting better at something, and I got to know her a bit, and she isn't as bad as I originally thought she was," I said back to the pikachu.

"I could only imagine what a lonely single umbreon would need practice with, with another umbreon that is a female…"

I felt my face grow stiff from that assumption, and I swear if I could blush through my fur, I would be an interesting shade right now "I can't believe you just implied that…" I said in disbelief.

"You're right, you're to lame for that stuff," Hesh said as he grabbed another chip out of the bag and raised it towards his mouth. Before he shoved it in his mouth, I managed to swat it out of his hand as some form of revenge for that comment.

"There is nothing between us two, and you should be more considerate since she saved us earlier," I snapped back in an attempt to defend myself from this false assumption.

Hesh leaned against the nightstand, and took a second to think, "True, she did help us I guess. Perhaps there was something between you two," Hesh joked as he grabbed another chip out of the bag. Right when he put it in his mouth I slammed the cast of my broken arm into his stomach. Hesh let out a loud grunt as he fell to his knees. I on the other paw made a loud screech from the pain of punching him with my broken arm. It may have a cast on it, but it didn't do crap to protect it.

Hesh got back up on his feet right around when my arm stopped pulsing in pain. "I am getting sick of you hitting me," Hesh grunted as he clenched his gut. A memory flashed in my head from the time I hit him in the gut, and locked him out of the room.

"I'm getting sick of you messing with me twenty-four-seven!" I snapped back as I snarled towards him and showed him my fangs in an attempt to scare him off.

Electricity pulsed through his cheeks, and then conducted through his body "Learn to take a joke!" he yelled back.

"One joke is fine, but a prank, and insult every day gets annoying," I said back.

"Hey you two stop!" Alex yelled from across the room. Our trainer was now standing with his arms crossed, and he wore a look of disappointment, and anger, "I would have thought you two had enough fighting for the week," Alex added on.

"Oh don't worry Al, we're just playing, right Black," Hesh snidely replied as he gave me a strong nudge with his elbow. Despite Hesh's immaturity, I ignored him. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, and Alex left Hesh and I unattended while he went to answer it.

"By the way Black, I'm going to start pranking you a lot more for punching me," Hesh said as he bent over to get his bag of chips. A smirk grew on my face, and I inhaled a deep breath. Hesh jumped back with a loud yelp as the bag exploded from a shadow ball. Shattered chips flew everywhere. Hesh held out his hand and caught one chip that survived in palm, but the instant it touched his palm it shattered into multiple pieces in his palm.

"How… How could you?!" Hesh yelled as he tackled me to the ground. Hesh didn't bother assaulting me further and stood up off of me, but sadly for him I didn't think the same.

"That wasn't very nice," I snarled at him. Hesh's eyes widened as I got up in a flash, and smashed my head into the stomach I just punched. I used all of my might to push Hesh against the wall, and I crushed him between the wall and my head. Out of the corner of my eye I could see everyone watching our little fight. Then I heard Hesh make a gurgling noise and something wet splashed all over the back of my head.

"Arceus, what the Hell!" I screamed as I jumped back, and Hesh fell to the ground with vomit covering his jaw. "Did you just… What the Hell!" I yelled again in disbelief that I triggered the pikachu to vomit all over me. As if I was on fire, I hit the ground and began rolling around on the ground in a desperate attempt to get the body fluids off me. It was at this moment that I had the revelation never to hit someone in the gut right after they ate a bunch of chips.

"This would be funny if it didn't hurt so bad," Hesh said as he laid on the floor clenching his gut while moaning in pain.

Suddenly the door slammed, and Alex walked into the room. Honestly to this point I forgot about our trainer, and I never even noticed he left the room. Once he walked into the room I rolled back onto my stomach and got up to my feet, thankfully most of the vomit was off of me. I cringed from how gross that was, and from the fact that Alex was going to kill me. I clenched my teeth as I braced myself for Hell, but Alex didn't say a word, he just looked at me in silence with a grim expression that said something was wrong.

"Black, detective Norman and I need to speak to you in private," Alex said with a bitter tone. Alex then walked into the mini-kitchen and soaked a rag in the sink water. He walked up to me, and scrubbed it really hard, and removed the remaining vomit. Alex then threw another wet rag at Hesh, who was lying on the ground groaning in pain.

"Black," Alex said in that same grim tone as he walked towards the door. I felt hesitant about following him to that detective guy. I followed Alex outside, but many alarms went off in my head that something was wrong, and Alex knew something I didn't. Once I was out in the hallway Alex shut the door behind us. Along with a few police officers standing guard, the detective was standing in the hall waiting for me, along with his porygon.

"What do you need now? I gave you my story," I said with impatience and the porygon copied my voice for the detective.

"Follow me Black," The detective said. I groaned in annoyance as the detective led me down the hall and into the elevator. Once inside the claustrophobic room we waited about a minute until it brought us to the top floor. The detective led us out of the elevator, and into some kind of restaurant. Everything here was empty since it was past dinner hours now. The lights were dimmed, and the area was completely vacant.

"Alright what did you bring me up here for, you aren't about to ask me on a date are you?" I joked as the detective sat down at a round table, and the porygon translated my voice. Alex picked me up and set me down on the table without my permission. Again I never liked being touched, but I tolerated it since I was in front of the detective, and I didn't want him to see my vicious side...

"Black, I brought you here because I needed to tell you something in private, and I think it would be best to be alone for this," the detective said as he rested his hands on the table.

"So you are asking me on a date?" I joked again. The detective didn't respond, and wore a blank expression on his face. If he was planning to do that, he got the scenery perfect. The wall had a giant window that stretched across the room, and we could see all of Cyllage city from here. Along with that, this restaurant was fancy from what I have seen.

"It's about your friend Nia," Alex said.

My ears twitched upon hearing her name, "What about her, are you letting her go," I said anxiously. The room remained silent and I got no response. The detective kept his blank expression, so I looked over towards Alex in hopes of an response, but his eyes were looking towards the floor.

"What the Hell do you want to tell me?" I asked nervously with a hint of frustration.

"Black…" the detective said, "Nia isn't who you thought she is," Norman said.

My right eyebrow rose upon hearing that, of course I knew she was hiding secrets, but what did Norman know? "What do you mean?" I said, half playing dumb.

"The umbreon known as Nia, is really named Naomi," Norman began to say. "She was a wanted criminal for the murder of multiple humans, and pokemon. This whole time she has been playing you."

My face froze as I heard those words. I did remember Nia speaking of things she did wrong, and it was no secret she killed at one point in her life, her and I could both use dark matter. The name Naomi did sound familiar, the raichu Raiden called Nia by that name, I never thought much of it till now. She was like me in some aspect. I was shocked from hearing this, yet at the same time I wasn't.

"Do you understand what I am saying, Black?" Norman asked. My eyes slowly rose until they met his. "Although, that isn't what I brought you here to tell you," the detective said as he looked me in the eyes.

"What then?" I asked. Out of nowhere Alex grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. Instantly something snapped in my head, and I knew something was very wrong, but what were they keeping from me, why are they stalling? "What are you hiding from me?" I asked again as Alex kept his arms around me.

"Naomi was in a lot of pain, we believe she was forced to do what she did. I could tell just by looking at her that she was miserable, someone who was looking for an escape," The detective said as he continued to look me in the eyes.

"You killed her?!" I yelled in anger as I tried to break free from Alex, but his grip around me only tightened and kept me in his grasp "If you knew that, then why would you kill her!" I yelled again as I fought Alex's grip around me.

"It wasn't us who killed her," Norman said with a pause. I instantly paused upon hearing that sentence and looked Norman in the eyes. "Naomi was in a lot of pain, she somehow managed to cut her throat open in an attempt to end her pain. She was found dead when someone went in to check on her," the detective said, and my body fell limp and I gave up on the idea of escaping Alex's grasp.

"No… You're lying," I said in disbelief as my eyes began to grow heavy and soon followed with tears. A brick blocked my throat and the only words that could escape my mouth were words of denial. "She's not dead, she… she…"

"She's in a better place now," Alex gently said to me as he tightened his hug around me.

"But… but, she didn't deserve this," I choked out of my mouth, as I struggled to speak a single word. Why did it have to be her? I hardly knew her, but I still felt as if I knew how she felt in life. We both did things we weren't proud of, and every day we were haunted by our sins.

Silence filled the room as everyone remained silent, and allowed me to take in the news.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well that wasn't a happy ending... I would imagine the guilt Naomi felt from her sins would be realistic. Killing someone can do a lot to someones heart, and with all the stress Naomi felt, it all just built up with no one to be their for her. As she said, she didn't have her mother, Dante, or Stark. Life would be hard to get through without those around you to keep pushing you to the next day, I know I'd be lost without my family and friends to keep me motivated. Anyways hopefully some people get what I am saying, and can understand what I tried to do with Naomi this chapter. May Arceus watch over her soul. Anyways, hopefully all you late night readers can sleep well after this chapter XD

**Question:** How do you feel about the end of this chapter, and what are your opinions on Naomi's final hours.

Thanks to **genericgamer207** for helping edit this chapter.


	71. Chasing Myths

**Hey here is chapter 71. Anyways I'd like to note that I was very surprised by the responses I got last chapter. I didn't expect anyone to really be "happy" about what I choose, but it is necessary for the story. Anyways, the beginning should be a good change of pace from what's been going on in the main story.**

**Anyways thanks to genericgamer207 for editing another chapter. You can tell it's special because I underlined his name, not everyone gets that privilege you know?**

* * *

**Chapter 71: Chasing myths**

* * *

**Point of view Stark**

For days now I have been traveling with hardly any breaks besides sleep, and eating. This was something I have grown used to over the years of traveling with Jack, but I could still do without it. Currently we were navigating through a swampy forest around route fourteen. Oddly, this forest had a never ending fog that gave this place an eerie atmosphere. The vegetation on the trees on had this dull orange-brown color to them, it almost looked like it was Fall.

The thing I despised the most about this place was the swamp like environment. Muddy water covered most of the area, and I could not stand the feeling of getting my pure white fur filthy. To make things better, sometimes the water would get deep enough to hinder movement, and it would make it difficult to keep up with the group.

As I trudged through the muddy water, I looked to my left towards Vincent, he seemed to be struggling just as I was. I guess we were almost the same size, the only difference was that my body could take more of the abuse from the terrain than him, but he seemed to be managing. In front of Vincent and I was the greninja known as Scarlet who carried a sword on her back, and a houndour known as Flynn, who had a giant scar where his eye should have been. The two mostly kept to themselves. Taking the lead of our five man team was Mandus, who took the front and led us towards the mythical legendary we were hunting. Of course I highly doubted it existence, but I'll play along with these lunatics.

We'll stop here to rest," Mandus said as we came upon a small clearing with solid land. I walked onto the patch of land, and the instant I looked down at my paws I cringed in disgust; covering my paws was a thick layer of slimy mud. Trust me, mud does not mix well with white.

Everyone else sat down, and began to repose from their long journey. I layed down away from the group and allowed my weak limbs to recover. Back before I was reanimated my body was in perfect shape, and most of this would have been the equivalent of a simple walk in the park, but this artificial body Genesis made me was weak, and very out of shape.

'How much longer was I going to have to keep up this game?' I resented Genesis for this, and the first chance I got I planned to make them pay. The problem was I couldn't do it if Zero could shock me to death at will with those receptors in my body.

"Just so you know, we'll be leaving in five minutes. Afterwards we will be entering Zygarde's Domain, so be ready to battle," Vincent said to me as he walked by me. I replied with a nod as I got up and stretched out my body. I made sure to stretch every muscle I could, as silly as it sounds, this would make a huge difference in a battle.

After a small recovery Mandus called us, and we departed from our patch of land. Once again we walked through the muddy water. I looked up towards the sky and noticed that the tree branches above us were growing more thick, and were blocking the sun. Soon all sunlight was cut off, and everything became as dark as night. At times like this, I wished I could actually produce light with the black rings on my body, but sadly things didn't work like that.

Suddenly the houndour opened his mouth and a small flaming orb flew out. The fiery orb levitated around the houndour, and provided light that illuminated the area just enough for us to make out our surroundings.

"This is where Zygarde is located?" I asked Vincent, who was walking alongside me.

"In this general area, yes. It's perfect for a creature that would want to be isolated from the world," Vincent replied.

For hours upon hours we walked through the dark environment with very little light. This entire area was dead silent and set off this vibe I didn't like. The kind of vibe that said we weren't supposed to be here. After a while Mandus stopped walking and looked ahead.

"We're here," the lucario spoke as he looked into a giant hole in the ground, which all the water was draining into. The hole in the ground was pitch black inside, and the idea of going into such a dark unknown place was… unsettling. From what I could make out, no one in the group looked worried, so I did the same and wore a face that showed no fear.

"Remember what the mission is. You are not to kill Zygarde, only immobilize Zygarde," Mandus spoke up as he stood on the edge of the hole. Without another word the lucario jumped into the hole. The next to follow was the greninja Scarlet, and then the houndour, who had our only source of light.

"Are you coming?" Vincent said as he approached the hole and jumped down.

"This is a joke?" I said as I looked down into the hole, and jumped down. I fell for a split second until I hit the ground with a loud 'thud'. Despite the feeling of having broken legs, I recovered to my feet and looked around. The light the houndour created illuminated the big circular room we were in. Three paths were on each side of the room, with water flowing down the tunnels.

Everyone observed the paths and tried to decide which one was the correct path. "Vincent, Stark, you two go together. Scarlet, Flynn, you two take your own path. I'll go alone," Mandus instructed. Without any room for negotiation, Mandus took his path, and left us four alone.

"Well, Mandus seems to have no problem aimlessly wandering through the dark," I said as I looked in the direction he left us from.

"Here, this should help for a while," the houndour said as he created a second burning orb. This one levitated around Vincent and I though. "It won't last as long as mine, but it should help you navigate for a bit."

"We should part ways then, good luck you two," Vincent said.

"Good hunting," Scarlet quietly said as she headed off down their path. The houndour followed and left Vincent and I to ourselves.

"We should do the same," Vincent recommended. In response, I headed down the only remaining tunnel. The flaming light Flynn created followed us and provided good lighting compared to how this would be without it.

"How does Zygarde live down here, it's too dark for most pokemon to survive," I asked Vincent as we walked down a long flood tunnel that turned left to right constantly.

"Zygarde is the guardian of the environment, it is theorized that he doesn't need to see, since he can sense the world around him," Vincent explained.

"I see," I replied.

After around ten minutes of walking the flame that Flynn created started to slowly grow dimmer and dimmer until it eventually disappeared. I sighed in annoyance as I squinted my eyes in an attempt to make out my surroundings. Although, the attempt was futile.

"I can't see a thing," I complained to Vincent.

"I know, just calm down and keep moving," Vincent responded in a stressed tone. Doing as he said, I kept moving. Every ten seconds or so, I would stub my paw on something and my temper began to spike up from all the frustration.

"Vince, we have no idea where we are going, and I can't see us winning a battle in the complete dark," I said. I waited for a reply, but Vincent said nothing.

"Vincent, hello?" I asked as I looked through the darkness. I continued to walk forward without a clue what was going on. I was honestly pretty paranoid since my colleague just randomly disappeared, and I had no idea how to get out of here.

Suddenly my front right paw hit a very steep slope and my whole body fell forward as I fell down an incline. I rolled and tousled down the incline as I hit a surplus of sharp rocks. Eventually I reached the bottom of the incline and I came to a stop. I groaned in pain as I stood up.

As I stood up my eyes focused on some weird rock that was producing a faint blue light. I looked even further down the only path I could take, and I spotted many more of these strange blue crystal like things sticking out of the walls and ceiling.

Seeing my glimpse of hope, I continued down the path towards the blue crystal like things. As I continued to walk, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to Vincent. He was literally right next to me a minute ago, and he just randomly disappeared.

Out of nowhere I heard footsteps behind me. I quickly turned around to spot something that was quadruped. Due to poor light I couldn't make out the creature, but I still kept my eyes on it. "Who's there?" I asked the mysterious pokemon. The pokemon stepped into the light of the blue crystal to and revealed itself. Standing before me was a small aron. It was a rather weak pokemon in my opinion, and didn't pose a threat in my eyes.

"Get out of here," I said in a cold voice to the aron who stared at me. Growing bored with the creature I turned back towards the path so I could find Zygarde. The instant I turned around my eyes grew wide as I spotted around ten aron that were now blocking my path.

"Get out of my way," I said in a stern voice, "I'm not asking again."

The Aron seemed to be mindless creatures, but all at once, they swarmed towards me. As they jumped at me, I hit them away with a shadow claw. Blood flew out of the steel type's wounds as they dropped one by one. After the third one failed all the aron grouped together and kept a safe distance.

"Get out of here, I don't have time for this," I snarled at them in an attempt to scare them off. As I growled at the aron, more of them began to crawl out of the walls. As their numbers increased, my growl slowly faded as more and more began to slowly surround me. They all formed a circle around me, and this is when I realized who should be worried right now.

I counted the aron's around me, and I counted around fifteen. I had confidence in my fighting ability, but fifteen of them swarming me at once would be rather annoying. So, for once in my life I went with plan B. I turned to face the direction I needed to go, and I charged up a shadow ball. The aron I faced got into a defensive position as I charged my attack. I launched the shadow ball, and the aron jumped to safety. Seeing a clearing in the circle around me, I bolted through the opening. As I ran down the barely lit tunnel, I could hear the feet of the aron clattering on the floor as they chased me.

As I continued to run, more aron exited the walls of the cave, and I realized that there wasn't a chance of me winning with this astronomical amount of enemies.. I could easily kill an aron one on one, but I could see those things being dangerous in a group. They're the type to ruthlessly attack you non-stop, they wouldn't even consider giving me a chance to breath in a fight.

As I sprinted down the tunnel, I kept looking back at the aron, and they slowly disappeared from my sight as I outran them. After I was sure I outran the horde, I stopped to catch my breath. I panted in exhaustion as I tried to collect my thoughts on my next move.

This tunnel was never ending. No matter how far I went it didn't show a sign of it. On top of that I was separated from all my comrades. This wasn't something I was enjoying, for a matter of fact, I wanted to kill whoevers idea it was for chasing a myth down here. The only problem was that I didn't know if I'd make it out of here alive. It would be rather difficult for me to get out of the hole we jumped through. Not impossible, just difficult.

I jumped up in shock as I heard a deep laughter through the cave. I looked down both directions of the cave, but I spotted nothing. My head then looked up towards the ceiling, but I still didn't see a single thing.

"Who's there?" I asked in a stern voice as dark matter began to surround my entire body in dark matter as a defensive shield.

"Perhaps it is more customary for the guest to introduce themselves when trespassing in someone else's domain," the deep voice echoed through the dim cave. My only response was silence, and I carefully continued scanning the area.

"Show yourself, I'm in no mood for games," I asked the anonymous voice.

The voice laughed, and the tunnel echoed, "Such a naïve umbreon, do you really believe I would waste my time on a creature as weak as you. The denizens of my sanctuary will consume you, unless you cease this attack at once," The voice said.

A chuckle escaped my mouth before I replied, "I really wish it was that simple, but sadly I'm coming for you, so just wait until I track you down," I said in a voice that showed my lack of empathy. This voice had me interested honestly, surely it really couldn't be Zygarde, after all he's just a hoax. Someone was here, and they were messing with me, and I was going to kill them for it.

"Your kind has always been a disappointment, I guess you really will be the last of your kind," the voice said.

"Last of my kind…? I'm not the last umbreon alive," I said in annoyance.

Before I could ponder that conversation too much, I heard the sound of clattering feet. All around me aron's began to crawl out of the holes in the wall. Seeing that I only had one choice, I went with my choice. Dark matter formed around my two paws, and I began sprinting down the tunnel. As I ran, aron's up ahead began crawling out of the holes in the wall, and blocking my way.

As I ran towards them, they ran towards me. Three of the aron's leaped towards me as I ran towards them. I quickly launched a shadow ball at the trio, and blew them back. Sadly for me, their armor was hard and kept them alive from the blow. As I ran past the group I knocked back, an aron jumped on my back. I tried to shake him off but it remained atop of me. Suddenly I grunted in pain as the aron bit down on my back. Acting out of reflex, my body lit up in dark matter and the aron flew off of me.

I continued to run as blood fluently dripped down my back. The pain was not comfortable in any way, but it was far from the worst I have felt. An aron obstructed my path far up ahead, and stood its ground. The aron then managed to balance itself on two legs, and it put its claws together and scraped each other together. High pitched rings suddenly pierced my ears, and I fell to the ground screaming in an attempt to block out the noise. My ears began to throb and throb until I thought they were going to burst. After ten seconds of enduring the pain, it stopped out of nowhere. It took me a second to gain the strength to look towards the aron, but instead of an aron, it was Vincent standing on top of the aron who used metal sound.

The white espeon ran to my side and bit down on my shoulder and forced me to my feet. I swayed around as my ears rung from the metal sound. I looked at Vincent as he said something to me, but I heard nothing but a muffle. Vincent then began to yell something, and after a few seconds the ringing went down.

"Come on, we need to go!" Vincent yelled as more aron began to catch up to us. Vincent and I both ran from the massive horde of aron.

"Where the Hell did you go earlier?" I yelled as we ran side by side.

"I don't know, you just disappeared within a moment," Vincent replied back. "This way!" Vincent yelled as he looked towards a small side tunnel that split off from the main path. Vincent and I both ran into the tunnel and hid behind a boulder. We both remained silent as we listened to the horde of aron run past us. After a minute of silence Vincent let out a breath of relief.

"That was a little nerve wracking, those things are practically immune to psychics," Vincent said as he tried to catch his breath.

"Seriously, where did you go earlier, I really find it hard to believe we got split up that easily," I said cynically.

Vincent remained silent as he collected his thoughts, "I did a small experiment after we got separated. Have you backtracked at all yet?" Vincent asked me.

"No, I've been too busy running from those aron."

"I backtracked, and I noticed something that may be a huge problem," Vincent said with a pause.

"And that is?"

"The tunnels were completely different, not even remotely similar. Which I'd bet that had to do with us getting separated," Vincent explained.

"This is wonderful," I snidely replied as I lied down to rest a bit. "What next?"

"I'm guessing it's Zygarde who is manipulating the environment of this area. No doubt he is trying to keep us away from him at all cost."

"So where in your context do you mention a plan?" I rudely commented.

"I honestly have no idea we're at his mercy right now. We just have to keep fighting and hope that he will become interested in us," Vincent answered.

"Was their seriously never a plan on how to beat a legendary, you just expected to go in and beat him?" I questioned in annoyance.

"We have trained a lot for this moment, truth is, we never knew what to expect."

"Well… shit…"

* * *

**Point of View**

My eyes slowly opened as I awoke from what felt like a long nap. I felt the bitter cold air along my fur, and I listened to the silent night breeze. I looked around from the ground, and I examined the forest I was in. A thick layer of fog masked the area around me, and only made the world darker. I let out a pained breath as I rolled over onto my belly and felt a pain in my side; my side had yet to fully recover. Once I got a grip on the minor pain, I forced myself up onto my four paws.

I continued to examine the forest, but even for me it was too dark with the thick fog added in. Then I looked up towards the sky and spotted the only light in the sky, the moon. The moon was hardly visible in its current spot in the lunar cycle. The golden rings on my body barely illuminated from the light, but it still gave me some form of hope. Before I could feel any better, a cloud slowly moved in front of the moon and cut off my only source of light. The rings on my body quickly went back to being non-illuminated and I was left in the dark once again.

A depressed sigh escaped my mouth as I remembered how pointless it was to even try. Being lost in the dark was no different than how I felt in life. Although, this wasn't the time to feel bad for myself, I was more curious on how I got here.

My ears flickered upon hearing a rustling noise off in the distance, I quickly turned towards the noise and braced myself for anything. The rustling continued for a second until something walked out. I got into a defensive position as the unknown creature walked towards me. As the creature got closer, the clouds moved away from the moon, and the light illuminated a white pokemon. My eyes widened as I recognized the white umbreon, and his red eyes.

"Stark?" I said in surprise as I took a step towards the white umbreon. As he got closer I became certain that it was Stark.

"I'm afraid not," the voice answered back.

"You," I said as I realized that Stark was still forever gone from my life. The fake Stark felt like a bitter slap in the face, almost as if he was reminding me that I lost someone I cared for. "What do you want from me," I snapped at him in confusion.

"You seem unhappy to see me," he said to me in dissatisfaction.

"Seeing you is never a good sign," I answered in a gloomy voice as I took a step away from the one known as Skull Face.

A chuckle escaped his mouth as he looked towards me, "Do you not remember what happened before you ended up here?"

That's when it snapped in my head, and I recalled everything back when I was in the hospital. I remembered my status with the police, and how screwed I was. I also recalled contemplating on ending it all. "I… I remember," I responded bitterly as I recalled. "But, how am I here then?"

"Two nights ago you were contemplating suicide, you were really close to going through with it, but I had other plans," Skull face answered. "To answer your question, I knocked you out, and snuck you out."

"So, I probably have people out looking to arrest me right now?"

"No," Skull face responded. I looked at him in confusion, and as I stared at him his form changed. His body became much skinnier, his fur turned black, and I would say he was around my size now. It now took the form of another female umbreon that looked similar to me, but not exact.

"This is the form of another umbreon that died years back, she was a nobody, but her appearance was similar to yours," Skull face said in a now feminine voice, "You were considering suicide, so I figured it would be logical to go with it, I teleported into your room, knocked you out, teleported you here where no one comes, and I took your role as a depressed suicidal umbreon," Skull Face said as dark particles began to peel off his neck and float into the air, and revealed a gash on his neck with blood flowing out of it.

"So… everyone thinks I'm dead?" I said, not knowing how to feel on that.

"Yes. Humans aren't the smartest at times. They didn't spend much time examining me while I was faking dead, but they didn't even notice the change in your appearance. Rather amusing if you ask me," Skull face said as his body switched back to Stark's form. "It's kind of sad how they planned on disposing of your body, oh well not really a problem anymore I guess."

My vision fell, and I stared at the ground. The world once again will think I am dead, but what will I do with my life now? I had nowhere to go, and I had no one close to me to keep me going. I honestly couldn't say I was thankful that he stopped me last night. Death just seemed so much simpler than continuing this pointless struggle, plus the world would be better off without me to drag everyone down with me.

"How long was I asleep," I asked as I continued to keep my head lowered with mixed emotions.

"I kept you asleep for two days; I had to make sure they thought you were completely off the grid before I could think of doing anything with you."

"Then what do you plan on doing with me, I doubt you saved me out of the kindness of your heart," I asked as I raised my head to lock eyes with the imposter who I believed would want to manipulate me.

The fake Stark let out a small chuckle, "Straight to the point, that's what I like about you. I'll just be straight with you in return. Black still hasn't mastered dark matter. He managed to use it in his fight against Sam, but only because he was consumed by negative emotions. You're one of the only umbreon's I trust to do this, after all you learned from Stark, who was one of the strongest umbreon's who could use dark matter in the Kalos region."

"But they all think I'm dead," I responded back dumbfounded on how this was overlooked so easily.

"I'm aware. The trainer Alex, I think he's somewhat seen you, but he never noticed you," Skull Face began to say. "So, once sometime passes by, the police will drop the subject and you can go back to Cyllage and regroup with him. Although, some members of Alex's party may not openly accept someone like you who is supposedly dead," Skull Face explained.

"And what if I refuse to help you? You automatically assume I will help you," I firmly stated back.

"I knew you'd say that. So here's the deal. You're looking for redemption, and don't try to hide it. Black is very important to me, so help me and I'll kill Jack, and Sam for you," Skull face said as he extended his paw out towards me. "What do you say Naomi, help me do something simple, and I'll help you atone for your sins."

I stared at the paw that was extended in front of me, everything in my body told me to except the deal and do the right thing. But every time I choose to do the right thing, I always ended miserable. But if he killed Jack, and Sam, everything would be fine, I may finally feel redeemed for what I have done.

I extended out my paw hesitantly, and we both simulated the handshake humans usually use to seal an agreement. Skull face smiled as we both stopped shaking paws. "Good, now I have an idea to make things run more smoothly, you know, so you don't get caught by the police," Skull Face said as he continued to smile.

"And what could you possibly have in store for me?" I said as my left eyebrow rose.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** So first I'd like to apologize to everyone that I replied to for review responses... I played along with the idea that she was dead so people wouldn't catch on. I'm surprised no one actually became a little suspicious, I mean I have pulled stuff like this before. Anyways, my beta-reader as a witness, I pre-planned all of this, so I'm not bringing her back as an act of mercy or because I regretted killing her. So, primarily I wanted a creative way to get her away from the police, and what better way than faking a suicide?

_**Important!**_ Alright, before I forget (Which I have for about the past 5 chapters). I have decided to break The Black Dawn up into three parts, or as I like to say, three books. **Now everything will be posted in the Black Dawn archive, so you can look in the same area**, but I will probably put somewhere next to the chapter name that say's book 2. The reason I am doing this is simply because the story literally breaks up perfectly into three segments. Now onto my next piece of important info, the first book of Black Dawn ends on chapter 75 (Way to convenient lol). So once I finish book 1, I am taking a **one** month break from writing The Black Dawn. Also a third and final note. During my break, I will possibly be starting a new project, Black Dawn is still top priority, but I want something to work on here and there. Black Dawn will still be updated at least once a week, and it takes my top concern. So probably some time this Oct, to Nov you can expect a new story. Anyways, don't worry their is still four chapters to go. If you have any questions or concerns please PM me, or leave it in a review.

**Question: How much do you hate me right now for messing with all of you? XD I mean this mostly as a joke.**

**Fun Fact: **I have officially ran out of Fun facts that are worth talking about... So... feel free to make recommendations on questions.

Anyways thank you all so much for reading.


	72. Confronting a Legendary

**Chapter 72: Confronting a Legendary**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

It has now been a few hours since I have been returned home from the pokecenter. It didn't take more than a minute for me to figure out the mood of everyone around me. As for what the pokecenter did for me while I was injured, they prescribed me painkillers, and told Alex to let me rest for the next week without any serious movement. So, I ended up on the bed lying on my stomach. Everyone in the room remained in some form of shock from the news about Nia…, or perhaps I should say Naomi. Black has mostly remained under a nightstand in complete silence. No one, not even Kana was able to cheer him up, even a little. I guess I could say I was surprised to hear that news from Hesh; it was something I didn't expect when he came with Alex to get me from the hospital.

To an extent, I felt pity for her. I could relate to being full of guilt, after all I'm an ex team Flare member, so I committed my crimes towards society that I regretted. At the same time, her suicide wasn't the top priority on my mind. I was more concerned about Hunter. The very thought of him being out there sent chills down my spine.

What was I to do if he came back for me, or what if he killed those around me? Only one option surfaced in my mind, I would have to wait for him to strike again, and next time, I would kill him and end this entire game. Hunter being alive endangered everyone around me, and it put me at risk for being exposed for who I was.

I've changed over the years, some would even say I have become care free and even a goofball. But Hunter was right, I have gotten significantly weaker, and he easily defeated me in a fight. The question is, how would I defeat someone like him who had an advantage in every form of combat against me? I was physically weaker, and I had no chance of beating him with my flame based attacks. I was no match for him in any confrontation.

A grumble escaped my mouth from the stressful thoughts. What a sad display for everyone, including myself, to be heartbroken at a moment like this. Hesh, and Gray seemed to be the only two who were unaffected by all the drama, but even Gray had things on his mind from what I could tell.

Almost everyone was lost in their own form of pain.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I sighed in annoyance as Vincent and I both walked down a tunnel. Like every other tunnel, this one was literally the same piece of unimaginative crap. Crystals sticking out of the walls, holes for aron to sneak out of and ambush us, and a never ending path ahead of us. Being trapped below ground really made me lose track of time. It had to be at least two hours since someone made the brilliant idea of coming into this forsaken hole.

My legs were now growing tired, and each step caused a sharp pain in my muscles. It was truly sad that my body was this weak. I looked to my left and observed Vincent who was doing perfectly fine. Over the hours of walking my mouth had grown dry, and I desperately needed some form of water or I was going to die. When I was outside, I really wish I would have taken advantage of the water that drained into this cave… But now that I thought of it, the water that drained into the cave was nowhere to be seen, this place was completely vacant of water.

"Hey Vincent," I said, getting the espeon's attention. "All that water was draining into this place, so where did it go. After I fell down a slope, I never really noticed that the entire area after that was dry…?"

Vincent stopped walking, "I never noticed either. After we got separated, I ran into some aron, and I didn't notice with all the chaos," Vincent said as he continued to think on the subject, "Interesting, so where is the water draining to then?" Vincent asked out loud.

"I have no idea," I added as I sat down to rest my tired legs. "You know, how do we even know Zygarde is really here? We have yet to see anything that proves he is really here," I complained to Vincent.

"Because, Mandus found out on his own," Vincent responded.

"That's a bullshit reason, and you and all of your friends are complete idiots if you really followed him down into this death trap," I said with spite. Vincent just chuckled as he looked at me. "What's so funny?" I asked him as I felt my temper beginning to surface.

"Nothing, I just find it funny that you call us idiots, yet you jumped down here with us, when you don't even believe this stuff. So in reality, you're the 'idiot' for following us down here when you should have known better," Vincent responded.

"Don't test me," I said as I got to my feet and growled at the espeon.

"Stark, you insulted me first, so don't act like you're the victim here," Vincent said as he nodded his head at me in disapproval.

'I am the victim here,' I said to myself mentally. "Let's just get a move on, so we can get out of here," I replied back as I walked past Vincent.

"You're going the wrong way," Vincent warned me, and I instantly froze. "We were heading this way," Vincent said as he pointed in the proper direction.

"Just get me to your mythical creature, or get me the Hell out of here," I said as I followed Vincent down the supposed proper path. 'Just what the Hell is this place anyways? Is it some kind of mystery dungeon lair thingy.'

For a while we walked down the same path. I would consider us lucky that we didn't run into anymore aron, but I would consider us extremely lucky if we had a leader who didn't bring us down here in the first place. If this kept up, we'd have to resort to cannibalism just to stay alive. Our species weren't known for eating flesh to survive, but I was a survivalist… Although, in reality I probably wouldn't resort to that, I'd probably find an aron and eat it… once I removed that pesky armor.

As more time went on my stomach began to too rumble from starvation. I couldn't help but look over towards my comrade, and the thought of espeon meat ran through my head. "Wait… why the Hell am I thinking about this," I questioned out loud as I shook off my hunger.

"Thinking about what?" Vincent asked me.

I awkwardly shifted my head towards him as I thought of a logical excuse, "Stuff," I responded bluntly.

"Stuff… right," Vincent said as he slowly took his gaze off of me and looked ahead. As I grew more and more tired of walking, my head slumped down low as I watched every single foot step I took forward. At this point if I lived to make it to whoever was messing with us, I'd be too tired to fight him. Vincent and I both paused as we heard a loud thrashing noise further down the tunnel. We both glared at each other as we tried to figure out what was further up ahead of the tunnel.

"Let's go," Vincent said as he picked up his pace and began running towards the noise. Feeling frustrated about Vincent's curiosity I scowled in annoyance as I ran after the psychic. The tunnel curved as we ran down it, and as we went around the curve and we both came to a halt as we saw an aggron flailing its arms at a greninja. The greninja jumped away from each attack, as she threw a water shuriken at the aggron. The water splashed against the solid armor of the aggron, and only left a minor scratch.

"Scarlet!" Vincent yelled out to the greninja, as he ran to assist her. The aggron turned to Vincent as he ran to the steel type. The aggron dove towards the espeon, and smashed into the ground with his entire body. Dirt, and rock flew into the air and created a smoke screen. As the cloud of dirt cleared, the aggron began to stand back up. As it recovered to his feet, I saw Vincent on the side of the tunnel, practically hugging the wall in an attempt not to get crushed by the aggron's massive body.

"Where's Flynn?!" Vincent shouted at Scarlet.

The greninja jumped to a safe distance from the aggron as she hunched forward and placed a hand on the ground in front of her," He got injured by this aggron, I lured it away from him so I could kill it," Scarlet said as her eyes narrowed in on the aggron, who was now focusing on her.

"This thing is a tank, killing it won't be so simple," I added to the conversation.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it," Scarlet said as she jumped towards the aggron and threw a series of water shurikens at the aggron. As the shurikens splashed against the aggron, she ran around the aggron and ran up its tail until she was on its back.

"Stark, your support would be appreciated," Scarlet said to me as she launched a hydro pump out of her mouth and right into the back of the aggron.

"Fine," I said in annoyance as I charged up a shadow ball. The aggron rammed its head into the wall in an attempt to shake the greninja off its back. The creature seemed to lack a basic form of logic, because all it would have to do is roll around to get her off.

Without a moment more of delay, I launched my shadow ball at the aggron's torso. The shadow ball exploded against its chest, and caused it to flinch back. The aggron wasn't really concerned with me, and it focused on getting Scarlet off of it, as the aggron exhausted itself from ramming repeatedly into the wall.

Suddenly a fiery explosion blew up in the aggrons side. I looked down the tunnel to spot Flynn, who was panting in exhaustion as blood dripped out of a giant gash in his head. The aggron continued to fight Scarlet, and it almost looked as if the ember attack didn't even get the aggron's attention.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," the fire type said as he panted in exhaustion.

My attention was then directed back to Scarlet, as she took advantage of the aggron's exhaustion and ran up the rest of its body. She jumped straight into the air, and twirled her body so her head was facing the ground. As she fell past the aggrons face, she spawned two water shurikens in her hands and threw them into the aggrons face. The aggron let out a pained roar as Scarlet finished her acrobatic move and landed perfectly on her feet. Without hesitation she jumped to a safe distance from the panicking aggron..

The aggron aimlessly thrashed its body into the wall as it flailed its arms around aimlessly. I caught a glimpse of its face to see blood dripping from both of its eyes, which revealed Scarlets target. The aggron charged aimlessly down the tunnel towards Vincent and I. It didn't take more than a second for us to clear out of that thing's way. As the aggron ran down the tunnel, it turned and rammed into the wall. To our surprise the wall collapsed and the aggron fell through. We all looked at each other as a new path was revealed.

"Where does that lead to?" Vincent said as he walked towards the hole in the wall. I followed behind him cautiously as I braced myself for the blind aggron. As Vincent and I peeked around the hole in the wall, we both spotted the aggron lying on the ground. The creature was still breathing, but it appeared to be unconscious from blood loss, or possibly shock.

"Hopefully it doesn't wake back up anytime soon," Vincent said as he stepped through the hole in the wall. I followed Vincent through the hole, and what I saw shocked me. Before me now was a giant lake within this cave. The lake went on for what looked like miles, and sticking out of the lake were multiple tree's growing from the ground,through the ceiling, and possible to the surface. None of the tree's had any branches they just spiraled upward. The room appeared to be perfectly illuminated with a bluish-green color, but there was no source of light that I could find.

"What is this place?" Flynn asked as he crawled through the hole in the wall.

"I have no idea. To think that something like this was on the other side of the wall the whole time," Vincent said. Looking down towards the water, I quickly noticed the smooth stone ground at the bottom. The water was no deeper than six or seven inches. Not wasting anytime I stepped into the water and instantly felt my paw shiver from the ice cold water. Once my body got used to the ice cold temperature, I looked down at the water, and lowered my head to finally get a drink of water.

"Don't!" Vincent shouted, and stopped me from drinking the water.

"Why?" I said in annoyance.

"We don't know if it's safe to drink, it could be contaminated," Vincent answered. I looked over to Flynn who nodded in agreement.

"No," Scarlet said as she stuck her hand in the water, "This water is pure, cleaner than the water human's drink." Trusting Scarlet over Vincent, I quickly indulged on the water my body desperately wanted, after which I felt rehydrated. I was ready to continue our search for the mythical legendary.

"So, now what?" Flynn asked, as he looked at his teammates.

"It would be wise to search this area, it may be possible that this is Zygarde's actual lair," Vincent responded as he slowly turned his head and scanned the area.

"I would agree that this place it worth checking out. It has a very peculiar feeling to it," Flynn added.

"Then let's not waste any more time," Scarlet said as she led our group.

Our group walked through the shallow water as we all picked a direction, and kept watch. The scenery of this area was very different from anything I have seen, but I quickly caught on that everything looked the same in this unique area. After a few minutes of walking we all directed our heads towards the water that fell through a small hole in the ceiling like a waterfall.

"So, this is where all the water was going," Vincent said. "The water also seems to hydrate all the organic life that lives down here, but even then I would expect that this room would flood one of these days, or the swamp above would drain completely," Vincent continued to speak.

"The swamp above us goes on for many miles, on top of that much rain floods the land above," Scarlet said as she lean against a tree and crossed her arms.

"Even so, an area like this is unnatural, tree's don't grow this deep underground," Vincent said.

"Perhaps your company isn't as incompetent and feeble as I anticipated," A voice echoed through the enormous opening we were in. My eyes widened as I realized this was the same voice that spoke to me earlier. The only question is who was it?

"Who's there?" Vincent asked as every one of us got in a defensive position. A laughter echoed throughout the opening we were in.

"I don't owe it to mere pokemon to share my name, nor do I care for introductions." The voice echoed through the oversized puddle we stood in. "I am the guardian of nature itself, I do not hold any form of hatred towards any of you, so leave now and any form of violence will be avoided," the voice offered.

"Reveal yourself, prove to us that you're real," I asked the creature that referred to himself as Zygarde.

"Foolish umbreon, I don't owe you an audience, so be gone," The voice spoke.

"You're scared of us," I said out loud, but only heard silence. "If you really are Zygarde, then what would a creature so great fear? Instead you hide in the shadows, and leave us to your pawns."

"Very well, if it's death you seek, then I shall allow you to become one with the earth," the voice spoke. Suddenly the ground began to rumble, and soon a giant crack formed right below where all the water was pouring. Then the ground split open, and a stone orb with lime green lines circling the orb arose from the crevice. Multiple roots were attached to the orb, and they appeared to go under the ground of this lake.

The orb then cracked in the front and a bright green light shone through the crack. Then the crack grew larger until the whole side facing us had multiple cracks, and then it all shattered. My eyes were instantly blinded by a bright green light. The light slowly died down to reveal a strange pokemon slithering out of the stone orb. It appeared as a black serpent like thing, and had hexagonal shaped scales. The underbelly of the serpent was a dark lime green, and the tip of his tail was also the same shade of lime green. The creature had hexagonal green scales where its eye should have been, but despite the lack of vision, I could still feel its gaze piercing my soul.

"I had to see it, to believe it," I said as I stared at the serpent creature. As the creature slithered out, it revealed multiple roots that were attached to its body, and the roots went to the orb, to the ground and below. As the creature came closer to us, the roots ripped off its body, and it slithered towards us.

"Behold, a true legendary, in the flesh," Zygarde said with a booming voice that made the cave tremble from his power.

"This is it, remember everything we were trained!" Vincent shouted as the red gem on his forehead glowed a brilliant red. Scarlet withdrew the sword she carried on her back, and held the handle of the sword backwards so the sword extended out towards her back side. Flynn began to charge an ember in his mouth.

I on the other hand stood paralyzed in shock. This was something so unreal, it had to be. A legendary was just a legend, nothing more. But why was a myth standing before me, and why was I about to battle something so powerful. How much of Mandus's plan was actually real, was he actually going to be the one to change the world if we pulled this off?

"Stark!" Vincent yelled and got my attention, "Snap out of it and focus! This is just as surprising for the rest of us."

"R-right," I said as I nodded my head. I took my battle stance and faced Zygarde as dark matter began to form around my body. Our company faced Zygarde, as the greater force stared back. This would be a battle to remember, if we survived this, we would make history.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Alright, that concludes chapter 72. When writing this my beta reader pointed out that this was rather similar to a mystery dungeon, and my Mew he was right. Anyways, I hope I was able to keep this cave interesting up to this point, because I haven't wrote something like this yet, so if anything was done poorly or bothered you, please tell me for the sake of future chapters.

As usual, thank you genericgamer207 for editing this chapter, and many others... And this time I double checked your name! I spelled it right, don't tell me otherwise.

Thank you everyone who has read to this point... AND HOLY SHIT I'm GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL FROM JUST TRYING TO UPDATE THIS! Till next time...


	73. Zygarde

**Chapter 73: Zygarde**

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Point of View Stark

I yawned lazily as my head rested on my paws. My body was comfortably on a soft patch of grass right below one of the many trees in a forest. Opening my eyes slightly, I looked over to my right to see Naomi curled up in a ball, in a deep sleep. She peacefully breathed in a slow rhythm, I would almost say she looked rather peaceful at the moment, versus the depressed state she was usually in when we were around Jack and the others.

A depressed sigh escaped my mouth as I realized that it was getting late in the day, and we had somewhere to be. "Naomi," I said to the sleeping umbreon, "Hey, wake up," I said again, as I walked over to her and nudged her with my paw gently. Naomi's eyes flickered open, and she let out a groggy yawn as her head rose up.

"I didn't even notice I fell asleep, how long was I out?" Naomi asked as she got up and stretched her body out.

"A few hours," I responded.

"Oh Mew, I'm sorry, I put us behind schedule," Naomi said frantically as she began to panic.

A smirk slowly formed on my face from the sight of her panicking, "Relax, it's fine. I was being lazy as well honestly," I admitted as I began to walk through the forest towards our destination, "Come on, we have some ground to cover to make up for our break."

Naomi and I both walked through the forest in silence. Nothing really disturbed us on the duration of our trip, and I knew Naomi appreciated things being easy lately. To this day, I have always felt bad for the life she was forced into. Although, there wasn't much I could do to help fix that problem.

"So, Jack was the one who told you about our objective, what are we doing all the way out here?" Naomi asked me for the first time on our trip. Naomi was always excited to get far away from Jack, and Sam, but she also feared what she would have to do on these jobs, so I tried to do most of the dirty work and keep her away from any jobs that involved murder or other immoral things. It didn't take me long upon meeting Naomi to realize that this life wasn't for her, if I had a heart it would be broken right now.

"We're just meeting with some humans to get some money that they owe Jack," I said.

"Just picking up money?" I nodded in response to reassure Naomi. Silence filled the air as we continued to walk through the woods.

"Stark?" Naomi said as she looked at me.

"Huh?"

"Don't you ever wonder if we'll go to Hell for the things we have done? I highly doubt Arceus, or any of the legendaries would show mercy after the things we've done," Naomi nervously asked me, as if she feared me to tell her what I believed.

"No," I answered as I kept walking.

"No?" Naomi said back in confusion, "So you think they're fine with us being criminals?"

"No, I just don't believe in legendaries or any form of a God," I answered honestly.

"So you're an atheist?" Naomi said in surprise.

"You could say that," I said as I kept walking forward, ignoring eye contact with Naomi. This was always a topic I ignored since I knew Naomi believed that stuff, personally I just liked to avoid the topic altogether. I've noticed that my idea isn't accepted in some areas, although not many of the people I was around cared for religion either. Since most of them would burn in some form of afterlife if it existed. "It always surprises me that you believe that stuff, since you're into science, and you may see how impossible it is," I said in an attempt to counter anything she was about to say.

"I'm aware, but it's how I was raised. Plus, it isn't proven or disproven," Naomi answered with a reasonable point.

"If there are legendaries out there, they left this world long ago," I said with resentment towards the whole concept. "I doubt such fairy tales exist, but that's just me."

"You'll never know, life may surprise you one of these days," Naomi said with a cheerful smile forming on her face.

* * *

All four of us scattered as Zygarde lunged towards us. The legendary smacked in the ground and caused me to fly back. I landed on the ground with a loud splash in the water. Zygarde turned towards me, and the legendary opened its mouth wide, and a purple orb formed in its mouth.

"Stark, run!" Vincent shouted. Feeling paralyzed from shock, I watched as the orb launched towards me. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground, and moved me out of the way. A purple explosion went off right where I was just a second ago, and left a crater in the ground. I looked up to see my savior, and saw Scarlet holding me.

"Stark, you need to keep up, or you'll get us all killed," Scarlet said as she set me down on the ground.

My ears lowered as I stared at Zygarde. The creature slowly slithered in our direction. 'How can we defeat a god?' I thought in my head. Suddenly I felt a poke in my side, I jolted up to see Scarlet's sword pricking my hip.

"Focus," Scarlet said in a stern voice, "You acted tough till this point, now fight with us, or we will all die in vain," Scarlet said. She was absolutely right, this wasn't me at all. Since when the Hell was I afraid of others, I am the one Zygarde should fear.

"Sorry about that, let's do this," I said in a serious tone as dark matter formed around my right paw. Without another word, I sprinted towards Zygarde with no fear of death. The legendary lunged towards me once again, this time though I jumped to the side, and clawed its side as it flew past me. As the dark matter slashed its scales sparks flew in the air, along with a loud scraping noise that rung through the air. Once the serpent passed me, I jumped back and charged a shadow ball at the legendary. Zygarde turned back towards me just in time for it to collide in its face. I frowned as Zygarde just laughed as the smoke cleared from an attack that would leave most dead.

"You'll need more than that to get past my scales," Zygarde taunted as he charged up another attack. Suddenly an ember exploded against Zygardes head. The snake like creature turned towards Flynn to see him charging towards him.

"It's pointless!" Zygarde yelled as he charged towards Flynn. The houndour stood still, and didn't flinch for a second as the legendary approached him.

Faster than my eyes could process, Scarlet landed on top of Zygardes back and stabbed her sword into his back. The sword didn't go more than a few inches in, but Zygarde grunted in pain as he rolled in an attempt to get her off. Scarlet jumped off just in time to not get crushed by the legendary. Vincent ran in front of the legendary. As the legendary recovered, he whipped his tail towards Vincent horizontally. The espeon jumped over the attack, and once back on the ground, he ran around the legendary. I saw that Vincent was only distracting him, and I decided it was my turn.

I sprinted towards the unsuspecting legendary and jumped on his back. I dug my claws into the crevices between his scales for grip. Dark matter formed in my mouth, and I bit down as hard as I could on the back of Zygardes scaled neck. I felt the muscles in my jaw tighten as I bit down to the point that I felt like my teeth would shatter. Then I pulled on the scales that my teeth gripped, and pulled off a few. As I pulled off the scales, I used my momentum to jump off Zygarde, and get to safety right before he did another roll in an attempt to crush me.

I spat some of the scales I broke off out of my mouth, along with some blood in my mouth. Sadly the blood belonged to me, since I cut my mouth on the razor sharp scales I ripped off, but I was at least slowly making a target for us to attack.

"You pokemon are more bothersome than I anticipated," Zygarde said as he looked towards each and every one of us. Vincent once again charged towards the legendary, while Zygarde dove towards him as well. Vincent moved out of the way with precision and unrealistic speed, but Zygarde looked at the espeon curiously.

"You're not the real one," Zygarde said as he turned his head towards one of the trees and slithered at seemingly light speed towards it. Zygarde used his tail the slash the tree, and the tree fell straight towards the ground. The real form of Vincent ran out of his hiding spot. I was always amazed that Vincent could slip away, and trick everyone into believing his mirage. His tactics were interesting, and it always left me wondering when he was real or fake.

As Vincent ran for his life, Zygarde launched another purple orb where Vincent was running, and the explosion knocked the espeon back towards the legendary. Vincent smacked into the ground as Zygarde quickly reached down and picked Vincent up in his mouth. Vincent's eyes widened as the legendary bit down, and punctured Vincent with multiple teeth.

"Vincent!" Flynn yelled at the sight. Vincent trembling as blood escaped his mouth, and many of the other wounds that were inflicted.

"A tricky one you are. But I can sense your deception, espeon," Zygarde said as he bit down harder, and more blood gushed out of Vincent. Scarlet then flashed into sight behind Zygarde, and jumped in the air. The greninja landed sword first in the small patch of scaled I ripped off earlier. Her sword went even deeper than before as blood squirted out of the wound that was just inflicted.

Zygardes grip loosened on Vincent, and Vincent fell to the ground. The water Vincent laid in was instantly dyed red as Vincent slowly bled out. Zygarde flailed around as Scarlet jumped off him, leaving her sword impaled in the back of his neck. Scarlet then ran towards Vincent, and scooped him up in her arms and ran towards safety. I regrouped with Scarlet along with Flynn as she kneeled down, and cradled Vincent in her arms.

"Well… that didn't go as I planned," Vincent said as he finished his sentence with blood leaking out of his mouth along with a pained groan.

"Vincent…" I said without a clue on how to respond to this situation.

"Relax, I'm not going to die here, I still need to see Ryder again," Vincent said with a small smirk.

Our attention was then directed towards Zygarde, who had blood covering his whole backside from the wound inflicted on him. "You think this will stop me," Zygarde said in a pained voice that showed his resentment towards us.

"Damn… I missed the spinal cord," Scarlet said in disappointment.

Zygarde slowly slithered towards a tree and he extended his head towards it, and bit down on it. The tree then went from a healthy brown color, to a dull grayish brown as Zygarde continued to bite down on the three. As the tree slowly changed colors, Zygarde's wound slowly sealed shut, and Zygardes body flashed a lime green for a second as the sword in his neck popped out of his healing wound.

"The tree… it's rejuvenated him," Flynn said as his eyes grew wide.

"Forget me, and stop Zygarde, I'll be fine," Vincent said.

"You can't be serious, you're practically dead?" Flynn asked Vincent.

"I'll be fine, I know some psychic tricks to keep me alive, now go!" Vincent yelled at all of us. Scarlet gently laid Vincent down on a root that was sticking out of the ground, so he wouldn't have to sit in the water while in so much pain.

"Hang tight," Scarlet said as she reached her hands into the water and pulled out two water shurikens that were bigger than the others I have seen her use. Without another word, we all sprinted off in separate directions to defeat Zygarde. Flynn took the right, Scarlet went straight towards him, and I took the left.

"I'm done playing games!" Zygarde yelled, and the cave shook. Zygardes body then glowed a lime green. As we all approached him, the ground rose around him, and shielded Zygarde. We all stopped as we observed the wall that completely surrounded Zygarde.

Before one of us could question it, the wall broke into hundreds of pieces and the chunks of rock shot towards us. I quickly dove behind a tree as I listened to the tree get pelted by a series of rocks. Once the attack ended, I peeked out to check if my teammates were even alive. Scarlet stood behind a tree as she peaked out as well, it appeared that she got hit by a few rocks, but she seemed to be alive. Then I looked for Flynn, and I spotted him lying on the ground.

"Flynn," Scarlet said as she left her cover and ran towards the unconscious houndour who was covered in bruises and gashes. As Scarlet ran towards the houndour's aid, I popped out of cover with a shadow ball, and launched it towards Zygarde. Zygarde remained in the same area, and another wall rose from the ground, just to cover the shadow ball.

As my attack failed, Scarlet picked Flynn up, and began to move him to safety. Then, just like the last wall Zygarde made, this one shattered into pieces, and every chunk flew towards Scarlet and Flynn. The greninja looked back just in time to see the attack, and she jumped as high as she could, but as she jumped as high as she could a purple beam flew towards Skarlet. Scarlet turned so her body shielded Flynn, and she took the entire attack with her backside. Both of my comrades flew to the ground with a trail of purple smoke following them. A chilling sensation consumed my body as I went back to hiding. All three of my teammates were unconscious, if not dead within a matter of minutes.

"Come out umbreon, I know you're there," Zygarde said as his voice echoed through the silence of the cave. I cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and looked towards the legendary who was watching me.

'What do I do,' I thought to myself, as I looked at each of my fallen teammates. I didn't stand a chance against him alone, plus, even if I did weaken him down, he could just regenerate himself like he did before.

"It seems this will be the end of your kind once and for all," Zygarde said as he slithered towards me.

'End of my kind?' I repeated in my head. This was now the second time he mentioned me being the last of my kind. "I'm far from the last umbreon," I replied back in an attempt to stall my death.

Zygarde stopped slithering towards me, and began to laugh. "What's so funny?" I asked him as I scanned the area for an escape route.

"Are you truly ignorant to what you are?" Zygarde said.

"I'm an umbreon, don't let this white fur throw you off," I snapped back at him, taking minor offense. Zygarde began chuckling once again, and my temper only began to rise from that point on.

"Average umbreon's don't have white fur, but it doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon enough," Zygarde said as he began charging another beam. Before I could even move, something broke through the ceiling and flew towards the ground faster than a bullet. As the object flew towards the ground, I identified this pokemon. The lucario smashed his fist into Zygardes head and the serpents head smashed into the ground, along with the lucario landing on the ground with a giant splash into the water.

Mandus then jumped into the air, and charged some kind of aura in his palm, and he threw it towards Zygarde. The serpent recovered just in time to counter with the attack that was meant for me. The two forces collided, and created a wave of energy that rippled through the whole cave.

Mandus landed on the ground, and stared at Zygarde without a trace of fear in his eyes. The lucario removed the cloak that he always wore, and he tossed it the side as he tightened his fist, and cracked his knuckles. Zygarde looked at Mandus, and the two stared each other down. I on the other paw took this chance, and hid behind a tree as I peeked out and observed the scene. Being a coward wasn't something I was proud of, but in the end, it's usually the cowards who live to run another day.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Mandus said as he looked at his fallen comrades. "I'll make this quick, but only because I don't have time to play with you," Mandus said with a bitter cold tone. I couldn't tell if he was concerned for us, or if he grew impatient with the aron infested caves.

"Play huh? Such an arrogant lucario you are," Zygarde said, "I'll be sure to add you to the corpse pile."

"Your words don't faze me, you can howl all you want, but your fate is sealed," Mandus said as a blue aura began to glow around him.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Alright, first I'd like to note something about the beginning. Just so everybody knows the small religious talk at the very beginning wasn't a jab towards any religions or atheism, so please do not find a way to take offence, since this is a fictional story. I say this because I've been on the internet, and some people make big deals over small things, so if you plan on starting crap don't bother I won't argue with someone over the internet, it's pretty lame if you ask me. Anyways sorry I have to say this, but as I said, I've seen a lot of fights over this subject on the internet which were sparked over the dumbest things.

Thank you genericgamer207 for helping with another chapter.

Question: How do you view things going down in this fight with the way things have gone so far?

Guest review response: **Anonymous:** I didn't really get these writing skills over night and I still have a lot of errors to this day. I get a lot of help from a beta reader, and he has helped me improve so much since he started helping me. If you want to write better just practice and don't worry about bad grammar and such, it'll come in time. If you want help I'll help, I just may not be the best help grammar wise lol XD

**Anyways just two chapters left until I go on a small hiatus, so hopefully the last two chapters can be a epic way to go out.**


	74. Making God bleed

**Chapter 74: Making God Bleed**

* * *

**Point of View, Third person**

Faster than the average eye could process Mandus shot towards Zygarde in a flash. The lucario smashed his fist into Zygardes chest and caused the legendary to fall back. Water splashed into the air as Mandus ran towards the toppled legendary in an attempt to strike once again. Suddenly the ground around Zygarde formed a giant dome around him and shielded him from Mandus.

Mandus's right paw then began to glow with a strange blue aura as the lucario sprinted towards the rock dome with his fist ready to strike the barrier. Before Mandus reached him, the dome broke into pieces, and all the chunks of rock flew towards Mandus. Mandus slid to a stop and thrusted his fist forward dispersing the blue aura towards the rock chunks in a shotgun like pattern and both of the attacks collided and created a smoke screen from the destruction of the two forces.

A figure flew out of the smoke screen. Mandus lunged towards the figure, but his eyes widened upon realizing that it was just a boulder rolling along the ground. "Down here," a muffled voice called from below.. The ground below Mandus began to crack, and the lucario jumped in the air with an aura sphere charging in his hand. The ground opened and out came Zygarde with a purple light glowing in his mouth. A beam shot towards Mandus and the lucario threw the aura sphere towards the beam. Both attacks created another explosion as they cancelled each other out.

Mandus landed on the ground, and instantly took off running. The lucario then jumped in the air towards a tree, kicking off of it to extend his jump. Once Mandus was high in the air, the blue aura formed around both of his paws. The lucario extended his arms and both paws shot out multiple beams of a concentrated blue beam, just like before, but this time it covered the whole area below him. Before the attack reached Zygarde, the serpent like creature burrowed back underground to safety.

Mandus landed on the ground, with the water splashing into the air as he scanned the area for Zygarde. "Do you really believe you can defeat a legendary foolish lucario," Zygarde spoke from an unknown location. The lucario remained silent, and showed no sign of response to the legendary. Around ten meters in front of Mandus, Zygarde broke out of the ground. "What do you achieve by defeating me?" Again, Mandus remained silent and calmly began walking towards the legendary.

"Have it your way then," Zygarde spoke as he began to glow a bright green color. The ground around Mandus began to tremor, and soon after cracks began to form. Chunks of the ground began to float into the air. Every second that passed by, the chunks that broke off the ground became bigger, until the ground below Mandus broke off, and he floated into the air on his own little floating island. Mandus could see Stark trying to move away from the scene out of the corner of his eyes. The umbreon desperately tried to elude the rocks floating off the ground.

"This is the end for you," Zygarde spoke as multiple boulders of rocks began to float in every direction around Mandus. Mandus quickly got into a defensive position as he began to understand what was going on. "Die," Zygarde commanded as all the rocks flew towards Mandus at once and began to enclose him in a sphere of rocks of all different sizes. The rocks continued to accumulate around him until it was at least six times his size. After the rocks finished crushing Mandus, the sphere fell to the ground, but managed to stay together.

"What a naïve creature he was," Zygarde spoke as he directed his attention towards the tree Stark was hiding behind "Now to finish you up," Zygarde said, referring to Stark.

"Shit," Stark muttered as he looked at the enclosed sphere that contained Mandus. Stark peaked out of his hiding spot to see Zygarde slithering towards him. Seeing that he had no choice, Stark jumped out of his cover and shot a shadow ball towards the legendary. Although this one was different, the instant it collided with Zygarde it created a thick fog of darkness around Zygarde.

Stark then bolted towards the exit they came from, but before he reached it, Zygarde popped out of the ground in front of him. "You're not going anywhere," Zygarde spoke as he cut Stark off from his only escape route. Stark looked in every direction possible for a possible escape, but in the end he spotted no chance of escape.

"Now, you can-" Zygarde began to say before a crackling noise filled the air. Both Zygarde, and Stark directed their attention towards the sphere of rocks Mandus was encased in. A few rocks fell from the sphere letting a blue light shine from the center, before it exploded with a blue aura and all the rocks separated from the sphere. Once Mandus was free from his prison he sighed and wiped the dust off himself in a calm manner as he walked towards Zygarde. Zygarde and Stark both stared at the lucario in surprise.

"How are you alive, every bone in your body should have been crushed into dust!" Zygarde yelled in confusion.

As Mandus slowly walked, he began to pick up his pace, until he was sprinting towards Zygarde. The legendary ignored Stark and slithered as fast as it could towards Mandus. The serpent lunged towards Mandus with all of its force as it opened its mouth wide. Mandus simply slid to a stop and extended his palm into Zygardes forehead and stopped the legendaries greater mass from crushing him. Mandus slid back as the Legendary continued to push forward. Mandus's eyes narrowed as he pushed off his palm and did a back flip. Zygarde flew forward as Mandus's foot collided with his jaw and caused the legendary to tousle to the ground as Mandus finished his kick-flip.

"I'm going to kill you!" Zygarde yelled at the top of his lungs, causing a rummble in the cave, as he recovered from the kick. The legendary then began to slither towards Mandus as multiple rocks floated up from the ground. "Ground types have the advantage against fighting types, so why won't you die!" Zygarde yelled towards Mandus.

"Only if you can hit me," Mandus responded as each rock flew towards him. Mandus then jumped in the air and his body lit up with that same aura and he twirl-kicked Zygarde in the face. The legendary jolted back and he shook off the pain.

"Then how did you survive being crushed, that one hit you," Zygarde questioned as he began charging another attack. The attack shot towards Mandus in the form of a beam. Mandus stood still as an aura formed around his body, but then the Aura expanded into a sphere around Mandus, and blocked the beam. As the aura shielded Mandus, it also pushed the ground near him away, and left a small hole in the ground right below Mandus.

"I see, so your aura sphere was used to shield yourself. There is so much potential in you, yet you waste it on being a criminal," Zygarde spoke. Mandus just stood in place and crossed his arms as he looked towards the legendary with a bored expression. "Who are you, and why are you doing this?" Zygarde asked.

Mandus remained silent for a moment before even bothering to respond, "Names have no value, and you don't need to know what's in store for you and your legendary brothers and sisters," the lucario spoke as he took off running towards the legendary. Zygarde flinched back and launched a beam towards Mandus. As Mandus sprinted he ducked below the beam and kept his pace.

"But, I will give you the honor of my name," Mandus said as he continued sprinting towards the legendary with aura pulsing throughout his body. "My name is Mandus, and I seek to break this Hell you legendaries look down at while laughing!" Mandus shouted as he extended his paw towards Zygardes face. Time froze for a second for the two, as Mandus looked into Zygardes eyes, and Zygarde looked back into his with fear. "This is true divine power!" Mandus yelled before time returned to normal. As his fist smashed into Zygardes face, all the aura around Mandus's body flowed toward the point of contact, and the aura exploded sending the legendary flying backwards. The legendary landed on the ground with a loud thud and stayed on the ground barely conscious.

Mandus walked over towards Zygarde and looked down at the legendary, "If you truly are a protector of this world, then why is it countless pokemon suffer every day? Why is it that pokemon wake up every day not knowing if they'll live to see another dawn? Why is it that you legendaries condemn us? Why is it that all the legendaries are just sitting by and allowing this?" Mandus asked as he looked down at Zygarde. Silence filled the air for a brief moment, but no response came from Zygarde.

"As I expected. No reason at all," Mandus said in a cold tone, "If you legendaries won't fix this broken hell, then I'll take your powers for myself to do what needs to be done."

"You're crazy, you could never win against all the others," Zygarde said in a quiet voice. Mandus kneeled down and looked Zygarde in the eyes.

"Is that what you truly believe? You're only alive because I need you. You seem to think that you're untouchable when you're below me and my comrades," Mandus said bitterly, "If you can make God bleed, then everyone will lose faith in him," Mandus said in a cold tone as he stood back up and raised his hand up, "This victory will be the catalyst of a new dawn, but this new world will only be achieved through the bloodshed of the false deities that have clouded humanities judgment," As Mandus finished his speech he smashed his fist into Zygarde's head and the legendary fell unconscious.

Mandus let out a sigh as he looked down at the unconscious legendary, "So it begins,"

* * *

**Point of view Stark**

"Come out Stark, it's finished," the familiar voice of Mandus called out to me. I cautiously came out of my cover to spot Mandus standing over the unconscious body of Zygarde. I walked towards Mandus, not really knowing if I should be ashamed of myself right now. I have never been that scared in my life before, and honestly the feeling was very foreign to me. I was used to most people fearing me. On top of that, seeing what Zygarde could do made things worse. But… Mandus was superior, and it almost appeared that he hardly struggled against Zygarde.

"Is he dead?" I asked as I looked at the legendary.

"No, just unconscious," Mandus said.

Seeing that Zygarde was no longer a danger, I looked back at my comrades. Through all the chaos, I forgot about them, and I wondered if they were still alive. I scanned the area to spot Scarlet in the water, just now recovering from that Attack. Scarlet held Flynn's head above the water to prevent him from drowning. I looked even further back to spot Vincent still lying on the root we set him on. Before I checked on Vincent, I ran to Scarlet since she was closer.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Scarlet as she slowly recovered to her feet with Flynn in her arms.

"I'm managing," Scarlet bluntly responded in her usual monotone voice.

Scarlet and I made our way towards Vincent. Although, Scarlet moved slowly with a limp since she was injured. Once we reached Vincent, Scarlet set Flynn's unconscious body next to Vincent on the root. "Vincent, are you alright?" I asked the white espeon. The espeon looked at me and gave a weak nod. I looked at his wounds and noticed that he was no longer bleeding, and on top of that his wounds didn't look as bad as before.

"So what the Hell is Mandus? He demolished Zygarde alone and we all failed together," I questioned as I looked at each of my comrades for a response.

"Mandus... is Mandus," Scarlet replied.

"But how did he manage that alone?" I asked again, restating the question somewhat.

"Because he's going to be the savior of this world, and nothing will stop him from achieving world peace," Vincent answered, without a clear explanation to how he pulled off such an act.

"Stark, I need a favor from you," Vincent asked me.

"Huh?"

"I'm still too weak to walk and… Well Scarlet is injured and she shouldn't move much," Vincent said.

"Uh huh," I said lazily.

"And I need to tell Mandus something, but I can't walk to him…" Vincent said awkwardly.

"I see," I responded not knowing what he was trying to ask me.

A sigh escaped Vincent's mouth as he nodded his head in disapproval, "Can you just carry me to him."

Then a switch flipped in my head and I understood what he wanted from me. "Seriously?" I responded in annoyance.

"Just do it," Scarlet added in.

"Fine," I scowled as I carefully got Vincent onto my back.

"Ow, Arceus dammit," Vincent said in a pained tone as I began walking towards Mandus.

"Don't say Arceus's name in vain, apparently this mythical stuff is real," I said jokingly.

"Oh, so are we crazy now?" Vincent asked me. I couldn't see his face now, but I'd imagine he's have a triumphant smirk on his face right now for proving me wrong.

"Just shush up, and you're not going to tell the tooth fairy is real next are you?" I joking questioned.

"Actually, the next phase involves the tooth fairy," Vincent teased.

"Okay, don't talk to me anymore," I said as we approached Mandus who was still next to Zygarde. I gently set Vincent down on the ground, and thankfully Vincent was well enough to sit up on his own, which meant I was free from babysitting him any longer.

"I think I understand how all of this works," Vincent said to Mandus. The lucario remained silent, and only looked towards Vince as a response.

"When we confronted Zygarde he was underground in a sphere with a bunch of roots connected to him. It took me a bit to understand this whole room, but I realized that it's very special to how Zygarde is able to watch all of us," Vincent said with a small pause to catch his breath. 'All the trees in the room connected to Zygarde from underground. Now, think of it like this, it's like a giant web and Zygarde is at the center of it all. All the tree's in this room connect to him, and the trees go up to the surface. Then those trees are connected to the trees on the surface and etcetera." Vincent said as he gave Mandus a second to let that sink in. "The swamp above us goes on for miles, and it would be easy for Zygarde to link up to plants all around Kalos. I'm guessing that this plant web can go from any form of plant such as grass, wheat, weeds, and vegies and so on," Vincent finished.

"So…" I said awkwardly not fully understanding the explanation.

"Basically all the plants in Kalos are in some way connected, and that is how Zygarde is able to watch over the ecosystem in Kalos. And that is also why Zygarde had all the water flowing down here, so he could give the trees water to survive. It may be possible that he needs a lot of water to feed these plants due to them needing more waterto survive versus a normal plant," Vincent added.

"I see, so now what do we do from here?" I asked my comrades.

"Well that hard part for you is over, now for me to serve my purpose," Vincent said as he slowly forced himself to stand up.

"What are you talking about," I asked Vincent as the gem on his head began to glow a powerful red color.

"Now, I need to secure Zygardes mind, I'll only be able to brainwash him so much until we get back to Sanctum, but once we do, I'll have many other psychics there to help rewrite his brain to our needs," Vincent answered as the gem on his head glowed brighter.

The strange red glowing light on Vincent's head continued to grow stronger, and then a red energy began to form around Zygarde. Vincent began to grunt from the amount of concentration he was using. As he continued to rewrite Zygardes brain, his nose began to drip blood, and I could see his body shaking from the strain he was putting on himself. After a few seconds of watching this, the light on Vincents head ceased and Vincent fell straight to the ground.

"Vince," I called out to the weakened espeon who was now gasping for air on the ground.

"I'm fine, that just took a lot out of me," Vincent responded in between pants.

Scarlet and Flynn then joined the scene. It was reassuring to see Flynn conscious again, but I was a little more concerned if Vince was going to be alright. "Did he just capture Zygarde?" Flynn asked.

"The capture is a success, we can go home now," Vincent said as he panted in exhaustion.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**Author Note: **Well their is the finale of book one of the Black Dawn. But their is still one chapter left to tie up some loose ends before I begin book 2. Please remember that book 2 will still be posted in the same spot. Anywho, this was my first attempt at third person fighting, so feedback/criticism never hurts :)

**Question1: **Out of all the members of the Crimson Dawn that have been introduced so far, who is your favorite.

**Question 2: **What is your opinion on Mandus and how do you view him?

Sorry for asking so many questions, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to. But if you do, you make me happy :D

**Thank you genericgamer for helping on this chapter, and all previous chapters. **

**Fun Fact about Mandus** I originally got the name Mandus from the horror game Amnesia: A machine for pigs. I don't quite understand why I choose this name, but I felt it was a good name for someone who is cryptic, and mysterious, but also exhibits great power. Anyways, feel free to make recommendation on ideas for fun facts I should share about the story, of course spoiler free ones XD.


	75. Dawns End

**Chapter 75: Dawns End**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

My eyes slowly opened up as I felt something nudging my side. I flinched back as I saw Starks eyes piercing me. Although, it didn't take me more than a few seconds to realize who it really was. I let out a tired yawn as I got up on all four of my legs. I looked up past the tree line and into the early morning sky. It was still dark out, but the sky was slowly illuminating from the rising sun.

"What do you want from me now. It's too early to function properly?" I asked the imposter in a groggy tone. A frown formed on his, but I could easily tell it was a fake frown.

"Just wanted to say good morning to my favorite umbreon," Skull Face replied.

I rolled my eyes at him, "Jeez, I would have thought Black was your favorite, since you have a thing for him or something" I snidely replied.

"Why yes, it is a lovely morning. I'm doing great thanks for asking," Skull face sarcastically responded.

"Go jump off a cliff," I snapped back. "Now, why are you waking me up so early? You told me to stay low for a bit while everybody in the area forgets who I am."

"Yes, you're staying low, but I have a few questions really quick before I leave you to do your own thing," the imposter umbreon said.

"And what do you need to know?"

"I know this topic is off limits to you, but I need to know a few things about Stark." Hearing Skull Face show curiosity on Stark caused me too few uneasy. Instantly my mind was flooded with memories, and how he helped me through a hard time in life.

"What do you need to know about someone who is dead, and why?" I asked cautiously not knowing what someone like Skull face had planned.

A blunt chuckle escaped Skull Face as he looked at me with a serious stare, "I view Stark as interesting. He may be dead, but I need to know some things for personal reasons," he spoke back to me.

What Skull Face said spun around in my head for a moment, 'Why does he care about Stark, and why would it matter if he is dead,' I thought to myself.

"I'm just curious on his fighting tactics, and if he ever exhibited anything bizarre at any time," Skull face asked, almost as if he was looking for something.

"No, he is a normal umbreon, excluding his white fur and black rings," I responded as I thought back to any event that may quell the shapeshifters quest for knowledge.

"And you're absolutely sure on that? This is very important to me, and I need honest answers."

"I said he was normal on the most part, but why does this matter? Stark is dead," I snapped back getting annoyed with the painful reminder.

Skull Face remained silent before responding, "I have to deal with someone very similar to Stark. I'm kind of disappointed in myself though, I had a chance to clean this pokemon up, but I was too busy at the time," Skull Face answered. "But, how does he fight?"

I carefully thought through what he just told and asked me. Why is Skull Face automatically assuming someone is exactly identical to Stark, "His attacks mostly consist of dark matter. Stark is a genius when it comes to fighting, and if he can't outsmart you, he'll use pure brute strength to overwhelm you. I've never seen Stark lose a fight, and I've only seen him show fear once," I answered.

"And why was Stark scared in this one fight," Skull face asked curiously.

I reflected back on the memory and recalled the horrible events of a battle Stark and I fought in, "During a fight, Stark, Sam, and I were greatly outnumbered. During the battle I was severely injured, and Stark feared that I was going to die. When I almost died his attacks became sloppy, and I could tell he couldn't think properly," I spoke.

Skull Face remained silent as a smile crept onto his face, "Perfect," he said in a voice that was unsettling, "I knew you were worth saving, and this will be useful when I finally track down this pokemon."

"Okay…" I said awkwardly as I took a step back away from Skull Face's creepy smile.

"Well, this should conclude our little talk. Just remember to stay out of Cyllage city," Skull face warned me as his body began to break off into black particles, like he did every time he mysteriously left.

"Wait!" I called out, and Skull Face formed back into a complete form.

"Huh?"

"Well… I've been thinking a lot about home lately, and… Well if I'm supposed to stay low, then would it be a bad idea to visit my family…" I said nervously, not knowing if I was ready to go back yet.

"Visit your family huh?"

"I haven't seen my brother or father in years. I haven't had time over the years and I've also been terrified of the idea of facing my family again," I said nervously.

Skull Face pondered the thought for a moment, and then looked me in the eyes "Are you asking me for permission or my opinion?"

"I don't know honestly… Part of me is trying to come up with excuses not to go, but part of me knows that I may never get a chance to see them at this rate," I answered truthfully.

"I think you have a lot of bottled up emotions, and I believe a trip to your family wouldn't be a horrible idea if it helps you sleep at night. If you do go, just remember our deal and follow through with my plans within a week or two," Skull face responded.

"Okay, then I'm setting out later today to see my family. I should be able to make it back within a week or so," I said with a forced smile. I wasn't sure how to feel about this. Most would be overwhelmed with joy, but I'm confused and terrified. My father will get a good laugh out of me failing at everything I had planned for my life, but worst of all I don't know how to tell Dante that I failed and ended up as some unwanted freak in this world.

"Just remember our agreement," Skull Face said as his body broke down into multiple black particles and floated into the air.

A depressed sigh escaped my mouth as I forced yet another smile on my face, "Well… they're my family."

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

A yawn escaped my mouth as I leaned against a wall in some dumpy area in Cyllage city. As I leaned against the wall, I slid down it until I was sitting down. My eyes stared at the ground as I continued to keep myself from falling asleep. I was usually the type to wake up for lunch, and stay up all night causing mischief around town. Or, that was my life before my trainer was abducted.

The days were growing longer every day we were separated. I missed the life we lived full of adventure, and every day that passed by I could feel myself slowly sinking into a hole. Sure I could keep a high spirit when distracted, but it was at night when I was alone and left to my thoughts that I truly realized how alone I am. I have Erica and Juda, but Erica is a psycho bitch, and Juda is just boring in my eyes. Sure he was nice, but I wouldn't go out of my way to hang out with him or anything. Those two were just reminders of David…

"This is just unfair," I complained to myself. Why out of all pokemon did it have to be me who gets dragged into all of this, and worst of all they included David. A sigh escaped my mouth as I stared up towards the early morning sky. The sun was barely risen now, but soon the day would begin and I'd have to go back to Erica, and follow her strict lifestyle. David on the other hand was awesome. We both lived a carefree life travelling from region to region, and he did his journalist career thing, and I'd travel with him and help out as much as I could. Instead I'm stuck on this joke of a journey secretly stalking an umbreon who has emotional problems.

As I continued to sit in depression, I heard a bouncing noise and something bumped me. I opened my eyes to see a red ball sitting in front of me. I then looked up to see a little kid around six or eight year's old holding out both hands as if he wanted me to throw him the ball back. I stood up and dusted myself off and picked up the red ball. I looked at the child who curiously looked me, and then I looked at the red ball, and its glossy surface. Looking at the glossy surface I could make out the reflection of a charmander who was growing miserable with each passing day. I used the claws on my fingers and I penetrated the ball and the cheap toy exploded with a small wave of air.

I looked up at the kid whose jaw was now hanging low. His hands were still extended out as if time stopped for him. I just shook my head and walked away not caring about the child's feelings. Why should I care, it's not like anyone ever takes time to think of how I feel. Nobody asks if I wanted to stalk Ryder, no one asked if I wanted to go on this dumb journey, and no one even gives a damn about my feelings.

Regardless of what those Crimson fucks ask me to do, I will do it to free David. I don't care if I have to backstab Ryder, and I don't care if it screws everyone around me over. I just want things to go back to how they were.

* * *

**Point of View, third person**

Alex and his father left early in the morning to get breakfast, while leaving all the pokemon back at the hotel. Alex and his father were currently in a local diner sitting in a booth. Throughout the diner, multiple people chit-chatted about their lives and such.

"Here are your meals. How does everything look?" A young waitress asked Alex his father as she laid down plates full of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

"It looks perfect, thank you," Alex said with a friendly smile. With those words said, the waitress set off towards her next table to do her job. Alex didn't waste a single second to dig into the fresh breakfast.

"So when do you plan on conquering the second gym?" John asked Alex as he began to cut into his pancakes.

"As soon as everybody heals up," Alex said with a mouthful of food, "Plus I think a break would be good, I can hardly believe the stuff that is going on."

"I see, well that may be a bit, and sadly I can't stay around to watch you win," John said as he began to eat his meal.

"Wait, you're leaving?" Alex said in surprise as he set down his eating utensils.

"I will be leaving later today. I have a job to keep, but I am really glad we got to spend this time together. And I know I haven't spent much time in the past few years with you, and it's just now hitting me that you will be an adult soon and you won't be a kid anymore," John said almost sounding a bit sad.

"It's not like I'm just going to disappear off the face of the planet, I'll still be around. I'll just probably be in college at that point so my time may be scarcer," Alex said cheerfully.

"Have you given much thought on what you are going to college for?" John asked curiously as he took another bite out of his food.

"I was thinking an engineer or possibly a doctor," Alex said with confidence.

"So you're no longer obsessed with the pokemon champion dream like you were when you were younger," John said with a chuckle.

"I was like, eight, and second that wouldn't be impossible, just hard to do," Alex said defensively.

"You've grown up a lot over time. I've spent so much time working that I haven't had time to experience it with you, and I just keep yelling at myself for wasting all that time until now," John said.

"Well I understand why you were so busy. I mean, you had to make money somehow," Alex said.

"You know your mother would have been so proud of you. You're pretty smart, and you turned out to be a good person. That is selfless and not some trashy piece of crap," John said as he twiddled with his fork lost in past memories. Alex couldn't form words after hearing such touching words from his father.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Flare and I both sat on the roof of the hotel. Luckily Flare recovered enough for him to make it to the top, although judging from his constant grunts, it must have been a painful hike. On top of that, the police literally just stopped guarding us, so we were free to roam around again. Flare and I both stared out over the whole city as we watched the sun slowly peek out over the horizon. My light sensitive eyes stung from its brightness, but I was happy just to have somewhere peaceful to think. Naomi's death was constantly haunting me, and I couldn't get the image of her ending it all out of my head. Flare, on the other paw, seemed to have things on his mind since he came back. The fennekin mostly remained quiet, and barely socialized with anyone. I guess getting severely beaten tends to take a lot of energy out of you.

"So, what do you think will happen next?" I asked the fennekin who laid on his stomach on the cement ground next to me. Flares eyes shifted towards me, but he didn't bother raising his head up to properly make eye contact with me.

"I don't know honestly," Flare responded in a dry tone.

"Flare is something bothering you? I've noticed you've been unusually quiet since you've returned," I asked Flare. Flare remained silent and didn't bother responding to me. The bitter silence was so bizarre to hear from someone who usually doesn't know when to stop talking. Only a few ideas of what was bothering him could form in my mind, and none of them were ideas I liked.

"Flare… don't you and the others just want me gone? I mean, this all started because of me, and it's because of me that this is happening," I said nervously to Flare. This topic has come up on multiple occasions, and I could never fathom why everyone tolerates me around them when I'm the cause of all this. I knew deep down that I was selfish. I am currently happy for the first time since my family died, and I just didn't want to give up what little I had. But at the same time I wanted them to push me away, because there is no way this could end with everyone coming out alive. Everyone was going to go through Hell because of me.

"Just tell me to fuck off, and I'll disappear. I know you all have to at least resent me to an extent for putting you all in danger," I said bitterly.

"Black…" Flare said as he rose his head and looked me in the eyes, "This did start with you knowing us. But even if you do leave, we're still in danger. At this point we're better off staying a group," Flare said. No smile formed on his face like it usually would. He just responded in a monotone voice that seemed so empty. "Who knows, maybe that day I met you, I was supposed to for some reason," Flare said as he looked off towards the rising sun.

"But what about everyone else? Don't they resent me for being the cause of danger?" I asked Flare in hope that he would answer honestly.

"I know Kana is understanding, and she wants to help you, I can't speak for Gray or Hesh, and I feel that Ebony is too young to actually know what's best for her, so I'll exclude her from this list," Flare responded. "I wouldn't worry what everyone thinks. It's not like you're the only one who has flaws with their life," Flare said. "If anything, you've been pretty honest with everyone and I know that was hard for you."

Upon Flare saying I was honest, I felt a bitter sting in my heart. I wasn't honest with them, and I've been lying to everyone so much on so many things. "You know… I haven't been completely honest with everyone Flare," I said bitterly as I tried to think of a way to say what I wanted to.

"Wait, what are you keeping from us then?" Flare asked as he looked at me with curiosity.

"Well… secretly I'm a special umbreon that can control all the elements on a full moon," I said in a nervous tone as I felt like a complete idiot saying that out loud.

A small smile managed to creep on Flares face, "And I'm secretly an ex-criminal," Flare said with a laugh. I responded with a nervous laugh upon hearing his joke. It was disappointing to think that I would never be able to confess one of my few truths without sounding like a complete lunatic. I guess some of my confessions would have to wait for a better time, or perhaps it's better for them not to see how much of a freak I really am.

After our petty jokes, silence filled the air for the next five minutes before Flare spoke up. "If we're going up against these groups, then we're going to have to step things up on our half or we'll die next time. It was purely a miracle that Gray survived, and Kana could have been killed if she wasn't so lucky. Not one of us had an easy time with that last battle, and the only reason we won was because of our team size," Flare said with a good point.

"What do you suggest, we start training more?" I asked Flare.

"Yes I do recommend that. We're in serious danger, and we need to learn not Alex's way of fighting, but how to fight for our lives," Flare said.

"Alright, I guess we can train on our own time," I said with a smirk.

"Great, once I'm healed up we're going to begin preparing for these organizations, and we'll put a stop to them," Flare said with confidence as a revealed a toothy grin.

'And I'll have my chance to set things right,' I thought to myself as I thought of Vincent. Somewhere in Kalos that monster was hiding, and I am going to find him and kill him for what he's done.

"Point of View Stark

After a very long exhausting walk we finally made it back to Sanctum. Zygarde was now under some minor form of Vincent's control and the legendary followed us back to Sanctum. It was rather dangerous though since the legendary tried to break free of his control on many occasions. Vincent on the other paw, was dying from exhaustion of having to keep a creature so powerful under control for so long.

"Lead him down here," Mandus said as he pointed down into the ruins that I originally talked to him in when he told me Crimson's plans.

Vincent led the creature down the stairs, and eventually we ended up in the giant stone shaped room with the multiple spires in it. Vincent led the legendary to the middle of the room and then multiple psychics entered the room. These psychics varied between multiple species from more espeons to alakazams, even a braixen and a few others.

At the moment I had little care for this brainwashing process, and I kept my distance from the group. Although, Vincent walked up next to me and collapsed onto the ground. "Are you okay?" I asked the exhausted espeon.

"I'm sore, tired, and my head is screaming for pain killers," Vincent responded faintly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I responded as I sat down next to the exhausted espeon.

"I'm waiting for an apology you know," Vincent said as he looked at me with a small smirk.

"An apology for what?" I said in confusion.

"Oh you know, Zygarde being real, and us not being crazy lunatics on the most part," Vincent said as he continued to wear that smirk on his face.

"Yeah well you can keep waiting, I almost died there," I sneered.

"I guess that was asking too much from someone like you," Vince responded.

"Yeah… well the pokemon I grew up around, you ask for an apology, they'll apologize with their fist," I spoke back to him.

"They sound reasonable," Vince sarcastically said.

"Yeah, well I hated everyone I grew up around," I truthfully told Vincent, "What about you, how did you get along with your family and friends before you… you know…" I awkwardly asked.

Vincent let out a chuckle, "I got along with everyone just fine. Maybe some people disliked my superior intellect, but they soon discovered that espeon's aren't ones to be messed with."

"Do you ever wish you choose a different route," I asked Vincent curiously.

Vincent remained silent as he pondered the question thoroughly, "I miss everyone in my family every day. Not one day goes by where I forget their sacrifice. That's why I promise to take every day seriously. If I don't it is an insult to my family. I don't regret my path, and it has to be this way," Vincent said as he wore a pained expression. Vincent always talked as if he didn't regret his decisions, but the more I talked to him, the more I felt that he was in pain from his decisions.

"Everybody, form up now!" Mandus called out to everyone who was present in the room. Scarlet, Flynn, Vincent, that black scyther, and a few others who were around all gathered in a big long line as we all faced Mandus who was standing in front of Zygarde.

"Zygarde has been captured, and we have officially completed the first step of achieving peace." Mandus spoke to all of us.

"For years we have been fighting for our cause. Now it is within our grasp, just two legendaries to apprehend, and an umbreon," Mandus spoke.

'How does an umbreon mix in with three legendaries?' I thought to myself.

"Now with Zygarde's sensory abilities and memories we will be able to track down the legendaries and fulfill the rest of the plan and bring forth the dawn of peace!" Mandus said with a strong voice that was full of power and showed his determination. As Mandus finished his speech he waved everyone off to carry on with their day.

Mandus walked past Vincent "I think it's time I meet your brother Ryder, and see for myself if he truly is the real deal," Mandus said as he stopped walking, but kept his back facing us. As I stared at the back of the lucarios cloak I noticed a tear on the left side of his back. The tear wasn't there before, so it had have happened while we were on our mission. As I looked closer at his back I noticed three digits branded on his back 'Six-one-four'. Whenever Mandus removed his cloak I never noticed the digits, and I found it odd that he would have digits labeled on the left side of his back

"I see," Vincent said to Mandus's back.

"I trust that everything is in preparation for the beginning of the revolution?" Mandus asked Vincent.

"Everything is ready, we're ready to spark the revolution," Vincent responded.

"Then it's time the legendaries pay for condemning us," Mandus said spitefully as he began to walk away.

* * *

**Book End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well their it is everybody, the end of the fist book in the Black Dawn trilogy. As I have noted before, I am going on a hiatus as of now. You should expect the story to start back up at the beginning of November. Just to clear things up, since one person did get confused. The next book will basically continue where chapter 76 would have been, so just come back here in a month or follow this story and you'll get an alert when I start back up. If for some reason you're confused, please don't be afraid to ask.

Also during my one month hiatus I am starting a new story called: The Last Guardian. You can expect the first chapter to be released sometime mid October. Just note that this story IS NOT replacing The Black Dawn, and everything will continue as normal once I'm off break. So if you want something new to read, it would be awesome if you people give The Last Guardian a try, genericgamer207 and I are both mashing ideas together to make an even better story... Which honestly I didn't think I could do, but I'm very excited. For more info please visit my profile.

Now I know I ask a lot of questions lately. But I'm going to ask a few questions, and after that I will lay off them for a bit once Book II starts.

Question 1: Who is your favorite character

Question 2: Out of the four arcs in The Black Dawn, which is your favorite. Crimson Dawn introduction (Arc with Vincent), The Genesis introduction (Arc where Stark was introduced, The cyllage city mercenary arc (Jacks pokemon Vs Black and CO.) or the last arc where Stark is hunting Zygarde with Crimson dawn.

Question 3: What do you expect to see in book II

Sorry for all the questions, and I know I ask question 1 a lot, but I like to see how it changes over time. Also you don't have to answer if you don't wish to, but it does make a difference to me :)

**Credits (insert credits music)**

Story developed and written by 1MRGRAY

Special effect by: Aiden

Editing by genericgamer207

Special thank you to: The Heck for giving me lots of advice when I first started writing.

Special thank you to: You for being awesome :D

Ryder staring as: Black

Flare staring as: Flare

Kana staring as: Kana

Grayson staring as: Gray

Aiden staring as: a complete idiot

Skull Face staring as: You

**The End**


	76. Book II Impending Twilight - Origin

Welcome to the beginning of Book II in the Black Dawn Trilogy. First things first, I would like to give everyone a warning and say that Book II: Impending Twilight will be much more darker than the first book. Expect much more violent scenes and very dark themes. Just be warned, the first two chapters will show that. But anyways, enjoy the tale.

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

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**Chapter 76: origin**

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**Point of View Anonymous, long before the events of The Black Dawn**

"Come on, we need to keep moving, we need to get to safety before sundown," I warned my younger jolteon brother, as I held his ear in my mouth and forcefully dragged him against his will.

"Let me go, now," the jolteon yelled back to me, as I continued to forcefully guide him through the forest.

"Then stop trying to run, you'll get yourself killed, and no one wants to see that," I replied with a mouthful of the jolteon's ear.

"Fine, I'll go, just stop you're starting to hurt me," my brother whimpered as he clenched his eyes shut.

Realizing that I was actually hurting him, I quickly released my grip on his ear, and the jolteon quickly stepped back from me. His eyes opened up, and revealed his unnaturally crimson red eyes, that you would usually find on an umbreon.

"We need to go," I warned my brother, as he just sat down and awkwardly rubbed his paw over his ear that I was pulling on.

"That hurt you know," the electric type pouted.

"Now," I said in a stern voice.

My stubborn brother let out a frustrated sigh as he faced me, and gave me an unfriendly stare, "Why should we run? Those pokemon back their needed our help, and we're just going to leave them?"

"No, Ryder. We need to worry about our survival. Arceus only knows what happens to those pokemon once they're captured," I responded, "Plus… you're not exactly normal, and I can't let them do anything to you."

"Just stop! I'm going back with or without you, so come with me or go crawl in a hole and die like the coward flareon you are," Ryder snapped at me as he turned away from me to leave. Right as he extended his paw forward to run away, I opened my mouth and shot an ember right in front of his path, which blew the jolteon over.

"I'm not losing the last family member I have," I snapped at him.

Ryder quickly rolled onto his belly, and looked me in the eyes, "Don't you even start, don't you even dare start this crap!" Ryder shouted at me as he leapt up and growled at me. "If you would've been there to help, and not running like a coward, then maybe everyone would still be alive, this is all your-" Ryder began to say before I tackled him to the ground and pinned him down with my paw.

"I couldn't help that day, we would've died if we stayed there!" I yelled in his ear as I pinned him to the ground.

"Lucy, Mom, and Dad, it's all your fault because you ran away that night," the jolteon snapped at me, and I just released my paw off him as I turned my head away from him, not wanting to reveal my devastate state.

"I know… I… I wish I did things differently that day, every time I remember it, I think of what I should have done, but all I see is me running," I said with a lone tear running down my face.

"Zack… I'm sorry, I know you're just looking out for me, but we can't make decisions like this," Ryder said from behind me.

"Can we please just go? I need somewhere to think, and they may catch up to us if we stay here," I said to Ryder as I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.

A grunt escaped the red eyed jolteon's mouth. "Fine, but next time, I'm not cowering away with you. Next time I'm fighting to the end," Ryder said with a glimmer of confidence in his eyes.

"Alright, next time we'll help," I said and there was a pause between the two of us before we began to walk through the forest.

Our walk was filled with an awkward silence, and I would have tried to break this silence, but nothing I could think of would restore our pitiful state. So, I just left things as they were, and hoped that we could have some peace before sundown.

Thoughts ran through my mind as we continued walking through the forest. Who were these human things invading our land, and why were pokemon willingly being enslaved to these humans? For the duration of my life, my family and I lived on a small island far off the shores of the land known as Kalos, and this island we lived on was mostly a pokemon sanctuary… or it was a sanctuary until the humans came, and began abducting us one by one.

After walking for a little while, Ryder and I both came upon some elevated rocky land, and fortunately for us, a hole that looked like it would house the two of us for the night. Ryder and I swapped a quick glance as I went to check out the miniature cave in the side of the elevated land. When I looked inside, I found that it was vacant of life, and it appeared to be dry, so it made perfect shelter for us to stay the night.

"It's clear, " I said to Ryder, as the jolteon faced the opposite direction of the nook.

"What's wrong?" I asked my brother, as I walked up next to him, and noticed a familiar facial expression on my brother, "It's bothering you again, isn't it?" I asked Ryder.

"Yeah… I just don't understand anything about myself, or why I'm so…" Ryder began to say, but couldn't finish his words.

"Ryder, don't let it cloud your head, we're going to get to safety, and I know we can find someone to give you answers," I attempted to reassure him, but the jolteon's ears just lowered along with his head.

"You don't know that," he responded with melancholy. I just responded with silence, he was right, I didn't know if anyone had an answer on why he was so… different.

"Hey, why don't we just try and get some sleep, in the morning we'll be rejuvenated, and less stressed out," I suggested to Ryder.

"I guess," Ryder hesitantly responded as he turned back to me. The two of us crawled into the empty compact cave, and we both lied next to each other to help stay warm over the frigid night.

After a very long night of sleeping in the frigid cold, the sun rose, and I crawled out of the nook before Ryder was even awake. My eyes widened as I noticed the fresh layer of snow that now covered the ground.

"Wonderful, every Flareon's worst nightmare…" I said stressfully as I blew a small flame out my mouth to help warm myself up.

"Wait, it snowed last night?" Ryder's voice said in surprise from behind me. I turned back to face the jolteon, and I quickly noticed the smile on his face. That very thing I thought the two of us had been deprived of for the rest of our lives. Ryder didn't waste a second, and the jolteon excitedly dove into the snow, and slid down the sloped ground we were on. Once the jolteon stopped sliding, he sprang up to his feet and shook all the snow covering his body off. I on the other paw kept blowing small flames from my mouth in an attempt to keep me warm, cold weather was my natural enemy.

"Ryder, I know you're having fun, but we should-" I began to say before the jolteon kicked a bunch of snow onto me. I instantly responded by shaking the fur off, as I felt my fur become soaked in the freezing substance.

"You little shit," I said in annoyance, but I looked at the playful toothy grin on Ryder's face, and I just sighed, "You're such a kid," I said, before I kicked some snow onto him. The jolteon didn't appear as bothered as I was, and he simply shook it off with a playful smile.

Okay, so to make a long story short, I ended up getting sucked into my childish brother's games, and it ended with us killing quite a bit of time. Once the two of us finished, we both sat down and shivered from the bitter weather. Getting snow thrown at you multiple times tends to have that effect. Although, freezing my ass off was worth seeing Ryder happy. Ever since the humans came, neither of us really had much to smile about, and this was an unexpected breath of fresh air for us.

"Think you're ready to head out? We really shouldn't stay here much longer."

"Alright, fine, let's go," Ryder said with a stubborn attitude, but I didn't care as long as he just followed me.

The two of us walked through the forest as snow gently fell from the sky. Everything had that awkward winter silence, where the smallest things could be heard. Our travels went on till about noon, before the two of us stopped, due to Ryder's stomach growling in hunger.

"I guess it's about time we find food, it's been almost two days," I said bitterly as I sat on a piece of ground that managed to stay dry.

"Eat what? Winter is a hard time of year for survival?" Ryder complained.

"We'll survive somehow, just keep calm," I said to Ryder as I began thinking of food options.

A moment of silence passed by, but then someone stepped on a twig from behind us, and the two of us shot our glances back to see a human standing behind us. The female human wore a heavy winter jacket on her, with fur around the hood. The lady wore the hood up, and it masked most of her defining features, but I could make out her long brown hair.

"Looky here, I found the red eyed jolteon everyone was talking about, this'll get me a raise for sure," the women said as she pulled out two of those strange red and white balls that the humans always contained pokemon in.

"Ryder, get back," I shouted as I jumped between Ryder and the human.

The human threw the two balls, and a bright light blinded the two of us momentarily. Two pokemon now stood in front of us, a marowak and a weavile. The two pokemon both looked at us with a bitter glare, as the marowak lightly tapped the club against his other hand in an intimidating manner.

"Marowak, go for the red eyed jolteon, do not kill him though. Weavile, do as you please with the flareon, just make sure the jolteon lives," the human said as she leaned against a tree and gave out a yawn.

"You furless bastard," I snarled at her, but before I could do anything more, the weavile lunged towards me and swiped his claws towards my face. I flinched back, but not quickly enough. The three claws swiped across my face, but I was far enough away that only one made contact with my snout. Regardless of one or three, I still yelled in pain as I fell to the ground, with blood gushing down the giant gash it made.

"Is that all you got?" the weavile asked me as he scraped his two blades together, creating an unpleasant scraping noise. I looked over to the right, and I saw Ryder struggling with his opponent. Ryder was now on the ground, being beaten half to death by the marowak's club.

"Ryder…" I said as I forced myself up and ran towards him, ignoring the sneasel, "Get the fuck off him!" I shouted as I shot an ember towards the marowak. Suddenly my ember exploded, and my eye widened as I saw a bone club flying towards me, and it whacked me in between my eyes. I fell to the ground as I barely clung to consciousness, while my skull felt as if it was split open.

The weavile then walked up next to me, and picked up the club, and threw it back to the marowak. "End of the roa…-" the weavile began to say before he began to look at something awkwardly.

"Who the hell are you?" the weavile asked, and I turned my head, and I made out another bipedal figure, but this one wasn't human. As my vision stabilized, I realized that it was a lucario. The lucario just stared at us with a blank expression, and I had no idea what to expect from this.

"Piss off, or do you want some of this as well?" the marowak added in as he got off my brother, and began walking towards the lucario. The fighting type just stood in place, and said nothing.

"You'll regret your silence," the marowak said as he threw his club at the lucario. The club spun in circles as it flew towards the lucario, and as it closed in on him, he extended his paw out and caught the bone without any effort.

"That's never happened before," the marowak said in surprise as he stepped back from the lucario. The lucario began walking towards the two and he dropped the club on the snowy ground. The human on the other hand, moved away from the lucario, as a bead of sweat dripped down her face.

"Weavile, Marowak, just kill this thing," the human commanded.

"I'm on it!" the weavile shouted as he sprinted towards the lucario. The lucario remained calm, as he walked towards the two foes.

Once the weavile was close enough, he jabbed his claw at the lucario, but the lucario caught him by the wrist. The weavile then attempted to attack with his other claw, but the lucario grabbed the weavile by the head and used his leg to trip the weavile, and he smashed the weavile's head into the ground before his claw reached him.

The weavile moaned in a dazed state, as the lucario raised his free hand, and it began to glow with a blue aura. The weavile snapped out of his daze just in time to scream in fear as the lucario smashed his fist into the weavile's face. Blood splashed into the air, and covered the snow around the body. The lucario pulled his bloody hand out of the hole in the weavile's head, and then looked at the marowak. I just remained silent, as I trembled in disbelief. I had never seen someone kill someone so violently, and not show a single emotion.

The marowak took a step back as the lucario slowly walked towards him, with blood dripping off his hand. The maraowak quickly turned to run, but the lucario moved in a flash and ended up in front of the marowak. The marowak shrieked before the lucario picked the marowak up by the neck, and lifted him off the ground. The marowak kicked his legs back and forth as he made a gurgling noise, but he was instantly silenced as a snapping noise filled the air. The marowak was dropped onto the ground, and became another lifeless corpse in this land of death. Death was a sight I was used to. I had watched a lot of close people to me die, and it was sad to say that I was growing used to it.

The lucario now faced the human. She stood there petrified as the lucario stared at her with that same emotionless expression.

"Stay away from me," she said as she took a step back, but her legs gave out and she fell on her butt. The lucario dashed forwards and stood over her. The human trembled in fear as tears began to stream down her eyes. "Please," the human sobbed as the lucario slowly extended his paw towards her.

"Please!" she screamed before a flash of blue aura surrounded his paw, and after that blood splatter everywhere as she fell to the ground.

I stared at the lucario for a moment in shock, but once I regained my train of thought, I looked at Ryder quickly, and I ran to him. I stood over him, and looked at the multiple bruises that covered his body. The jolteon remained unconscious with his mouth agape, revealing a few shattered teeth in his mouth, with blood covering them.

"Ryder…" I said in disbelief as a tear began to form in my eye. "Dammit!" I yelled at myself as I continued to look at how horrible he was beaten. After a moment, I looked back to see our savior, the lucario was now checking the clothing the human wore.

"What're you looking for?" I questioned the lucario, "Actually never mind, that's not my business, I guess," I admitted. The lucario just glanced at me for a moment, before he went back to searching her corpse.

"Who are these humans, and why are they here all of a sudden?" I asked the lucario, hoping that he would have an answer. "Hey, can you just say something!" I shouted at him.

"Silence," the lucario spoke to me in a deep dull voice. I just sighed in annoyance as I watched him raid the body, until the lucario pulled out a folded up piece of paper. The lucario quickly opened up the paper, and started looking at a strange drawing on the paper. As I curiously looked at it, I noticed that it looked like a drawing of the layout of this island.

"What's that," I questioned the lucario, but he ignored me once again. "Hey!" I yelled at him, and the lucario looked at me.

"Why are these humans here, you look like you know something about all of this?" I questioned the lucario.

"This island is a land where only pokemon live, and now you're all falling victim to people who seek to capture you, and perform experiments," the lucario answered.

"What do you mean experiments, and who are these people?" I desperately asked him. But instead of an answer, the lucario stood up and began walking away.

"Hey, stop ignoring me," I shouted at him, as I chased after him.

"Go back to your friend, flareon, he could use your help," the lucario said to me. As I followed from behind the lucario, I noticed something odd on his back. I noticed three of those number things humans always use.

"Hey, those markings on your back, are you with those humans?" I asked the lucario. The lucario immediately took his left hand, and covered the three symbols on the left side of his back.

"We're done talking, leave," the fighting type said to me, as he picked up his pace, while still covering his back.

"So you're with them?" I said in surprise. The lucario spun around and faced me, and for the first time he was showing an emotion, which was anger.

"Do you wish to join the others I just killed?" the lucario asked me.

"Listen, I just need answers. My brother and I have been on the run for so long, and I need answers for once."

"Find a way off this island, that's your key to survival," the lucario answered.

"And how do we get off this island?" I questioned the lucario.

"Find a flying pokemon that can carry you, or find a water type that will take you," he answered.

A sigh escaped my mouth as I realized that he wasn't going to be of any real help, "Fine, but since you saved us, what is your name?"

The lucario stood there silent for a moment, until he exhaled a strong breath, "Names don't matter, I've casted all my past names aside. They only served as mementos to what I wish to forget," he responded as he turned back around and began to walk away. This time, I allowed him to leave me, there was nothing left to say, if he was going to be cryptic and tight lipped.

After I made that decision, I quickly sprinted back to Ryder. Over the short time I left him, nothing had changed about him; he was still in horrible shape. Seeing that there was no choice, I got Ryder onto my back so I could carry him to safety. If that silent lucario was right about one thing, it was that we needed to get off this island.

As soon as Ryder's unconscious body was balanced, I began moving as fast as I could with his body on top of me. Luckily Ryder was pretty light since he was still young and wasn't fully grown yet.. As I moved through the snowy ground, I remembered the slash across my face. To this moment the wound still had a stinging feeling. I could only imagine the scar it would leave.

After a while, my endurance failed me, and I had to stop. I gently got Ryder off my back as I began to rest. Suddenly Ryder began to groan, and his eyes sprang open. The jolteon just lied on the ground moaning in pain, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Ryder, how are you feeling?" I asked the jolteon, even though the answer was more than obvious. In response the jolteon just groaned in pain, as tears streamed down his face.

"Everything is fine now, someone saved us earlier, but he's gone," I told Ryder, even though he didn't ask me. Ryder's lack of a proper response began to worry me, that marowak went way overboard if he was trying to take him alive. All I could do now is watch my brother sit there in pain, and pray that he would pull through this.

"There's the pokemon that killed Jill," a voice called out from behind me, I quickly turned to see a human and a mini horde of pokemon standing behind us. The horde varied from many different types. There was a charmander, a bayleef, a sceptile, a dewott, and a turtwig. Standing behind the entire horde was another human, who had multiple red and white balls attached to his waste. The man was middle aged, wore a cap on his head, and was dressed in heavy winter gear just like the last human we encountered.

"I knew we'd find you, not very hard when you left a trail of paw prints," the human said. "Alright, all of you, capture them alive, so I can actually get paid today."

Without warning, a series of elemental attacks flew towards me from all of the pokemon. I quickly jumped in front of Ryder and shielded him from any harm. Every single attack collided against me, and sent me flying into a tree. I let out a moan of pain as I felt multiple different forms of pain, from burns, to grass type attacks.

"Looks like the jolteon is already finished, just take care of the flareon," the human ordered his minions. I tried to stand back up, but before I could the dewott placed its foot on me, and pinned me to the ground. It raised its fist up, and pounded it on my left temple, and everything went black.

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My eyes slowly cracked open as I came back to life after that ambush. I groaned as I rolled over onto my stomach, but I felt too weak to stand up just yet. I grew confused as I noticed my surrounding, I had never seen something like this before. I was in some very large hard and shiny box, with very little light. Before I could observe the it too much, my ears twitched upon noticing someone talking.

"So to think one of you really existed. When I first heard of such a thing, I laughed," a voice said. I turned around to see a series of bars behind me making up a wall of the room, and parallel to my room was an identical room with Ryder lying on the ground, barely conscious, and standing outside his cell, was a zorua.

"We have great need for someone like you, but we're mostly interested in your DNA," the zorua said, as he stared at Ryder through the cell bars. "To think a jolteon like yourself is worth thousands, no, millions actually."

"What do you want from me?" Ryder asked in a weak voice.

"Just your DNA, and then we'll alter your body to be stronger. But of course, not before we wipe your mind clean, and claim it for our own," the zorua said, and a chill ran through my spine, as I pictured the sick twisted look on his face.

"Leave my brother alone," I snarled at the zorua. The zorua turned towards me, and looked at me with a bored expression. The zorua then walked up to my cage and put his face next to the bars and peered into my cell.

"Don't worry, I'm not that cruel. I'll be sure to keep you two together once you're both ours," the zorua said.

"Stop talking like we're your damn property," I snapped as I lunged forwards, and tried clawing him through the bars, but he managed to move back in time.

"Stuff like that will get you put in the experiments I view as more cruel. The harrowing experiments that will make you yearn for death," the zorua warned me.

"Who the Hell are you, why are you betraying us pokemon for humans, and just what the hell do you have planned?!" I yelled at him.

"My name is confidential, and you most certainly will not have info on our plans," the zorua answered, "But… if you must know, our fine organization does go by a certain name, and that name is Team Genesis."

"Genesis?" I said in confusion.

"Anyways, enough chit-chat, I have quite the busy schedule, and i'm a busy fox. So, I have places to be, so I'll see you once your minds are rewritten… well that's if I care at that point," the zorua said as he turned away from me and walked away yawning.

"Hey! Get back here, and let us go!" I shouted as the zorua walked down the hall of multiple cells, and eventually left my sight. Soon after he left, the lights to the cell block turned off, and left us in complete darkness.

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**Chapter End**

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** Author Note: **well, there is the beginning of the story. I am aware that certain aspects of this chaper are a bit confusing, but it'll all make sense later on. Anyways, I hope this first chapter is good, because it's a little different from previous flashbacks.

Also, it would mean a lot to me if you guys would check out my new story 'The Last Guardian.'

Anyways fun fact time. I originally forgot to post a request by LuckyWhisker, so i'm going to do that now, sorry I forgot :(

**Fun Fact**: The request is to know a little more about Naomi. Naomi is a character I actually added last minute. She was never in the original plot, but I had an idea to make Stark seem more alive, and I realized that a character like her adds so much more, and fills in some blanks in the story. Most people love her so far, and she is probably one of my favorite characters.

**Fun Fact 2:** part 2 to the request by LuckyWhisker. I won't say why he changed it so much since that will be gone over a bit more, and already has been gone over at the same time, but I'll get more in deaph later. But the reason I choose the name Ryder is because I loved it a lot. I would have done Grayson originally, but it didn't sound like a good name for an umbreon. The name Kaz is from my favorite video game 'Metal Gear Solid' so basically the name just stuck in my head. And the final name Black is just something simple I came up with. It seemed like all the good names were taken, but then I just went with that, and I like it. Anyways, I hope these answer your requests.

Also, if y'all have fun fact ideas, feel free to PM me or leave it in a review. I'll do any that don't spoil the story.

Anyways, sorry for the long note, i just have a lot to cover, i'll keep future notes much shorter.

Thank you genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.


	77. The Red eyed demon

**Alright, here is chapter 2, in Book II. Anyways, fair warning, this chapter is really long, so keep that in mind. This chapter will also be the final part to the prologue of Book II: Impending Twilight. **

**Special thanks to genericgamer207 for helping on the editing of this chapter. **

**Review response**

**Anonymous:** I do plan on updating once a week, but at the same time, I would like to choose quality over quantity, so if I have to I will push it off. But if anything big ever postpones my updating, you can expect me to leave a note in the latest chapter.

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**Chapter 77: The red eyed demon**

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**Point of View Ryder**

It has been quite a while since the zorua had spoken to me. That zorua was rather creepy, and the mentioning of experimentation was beyond scary. But, the thing that terrified me the most, was how he mentioned was that my mind was going to be wiped. I didn't want to forget who I was, nor did I want to forget my family, even if they were gone now.

The only thing that was managing to keep me slightly distracted, was the constant sharp pain in my mouth from the teeth I just lost earlier, as well as the severe bruises all over my body. The slightest movement hurt, even just a few inches to readjust myself.

Looking across my prison, I could see Zack, my brother constantly ramming into the bars of his prison. I could see that he was wearing down, his attacks were now becoming more sluggish, and he was slowing down. While his efforts were appreciated, I realized long ago that we were at the human's mercy.

A loud creaking noise echoed in the air. I looked down the hall as best as I could, and I saw two humans carrying a pokemon by his arms. An unconscious lucario was being dragged down the hall, until he was thrown into the cell to the left of Zack.

"Wait, you?" Zack said in confusion, as he tried to get a better look at the lucario. Zack wore a look of surprise as he looked at the multiple gashes on the lucario's body, along with many other wounds that covered him from toe to head.

"You know him?" I asked in confusion, not recalling his face from anywhere.

"Kinda, you were knocked out at the time, but he was the one who saved us earlier," Zack answered me.

Once the lucario was thrown into the cell, the humans began putting chains on his arms that were attached the walls and constricted his arm movement. After the lucario was chained up, the two humans shut the cell and walked away. A moment of silence passed by, until the lucario's head flinched up as he inhaled a deep breath. He quickly looked left and right, and tried to move, but found out that he was chained up.

"Lucario, are you awake?" Zack asked from the opposite side of the wall from the lucario.

"And who're you?" The lucario asked Zack, "Actually, I recognize your aura, Flareon," the lucario responded to Zack.

"So, even you got caught, huh?" Zack stated.

"It took multiple teams of pokemon to take me down, and they're foolish if they think they can contain me," the lucario said, as he clenched his fist.

"What, you're saying you can bust out of here?" Zack asked.

"When the time is right, I will kill them all."

"Right…" Zack said awkwardly, as he found a corner in his room, and lied down.

"So, how long do you think it'll be until they begin experimenting on us?" Zack asked out loud.

"Any minute now, they've already transferred us to a facility in Kalos," the lucario said.

"Wait what?! Since when the Hell did they get us off our home island?"

"I'm not surprised you didn't know," the lucario said, followed by a short pause, "Once they capture pokemon, they inject them with drugs to keep them asleep for a long period of time. Then they transferred you across the sea to here, which is about an hour boat ride," the fighting type answered.

"Wait, how long was it since you saved us then? Because we were captured shortly after you helped us," Zack frantically asked as he got up.

"That was about a day ago, you have probably been out for quite some time," the lucario answered.

"Great, the bastards are already messing with us in ways I don't like," Zack growled.

"It's nothing compared to the experimentation they do in this facility," the lucario began to say, "They do many horrible things to pokemon, first they'll start by altering your mind, then depending on your species, they'll make you into a specimen. For a flareon, I'd expect them to make you one of their mindless slaves, and they'll alter your body to make you stronger," the lucario said, as he inhaled a deep breath, "But for your jolteon friend there, I'd imagine they'll do worse things, since he looks uniq-"

"Just stop!" I yelled across the room, "I don't want to talk about this, I just want to go home," I said as I curled up in a ball, and hid myself from everything. This was going to be the end, Zack and I were going to be altered and turned into mindless monsters. I didn't want this fate, I just wanted to go home and be with my family one last time.

"No point in hiding from the truth, jolteon," the lucario said.

"That's enough!" Zack shouted from the other side of the wall from the lucario, "Just leave him alone, he's still a child and doesn't need to be haunted by such thoughts, he has enough problems as it is."

"Very well," the lucario said, before he remained silent.

A moment passed, until a loud creaking noise filled the air, and two humans walked down the cell block. "There he is," one of the two humans said as he looked at Zack, before he pulled out a stick, with a needle at the end.

"Get back," Zack growled, but as he growled the human stuck the stick in the cell, and jabbed it into his neck. Zack's eyes widened, before they rolled into the back of his head, and he fell over unconscious.

"Zack?! Leave him alone!" I yelled at the humans as they opened his cell door, and picked him up. "Stop, bring him back, please!" I yelled at them, but they carried him away, and within seconds he was gone.

"Where are they taking him?" I asked the lucario.

The lucario remained silent for a moment, before he looked at me, "It looks like your friends was chosen to be their next project," he answered.

"Well can't we do anything?"

"Wait patiently though, the time is near," the lucario said with tranquility.

"My brother is going to be changed forever, don't tell me to just wait patiently!" I snapped at him. The lucario just sighed, and he closed his eyes, and almost looked as if he was meditating.

"This is it," I said as I banged my head into the wall with frustration, "Zack's going to be changed," I said as I slid to the ground, and tears began to form in my eyes.

No matter how hard I tried to think of a solution, my mind found nothing. Zack was going to be altered, and I never even got to apologize to him for being so difficult lately. He was always looking out for me, and I was bitter towards him for his mistakes. I knew that his mistakes haunted him daily, but he always put my life first, even if he risked his in the process.

A long period of time passed by, most of which I spent sobbing. At this current moment, I no longer had tears left. I've spent so much time crying in the past, and if I wasn't so difficult, Zack and I would possibly still be safe.

"It's time," the lucario said out loud, and his eyes opened.

"Time for what?" I questioned him, as I forced myself up off of the floor.

"Time for our escape, I have amassed enough energy to break free of this prison," the lucario stated as his body began to glow with a blue aura. The aura increased, until a bright light began to flash from his body. I clenched my eyes shut as the light blinded me.

Once the light died down, I looked at the lucario to see that his chains were broken, and that his form had changed. The lucario was now much taller, his fur had more black markings, the long black hair like things on his head had grown longer, and were now tipped with a crimson red, along with his paws which were now crimson red.

"What are you?" I questioned in disbelief as the lucario punched his cell door, and a blue light flashed, and the cell bars blew off.

"Mega evolution, in this form I am near unstoppable," the mega lucario said as he punched my cell bars, and they blew off. "Now come, this is your chance to save your brother, but understand that they will kill you if it comes down to it," he stated as he began walking down the cell block.

"Wait!" I yelled at the lucario. He stopped, but didn't bother to look back at me.

"Who are you?" I questioned him. "My name's Ryder."

"Names have no value, but I shall give you the honor of my name, due to circumstances. My name is Mandus," he said as he continued walking down the cell block.

"Thank you, Mandus," I said to him, but he continued walking down the cell block. As the two of us walked down the cell block, many other pokemon began yelling at us, begging us to free them.

"Come on, you gotta help us!" one of the pokemon shouted at us.

"Why aren't you helping them?" I asked Mandus.

"They'll only get in my way, they'll be freed by the time I leave," he answered.

"Then why free me?"

Mandus stopped walking, and looked back at me, "Because, I know what it is like to want to help family, but you can't because you're powerless," Mandus answered, as he sped up his pace. Once he reached the end of the hall, he slammed his fist into a steel door, and a blue aura exploded, and blew the door off.

The instant the path was opened; Mandus darted through the door, and sped down the hall. Multiple humans saw him coming, and threw those balls that contained pokemon. Three pokemon now faced Mandus, a scyther, a meinfoo, and a grovyle.

The grovyle was the first to make its move, and it lunged towards Mandus, with the leaves on its arms readied like blades. Mandus quickly ducked under the attack, and as he did, the scyther slashed its blade towards Mandus. The lucario quickly jolted back in time. The scyther then stabbed its blade at Mandus, but he grabbed it by the arm, and kneed it in the gut. The scyther fell to its knees gasping for air. Mandus held its bladed arm, and placed his foot on its elbow. Mandus then pressed down, and all that could be heard was a loud snap, followed by a pained scream. The scyther fell to the ground, and Mandus pulled on its arm until it ripped off.

The mienfoo jumped towards Mandus, and he extended the scythers arm out, and penetrated its torso. Blood shout out of its mouth, as the mienfoo fell to the ground, dead. Just as the mienfoo fell, the grovyle swung a leaf blade at Mandus. Mandus quickly moved out of the way, and extended his paw into the grovyle's face. The grovyle flew back with a violent burst of blue energy, and it laid lifeless on the ground.

The three trainers all stared at Mandus for a second, before they all took off running. Mandus didn't bother chasing after them, and he just calmly began walking down the halls. I nervously followed the lucario. As I walked over the dead pokemon, I could feel myself gagging from the gruesome scene. Mandus slaughtered them without mercy, and he did it with minimal effort.

Mandus turned a corner up ahead, and I slowly followed behind him. As I turned the corner, I saw Mandus holding an armed human by the neck. A crack filled the air, and the human fell dead on the ground, and Mandus continued walking.

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise started going off in the air, and red light began to flash every few seconds. "Alert, this is not a drill, we have a rampant pokemon running amok in sector C, repeat this is not a drill," A voice boomed through the facility we were in.

"What's going on?" I asked Mandus, as he calmly walked down the hall, with me following in his shadow.

"They're alerting the others, there will be more to come, much stronger foes on top of that," Mandus answered.

"And you can take them?" I asked Mandus.

"We'll find out," he answered in a dry tone, "Just stay behind me, unless you can actually fight," Mandus told me as he took off running down the hall, and turned a corner up ahead.

"Are you actually trying to help me, or are you just going on a killing spree?" I said quietly, as I slowly walked down the hall in mandus's footsteps.

Halfway down the hall, found a steel door that was cracked open. I curiously looked at it, unsure if I should break off from the path that Mandus was taking. After a moment of thinking, I decided to push the door open, and investigate this strange facility was in.

"What is this stuff?" I curiously asked as I looked around the room and observed the strange technology that was everywhere.

But one thing about this room sent a dark cold chill down my spine. In the room there were multiple rows of massive tube container that were filled with a strange liquid. Inside the glass tube were pokemon. At first I nervously looked at them, but after a moment, my curiosity got the best of me and I walked up to one of the tubes. In the tube was a female jolteon. A tube went from from the top of the container down to the jolteon's mouth, and a mask went around her snout. As I stared at the jolteon, I noticed how peaceful she looked, and it almost looked as if she was just sleeping.

"Who are you?" A voice called out to me. My head quickly flinched in the direction of the voice, and things got freaky when I saw an identical jolteon to the one in the tube standing behind me.

"I'll ask you one more time, who are you?" the female jolteon asked me, as electricity began to circulate through her fur.

"I umm, I'm…" I began to say, but words wouldn't properly come out.

"You're one of the escaped pokemon, aren't you?" the jolteon said in a grim tone, as the electricity in her fur began to intensify.

"Just what the hell is this place, and why the hell does this jolteon look identical to you?" I questioned her, even if she was on the verge of deciding to kill me.

"They're reanimations, every single one in this room," the jolteon stated.

"Reanimation?" I said in confusion.

"They're clones of pokemon, but altered to be stronger than the original. Sadly for you, I am a reanimation, and my speed exceeds the average jolteon, along with the voltage of my attacks," she warned me, as a spark flew off her body.

"Well, I'm not exactly normal either," I bitterly responded.

"I can see that, Genesis already started altering you, but I wonder why they bothered changing your eyes to red?" she curiously stated.

"I haven't been altered in any way. These eyes, my differences, they're all natural," I responded.

"Natural red eyes? And I thought I was created to be a freak," the jolteon said, with a sneer.

"Don't call me that," I responded as I attempted to dig my claws into the hard steel floor, but instead my paws scraped along the floor, creating a high pitched scraping noise.

"Why don't you make me, you red eyed demon," the jolteon said with a cocky smirk.

"Shut up!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, and an unknown force shoved the jolteon back and caused her to tumble over.

The female jolteon quickly recovered to her feet, but her cocky arrogant stare was now replaced with the ever so satisfying look of fear in her eyes. The reanimation took a step back away from me, as she kept full eye contact with me.

"What… What kind of monster are you?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"I told you, not to degrade me like that," I snarled as another forced threw her back, but this time she smashed into one of the tubes with a vaporeon in it, and the glass shattered, and the liquid poured out, and the specimen pokemon was disconnected from the tube it was attached to and fell to the ground. The female jolteon now had multiple shards of glass in her body, but she just stared at the specimen vaporeon on the ground. For a moment the vaporeon was normal, until it began violently flinching around, almost as if it was having a seizure, and after a minute, its breath stopped and the vaporeon appeared lifeless.

The jolteon was now struggling to her feet, as she tried to control the pain of having multiple shards of glass impaled in her. I just nodded my head as I walked towards her, and stepped into the water like substance that flooded the floor. The moment I stepped in the water, the water around the jolteon rose up, and ensnared her. The waters temperatures soon changed, and it became a solid coat of ice around the jolteon. The jolteon opened her mouth, but nothing came out, only a stiff breath that didn't know how to describe the freak I was.

I then walked up to the jolteon, and leaned in towards her ear, "You're probably very confused right now, but that's just how I want you," I whispered into her ear, as I stood next to her.

"This… this... this isn't normal," she said in a shocked tone.

"No it's not, I'm far different from the other eeveelutions. Due to some phenomenon, I have full elemental control, but there is no point in telling this to a dead jolteon," I whispered into her ear, as a large shard of glass rose into the air, and levitated towards her neck. "Now, you can go back to not existing, just like you originally should have," I said as the shard of glass slowly grazed against her neck, and began ripping open her jugular. At first she screamed in agonizing pain, but it soon toned down to a gurgling as I watched her choke on her own blood. After a moment, the jolteon fell limp, and the ice prison around her body melted back onto the ground.

"What… What did I do…" I said in horror as I looked at the dead jolteon, and realized that I lost control of myself again. I continued to stare in shock as I watched the blood mix in with the liquid that flood the floor, and I soon found myself in a pool of blood.

"Arceus… What did I do?" I said as I began to feel light headed, and my stomach began to feel absolutely sick. My body lowered as I felt my muscles weaken, and I soon found myself throwing up on the floor in absolute disgust from my actions.

"No-no-no," I frantically said in disbelief as I fell sideways into the puddle of blood, and my vision began to grow dark, until I lost touch with reality.

* * *

"Wake up, now," I voice calmly said as I felt something nudging on me.

"Zack?" I said with a glimmer of hope as I opened my eyes, but instead I found Mandus standing over me, shaking me awake.

"We need to go, the path is now clear," Mandus said, and my eyes focused on the crimson red liquid that the lucario was covered in. The lucario stared at me for a moment, before he looked at the dead jolteon that was near me.

"What happened here?" Mandus asked, as he grabbed my shoulders, and forced me up.

"I… I don't know," I hollowly responded, "I… I lost control of myself, again," I said as a teardrop fell of my eye, and landed in the liquid below me, becoming one with the crimson liquid.

"Come with me, we don't have much more time," the lucario said as he gave me a nudge with his foot, and I began to walk with my weak muscles.

The lucario took point, and walked around ten steps ahead of me once we entered the hallway again. As I walked, I looked at my right paw and stared at the blood that covered it. The urge to wash the blood away overwhelmed me, and I could feel myself going mad as I felt the gooey substance soaking my fur. It was the whole right side of my body that was soaked in blood, and I'd imagine that it made me look as if I was split into two half's.

* * *

Third person point of view.

Mandus continued to lead Ryder down the halls of the Genesis facility. Neither of the two talked. While Mandus focused on the path ahead of him, Ryder was lost in his mind, torn to pieces for what he had just done.

After a few minutes of walking, the two came upon what used to be a door, one that Mandus destroyed much earlier. The two exited the halls and came into an open room, that connected multiple wings of the facility.

"This is the exit," Mandus stated, as he looked dead ahead towards an iron gate, one that he had opened earlier.

"What about Zack?" Ryder asked Mandus.

"I searched this whole facility, I'm afraid he is gone now," Mandus answered in a monotone voice, not showing any sign of emotions.

"That's not true, I know he has to be here somewhere," Ryder protested.

"I've killed half of this facility, I've checked everywhere, and most of them evacuated already. Zack was probably taken as well, since he was out of his confines at the time," Mandus told Ryder.

"But… Zack… no," Ryder said in confusion as he had no idea on how to respond.

"I'm sorry," Mandus answered. "Let's leave, we're now in Kalos, and I know Genesis has other facilities in this region," Mandus added. "We'll find him."

"You promise," Ryder asked, with a small glimmer of hope in his voice. Mandus responded with a nod, and without another word, the two headed for the gate that would free them. Mandus ran up to a control panel on the gate, and he pushed a series of buttons on it. For a moment nothing happened, but then an alarm went off as the gate began to open.

The two closed their eyes as a bright light shined them from the other side of the gate, and a loud bang went off and the two felt sharp piercing objects impale them. Standing on the other side of the open gate was three humans, and five pokemon. The humans were geared up with tactical military equipment, and armed with assault rifles. The three pokemon were a delphox, a grovyle, a chesnaught, the same zorua that confronted Ryder earlier, and a flareon that wore a blank expression on his face.

"Z-Zack?" Ryder said in surprise, as he tried to move, but couldn't due to the bullet that was shot into his leg. The flareon didn't even respond to his name, and remained silent, but the one who did respond was the zorua, who stepped forward.

"You," Mandus growled as his eyes widened, and his knuckles tightened, "I'll kill you."

"I wouldn't be so sure on that, I've brought my own personal team here to kill you, plus a new addition to go along with that jolteon once he's captured," the zorua said with a confident smirk, "Besides Mandus, I'm sure you're near your breaking point," the zorua said, as his smirk widened.

"Zack! Zack it's me, what're you doing with them, run!" Ryder shouted at his brother, but the flareon just looked at him curiously.

"You don't get it kid, do you?" the zorua said as he walked towards the flareon, "As I told you earlier, your brother and you, are mine," he said as he tapped the flareons side, but Zack only glanced at the zorua.

"Give him back to me!" Ryder shouted at the zorua.

"No, you will be reunited with your brother, but under my circumstances. I have had a lot of money put into altering him, he is now able to reach new levels, he's perfect," the zorua said with pride.

"Perfect," Mandus repeated in a dark bitter tone, "You alter nature, you have tainted that flareon, and he's now a monster."

"I call it perfection, but I understand how some might view pokemon like us, as freaks," the zorua said as he looked towards us. "Anyways, I'm getting bored now. So, why don't we just start this, I'll at least be kind enough not to drag this out, when the outcome will be the same no matter what," the zorua said, as he took a few steps back.

"Ryder, get back, this is between us," Mandus growled, as he got ready to fight, despite the bullet the went straight through his upper torso.

Ryder let out a loud groan as he forced himself off the ground, and he moved back, while keeping an eye on his brainwashed brother. Once he was out of the way, all the humans pointed their weapons at Mandus, and all the pokemon got into battle stances, while the grovyle deliberately stood in front of the zorua who was hanging back from his group.

A moment of silence passed by, until a loud bang filled the air, followed by a thunder of automatic fire and blinding flashes. Mandus moved in an instant, and he jumped in the air with a blue aura forming into a ball in his palm. Mandus let out a grunt as he threw it with all of his might. The ball flew towards the humans and pokemon, and they all dove out of the way. The aura exploded as it hit the ground, and the room shook from the power.

Debris filled the air for a few seconds as all the pokemon and humans looked around for the lucario. One of the humans looked down towards the ground and saw the upper half of his team mate, and the human cringed at the sight of his dead comrade. One of the humans fired their gun, and a blue flash followed soon after. Another human fell to the ground as the debris cleared up, to reveal a gaping hole in one of the humans and Mandus standing behind him.

The delphox pointed its wooden staff towards the lucario, and a torrent of flames flew towards the lucario. Mandus quickly jumped to the side, but the fire readjusted itself and followed him. As Mandus avoided the torrent of flames, the last remaining human shot an automatic flurry at Mandus. Mandus foresaw the attack, and quickly dodged the stream of bullets, closed in, and elbowed the human in his hip. The human let out a grunt as the chesnaught swung his fist towards Mandus. The lucario whacked the side of the chesnaughts arm, and redirected the blow away from him.

Just as Mandus finished defending himself, he quickly charged an aura and punched the human, and the human flew into the incoming torrent of flames. The human let out a loud scream before he fell to the ground, burned to the point that bones could be seen, and a burnt cinder could be smelt by all.

"Alright guys, stop playing around and kill him already," the zorua shouted at his comrades, as the grovyle continued to protect him.

Zack inhaled a deep breath and let out a astronomical sized flamethrower. Mandus's eyes widened as he barely managed to jump out of the way. Before Mandus could catch his breath, a spray of embers flew towards Mandus from the delphox, the infernal flames left multiple burns on Mandus, and he quickly jumped out of the way shielding his face. As Mandus dodged one attack, the chesnaught quickly moved in and threw a punch at Mandus's face, the unsuspecting lucario suddenly felt his fist break through his defense, and smash into his right eye. Mandus tumbled to the ground, and rolled a few meters across the floor, but he gained control of himself and jumped up to his feet in mid roll. The lucario panted as his swollen eye clamped shut.

The mega evolved lucario let out a grunt, and a bright light flashed, and his body reverted back to his normal from. The now normal lucario fell to the ground, and laid flat as he panted in exhaustion. The three opponents all moved in, and formed a circle around him. The chesnaught moved in from behind, and grabbed Mandus by the arms and pinned him down to the ground. The zorua let out a laugh as him and the grovyle moved in towards Mandus.

"Wow, how weak have you gotten over the years," the zorua said in surprise as he stood directly in front of the lucario's face.

"Go to Hell," Mandus snarled.

"Haven't I told you my perception on reality before?" The zorua said as he looked Mandus directly in the eyes, "This world is Hell, and what better way for humanity to be tortured than for us to torture each other every day. It's almost funny actually, but then again, I have a dark humor," the zorua said with a laugh.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you in the most gruesome way possible, and after you're dead, I'm going to kill everything you care about," Mandus said in an exhausted voice, but still kept his piercing stare on the zorua.

"That's nice, but I only have one person I look up to, and even if you did by some miracle break free and kill us all right now, you'd never get close to the head of Genesis," the zorua responded and finished with a bored yawn.

"Leave him alone and let my brother go!" Ryder shouted, as he moved in on the scene.

"Ahh, it looks like he saved us the trouble of hunting him down," the zorua said with a smirk, "Capture him," the zorua then ordered.

The delphox quickly turned its attention towards Ryder, and extended its staff. A torrent of flames formed and shot towards Ryder. The jolteon shot out a lightning bolt, and the two forces collided, but the fire overwhelmed the lightning and continued forward. Ryder then quickly moved to the left, and the torrent of flames exploded against the wall.

"Don't resist jolteon, I don't want to have to damage my new prized possession," the zorua said as he lazily sat down, and spectated the scene.

"Zack, you got to snap out of this, I know you're still you," Ryder pleaded towards his brother, but the flareon showed no response.

"I already told you kid, your brother has no memories in his mind left, his mind has been written to obey me, if I truly wanted, I could have him commit suicide here," the zorua said to Ryder.

"Please just give him back, he's all I have left," Ryder begged the zorua.

"As I said before, you two will be reunited under my conditions, don't make me constantly repeat myself. Now submit, or we'll do this the hard way."

"Jolteon, just get out of here, you won't win in a straight up fight," Mandus said from the ground, as he was pinned down by the chesnaught.

"Alright, I'm really losing my patience, just capture the pest, I got things to do you know," the zorua said with frustration and his minions all faced Ryder, excluding the chesnaught that was pinning down Mandus.

Ryder cautiously took a step back as the delphox and the flareon that both approached him, the grovyle remained near the zorua, but kept its eyes on Ryder. The flareon opened its mouth wide and sprayed an ember out of its mouth. Ryder quickly moved back, and charged up a bolt of lightning. Once fully charged, Ryder shot the bolt, and it headed towards the delphox. The delphox swatted the bolt with its staff, and the bolt exploded with sparks flying everywhere.

Zack quickly dashed forward and tackled Ryder to the ground. Ryder tried to shove off his brother, but he found himself overpowered by his elder brother.

"Zack, this isn't you. Remember me, Mom, Dad, Lucy, and everyone else you cared about!" Ryder shouted at his brother as the flareon opened its mouth, and bit down on Ryders shoulder. The Jolteons eyes opened wide as a chunk of flesh was pulled off his right should.

"Zack… " Ryder said, as blood gushed out of his wound, and he felt his body becoming numb. Ryder began to feel weak, and for a moment, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his eyes shut.

"Looks like he's finished," the zorua said with a smirk, as he headed towards the unconscious jolteon.

Suddenly, the jolteons eyes bursted open, and electricity circulated from his body, to Zacks, and caused the flareon to yell in pain as electricity pulsed through his body. Zack fell to the ground, and Ryder quickly climbed back up. The zorua quickly jumped back behind his grovyle bodyguard.

"You're going to regret your actions," Ryder said in a dark tone, one that belonged to a totally different pokemon. Ryders eyes were now glaring towards the zorua with a cold glare that lusted for his blood.

The delphox stuck out its wooden staff, and a stream of fire flew towards Ryder. The jolteon just smirked, and opened his mouth and began to absorb the flames into his own body. The delphox stopped after a moment, and it just stared at the jolteon in shock.

Ryder aimed his snout towards the chesnaught on to of Mandus, and a stream of fire exited the jolteons mouth. The chesnaught quickly got off of Mandus, and moved to the side. Mandus rolled out of the way, and barely avoided getting severely burned. All of the pokemon in the room looked at Ryder in shock, all except the zorua, who understood what was truly going on.

"So, it's true," the zorua said with a growing smile, "I thought it was all lies, but you really are what the legends make you out to be," the zorua continued on.

As the zorua curiously watched the jolteon, Mandus got up, and began charging an aura in his right palm. The fighting type ran towards the chesnaught. The chesnaught responded by swinging his fist, but Mandus ducked under it, and extended his arm outwards, and his charging palm exploded in the chesnaughts hip. The pokemon slammed in the ground with a loud 'thud'. Mandus didn't waste a single moment, and he jumped on top of the chesnaught, and began wailing on his face with his right arm as he held him down with the other. The chesnaught tried to stop Mandus, but after a few seconds the chesnaught was covered in blood and bruises, and no long conscious.

The delphox was now shooting multiple fireballs at Ryder. The jolteon moved away from the attacks, and wore that same blood lust look in his eyes. Mandus took the Delphox's distraction, and he charged towards the unsuspecting fox. Mandus came from behind, and he wrapped his arm around its neck, and used the other to secure his arm in a lock. The delphox thrashed its body back and forth, but as Mandus continued to choke it from behind, its movements became weaker until it dropped its staff, and fell to the ground. With those pokemon out of the picture, Ryder and Mandus both looked at the zorua, and the grovyle.

"Well… this isn't looking good for us," the zorua said in a voice that didn't really sound to bothered by the situation.

"It's over," Mandus said in a bitter tone.

"It's far from over Mandus, do you really think you can stop me?" The zorua said as a bright pink light flashed, and the zorua changed forms. Mandus's eyes widened as his arms dropped from their fighting stance. A young female riolu now looked back at Mandus.

Out of nowhere, blood shot out of Mandus's shoulder, and the lucario began to fall to the ground. Standing behind him now, was the grovyle that was next to him earlier.

"Even while falling, you're still slow," The grovyle said as he dashed towards Ryder at a rate that no normal eye could comprehend it. Ryder quickly responded by jumping into the air, and avoided the grovyle.

"Wrong move," the grovyle said in a dull voice, as he jumped into the air towards the jolteon, with a leaf blade ready to slash him. Ryder smirked right before his mouth opened. The grovyle's face froze in mid air as an unknown force smashed him into the ground, and pinned him down with bone crushing pressure.

"Pathetic," Ryder spat out as he walked towards the zorua that still took the form of a riolu. The Zorua shifted back into his normal form as Ryder slowly walked towards him.

"Hey now, think this through. I'm not in the mood to kill you, but I will if you keep looking at me like that," the zorua said nervously as he backed away from the red eyed jolteon. The zorua soon found his back against the wall, and the jolteon stood directly in front of him, with his face only a few inches from his.

"I've thought this through, and I'm going to enjoy this... a lot," Ryder said with a sick twisted smile. Ryder opened his mouth, and slowly reached his fangs out towards the zorua's neck. Right before they reached him, Ryder pulled back as he let out a pained grunt, and began shaking his head frantically.

"What am I doing?" Ryder said in confusion as his personality began to stabilize again. The jolteon began to feel light headed as he tried to recall the past few minutes, but his mind failed to recollect the memories. The jolteon looked around the room, and his jaw fell low as he saw all the dead, and half dead pokemon and humans in this room.

"Did… Did I do this?" Ryder said as he began to tremble.

"What in the name of Arceus is wrong with you?" the zorua said as he began to move away from the jolteon.

"I… I didn't mean to…" the jolteon said as he uncontrollable quivered from the thought of the possible murders he committed.

Ryder saw the zorua give someone a nod, and the jolteon looked in the direction that the zorua looked in, and a few meters from him he saw Zack. The flareon opened his mouth wide, and a scorching hot stream of flames closed in on the jolteon.

"Zaaack!" Ryder shouted as the flames began scorching the entire left side of his body. Ryder screamed at the top of his lungs as the flames burned away the skin on the left side of his face, and his left torso. Ryder continued to scream as he fell to the ground, with the smell of burnt flesh present in the air, with smoke arising off the burnt skin on his body. Agonized screams echoed in the air as Ryder flailed around on the ground crying, until he passed out from shock.

The zorua walked up to Ryder's burnt corpse, and observed the severe damage done to him. The entire left side of his face had been burnt to the point that his species was unrecognizable, and his left torst was no better.

"Just kill him," the zorua ordered the flareon, "He's too unstable to tamper with."

The flareon gave a nod as he looked down at his near dead brother. A tear rolled down Zack's face, and he became surprised from the random emotion he was experiencing. The flareon nodded his head as he tried to understand why he was feeling this way.

"Hurry up, I may be cruel, but it's best to kill someone in his state as an act of mercy. He seems to suffer from some split personality, kind of symbolic that you scorched him in half," the zorua said, as his grovyle team mate managed to regroup with them.

"That was close," the grovyle said as he looked at the burn victim.

"Agreed," the zorua said with a nod.

As the two talked, Zack slowly lowered his head towards his brothers throat to finish off the last of his family. Just as his teeth clamped around his neck, a force grabbed the flareon by the neck, and pulled him into the air.

The flareon gasped in surprise as he saw Mandus panting as he held him. The lucario then threw the flareon in the air, and smashed his fist into the flareon's head, causing him to instantly lose consciousness.

"Don't you ever stay down!" the zorua shouted at Mandus, as the lucario got into a fighting stance.

"Just die, demon!" Mandus shouted as he through a ball of concentrated energy at the zorua.

The fox's eyes clamped shut, right before the blue aura collided with his right eye. A loud explosion went off, and the zorua was blown back, and the fox twitched on the ground, with blood streaming down from his face.

The grovyle quickly ran up to the zorua and flipped him over. The zorua yelled in pain as he was flipped over, and revealed a missing section of his skull, and a lot of torn off skin. Sadly, Mandus's attack was weak due to exhaustion, and had nowhere near the effect of his other attacks.

The grovyle quickly lifted up the zorua, and slung him of his shoulder, and he took off running towards the exit. Mandus took a few steps, but his body gave in, and he fell to his knees panting in exhaustion. After a second of recovering, Mandus looked over to Ryder, and walked towards the jolteon.

Mandus crouched down next to the burnt pokemon. He extended his arm, and gently pressed his fingers against his neck to feel for a pulse, but Mandus felt nothing. The lucario stood up as he nodded in disappointment.

The lucario then gazed at the unconscious flareon. Mandus was hesitant for a moment, but he walked towards the flareon, and picked him. Mandus then began limping away with the flareon, and the two left the Genesis facility, and left Ryder's remains behind.

* * *

**Point of View Zack, two weeks later**

"Where am I?" I questioned the lucario standing in front of me.

The lucario now leaned against a tree in the middle of a forest, and he looked up at me, "You're in the Kalos region now. Do you now remember anything? Genesis, Ryder, what you did?"

I took a moment to think, and I practically jumped as a thought ran through my head, "Wait, where is Ryder, is he-"

"Calm down, your still mentally recovering from what they did to you," A feminine voice said from behind me. I turned around, and behind me I saw a gardevoir floating in the air.

"Who're you?" I question the psychic.

"I am the one who restored your mind. It took a long time. Genesis is good at what they do," the gardevoir told me.

"So is no one going to tell me where the Hell my damn brother is!" I shouted at the two. The two glanced at each other for a moment, before Mandus took in a deep breath.

"During the time you were brainwashed, you had no control of your actions," Mandus began to say, "During the time you weren't yourself, you killed Ryder."

For a moment, time stood still as Mandus's words sunk into my head. Suddenly a memory of Ryder burning and screaming flashed into my head, and I recalled the murder of my brother.

"No… I… I didn't," I said as I began to feel light headed, and my head became clouded with the image of my brother repeatedly screaming nonstop.

"Mandus!" The gardevoir screamed at the lucario, as she levitated towards him, "Couldn't you have at least been a little more nice on how you worded that!?" the psychic shouted at him.

"He had to find out somehow," Mandus replied in a dull voice, as he jumped up into the tree, and sat on a tree branch.

"He was all I had left," I said as tears streamed down my eyes, "And… and I killed him."

* * *

**Two days later**

"How're you holding up?" the gardevoir known as Anya asked me.

I just remained silent for a moment as I stared at a stream of water, "Horrible," I answered.

"I family is never easy," Anya said as she stopped levitating and sat next to me and we both stared at the stream, and sitting in the tree branches above us was Mandus.

"I still have the images of me burning him alive stuck in my head, every time I close my eyes that's all I see," I told the gardevoir.

"I'd imagine that it was traumatizing."

"I've been thinking though," I said, as I looked at the gardevoir, "Things like this are happening all over Kalos. More pokemon are becoming victims every day by organizations like Genesis," I continued on, "Well my brother Ryder always wanted to help others, there were many times he got us into trouble because he was so selfless," I said as I reflected on the memories, "Ryder would want to put a stop to organizations like these from growing, so I was thinking that I would start fighting to stop organizations like Genesis, so no one ever has to go through what I did."

"So you're saying that you want to rebel against them?" Mandus called out from the trees above us.

I looked up in the trees towards the lucario, "Not just Genesis, if madness like this is happening everywhere, then I want to put an end to the madness," I said as I stood up, and stared at the lucario, "My brother would have wanted it, and I feel like I owe him this for taking away his life," I said with a bit of melancholy.

"You'd need a lot more than yourself to pull off something on that scale," the lucario said as he jumped down from the tree, and his back faced me.

"Then help me, if you truly want to fight them again, then you'd best do it with comrades on your side," I told the lucario.

"Help you?" the lucario said as he turned back towards me, "I prefer to hunt alone."

"Then what about Anya, she's someone you keep close, and she helps you?"

"Anya and I just know each other, I helped her in the past, so in exchange she does favors for me, like mending your mind," Mandus answered.

"What about you Anya, interested in making a difference with me?" I asked the gardevoir.

"I'd have to think on that one, but I would be interested to see where this goes," she answered me, before she looked at Mandus, "Mandus, you should take his words into consideration. You have been working against organizations like Genesis for a long while, perhaps his help will aid you."

"Perhaps," The lucario said, as he began taking my proposal into consideration.

"Just think, you took down that base on your own. Imagine what we could achieve if we all teamed up, imagine everyone working together to achieve a world where no one is threatened," I said to the lucario.

"I'll give you one month to show results, but at any time I may drop out if things don't go in a directions I like. And recruiting is your domain. I'm not that sociable," Mandus said.

"You're serious?" I said in surprise.

"Don't make me walk away now," Mandus replied in annoyance.

"Right. Sorry, but what should we go by, if we form an association we need a name to go by," I told the lucario.

"Just keep it simple, nothing ridiculous," Mandus told me.

"Alright, how about angels of peace, or maybe the pokemon peace revelation, or maybe-"

"We're just going to call it World peace association, and that's final, I refuse to be associated with anything absurd," Mandus interrupted.

"World peace association? That's kind of bland, don't you think?" the gardevoir asked Mandus.

"I'm not playing this game, the point is to get the point across to everyone, now this name is final," Mandus said in a stern voice, and I just gave him a nod.

After the discussion of the name, Mandus jumped back up in his tree, and that left me to myself, along with the gardevoir who was relatively silent at the moment. My heart still felt torn to pieces from what I did, despite my better mood, I was still a broken down flareon. But me making this commitment brought me a feeling of relief, almost as if I was avenging him, and saving others from what I did.

"I swear I'll make everything right, Ryder."

* * *

_**"Since the beginning of time, hatred has bred more hatred, and through all the hate, darkness was born"**_

_**"There is a point when many pokemon rise, and a point when many fall into the black abyss of their own madness and turn on those they love"**_

_**"It is those you least expect that are truly miserable and have been lying to you all along"**_

_**"Nothing that you know is true, and everything you have been told is a lie"**_

_**"And within the heart of darkness, a monster was born"**_

_**1Mr Gray presents**_

_**The Black Dawn - Book II: Impending Twilight**_

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, good luck to everyone on trying to connect all of this with the main story, some of it may be simple, but some isn't as simple. I'd also love to hear some theories, if anyone wants to share. Anyways, thank you for viewing, and I hope this book can turn out much better than the previous. With some honesty though, book 1 was kind of slow to write, since everything was setting the stage for everything to come, so brace yourselves for mind fucks, heart breaking scenes, and more conspiracies that surround politics...

Also, I know I keep saying this, but please check out my new story. I know I keep asking, but it'd mean a lot to me :D

Fun Fact: A question some of you may have asked is "Why the Kalos region?" well I have an answer for those of you who wanted to know. I choose to do The Black Dawn in the Kalos region simply because it was the newest game, and at the time I knew a lot about the landscape and such. I never had a DS, so I missed all of those pokemon, so I only had the gameboy generations, and X and Y. Plus, I also liked that Kalos had a little of everything from snow to swampy area's, to mountains, and even just pretty basic areas. So that is my reasoning behind the selection of the region.

Don't forget to suggest a funfact for me to go over, seriously though... I'm running out of ideas, so ideas are appreciated.


	78. Three months at best

Welcome to the next chapter. So, we finally get to go back to the present, and the journey continues! Also, thanks again to everyone who shared your opinions on the last two chapters, it was very interesting and some of you are pretty creative :D That's good though, I like to make people think, and I'll end this author note here.

* * *

**Chapter 78: Three months at best**

**One week after Book I**

**Point of View Black**

My eyes clenched shut as I extended my arm with the cast out and a loud saw like noise filled the air. A middle aged male doctor grabbed my arm, and I could feel my cast vibrating as he sawed the cast open. After a moment, the saw noise stopped, and I felt the doctor slide the cast off my arm.

"That's it?" I said in surprise as I flexed my arm out for the first time in weeks, "Arceus, this feels great!" I said excitedly as I put weight on my healed arm.

"I bet it would, must have sucked having that on you twenty-four-seven," Flare said from across the pokecenter room we were in. Sitting next to Flare was Alex, Kana, and… Gray, the very absol I just tended to stay away from. While I did appreciate his apology, I just wanted him to never speak to me, and that'd end that.

"How do you feel buddy?" Alex asked me as he jumped up, and gave me a friendly pat on the back. I was quick to swat away his hand. No matter how much I enjoyed the people I was around, I could still not stand being touched by others, it just bothered me at times.

"You know, this is the first time I've seen a cast marked like this…" the doctor said as he curiously observed the cast that fell victim to Hesh's lousy art. Because of those markings, everyone looked at me funny ever since I had it. Humans would laugh at me, and I could hear people shunning me constantly.

"Yeah…. That wasn't me," Alex said as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Anyways, you're all set to go home, just check out at the desk," the doctor said, as he opened the door for us.

For the millionth time, Alex completed the process of signing us out of the pokecenter, and after that, we headed back to the hotel. Alex's father was nice enough to keep the hotel rented while all of us recovered, and it was great, because shit finally stopped going wrong for once in our damn lives. I could almost say I was beginning to feel normal for once in my life.

"So, how's your arm?" Gray awkwardly asked me as we walked down the streets of Cyllage.

"Fine," I replied, as I quickly looked towards Flare, "So, we'll finally be starting the second gym battle very soon," I said to Flare.

"I know! I can't believe how long it's taking us to get to this. I mean seriously, things just got dragged out with all the stuff lately," Flare responded.

"Yeah, let's not talk about doom and gloom. I've had enough of that for a lifetime or two," I joked.

"Yeah-yeah, you've been so withdrawn from a topic that's still a problem, you know?" Flare said to me, and I just sighed.

"I just can't think about it anymore, that's all. Can we just enjoy what we have going, and pretend we're not all in peril," I said to the fox.

"Sure Black, we can ignore it, but don't cry when a killer riolu almost strangles you to death again," Flare responded with an attitude.

"I told you, we'd train and stuff to overcome this. I mean, I finally got my cast off, and your back is no longer injured. So, let's just enjoy today, and we'll start tomorrow," I said to Flare.

"You two are going to start training now?" Kana said, as she moved closer to us, as we continued to walk.

"Yep," Flare said with a excited nod.

"Well, best of luck to you," Kana said with a smile.

"You should join us as well Kana," I said to the jolteon.

The jolteon smirked, "Sure, why not."

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

My legs slowly carried me through a forest as I curiously looked around my old home. It amazed me how everything looked the same, felt the same, even smelled the same. This forest had hardly changed since I left, and that was exactly why I hated it here.

"I… I can't do this," I said as I sighed and took very slow steps as I inched my way back to my family's territory. Despite how much I really wanted to see Dante again, I just couldn't stand the thought of being a failure, and being the one everyone was talking about.. Even though it was only a few days to make the trip here, my hesitancy to come back made it take a full week..

"I shouldn't be here," I said to myself, as I felt every muscle in my body fighting, so I didn't just turn around and run. My head hung low as I continued to tread through the forest, as I remembered the circumstances I left under.

"You?" A voice called out from behind me. My ears perked up as I remembered an unpleasant voice, one I despised to my core. My head spun back, and standing behind me was one of my childhood tormentors, that one ninetales I resented.

"Go away," I bitterly said to him as I turned around, and I continued towards my home.

"Easy umbreon, I'm just a little surprised to see you come crawling back here, everybody suspected you were now too good for a dump such as this place," the ninetales said, as he followed behind me.

"Do you have a death with, I said go away?" I snapped back at him.

"Don't be so snobby, since you think you're a hot shot," the ninetales continued on, "Oh please tell me about how successful you are now, tell me about how you live in a fairy tale with all the humans, and coexist in-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, I spun around and I tackled him with everything I had. The ninetales fell to the ground, and rolled onto his back. I let out a vicious growl as I pinned him down with one paw, and held my other paw over his throat, with dark matter forming around it.

"You have no idea what the hell I have been through the past few years," I said in a dark tone as I barely touched his throat, and caused a trickle of blood to escape his throat. "I can't even describe how you and those other assholes made me feel in my youth. I have been driven towards looking for an escape from the pain you've caused me, and I come home to find comfort with my family, and this is what I come home to! Do you know what I've been through, the things I've seen, what I've endured!" I screamed at him. I let the dark matter fade, and punched him hard in the side of his jaw, then turned around, walking a few steps away in tears. "I don't even want to live anymore, and I don't even know why I continue to try!" I screamed with my head facing the ground, trying to vent all the built up emotions from my childhood and the past few years.

"Are you really back, after all these years?" a different voice said behind me.

"Dante?" I said spinning around in surprise. I stared at the leafeon with wide eyes. it seemed like I was looking at a long forgotten memory.

A smile began to creep on to his face, to which I sprinted towards him and tackled the leafeon into a hug. Dante fell over with me on top of him, as I gave him a strong hug, and for the first time in years, I felt his comforting hug. After a moment, I got off of Dante, and the leafeon recovered to his feet.

"Naomi, where have you been all these years, no one had a clue what happened to you?" Dante asked me, as the ninetales moaned in the background.

"All over," I answered Dante, not wanting to be specific.

"You're a psycho bitch!" The ninetales yelled as he got back up to his feet, and I could see a dark bruise tainting the gold of his fur from beneath.

"Just go already, I'm done dealing with you," I snarled at the fox.

"Fuck you!" He snapped at me as he turned around and ran from me.

"Looks like you've learned to handle yourself a bit more," Dante said as I watched the ninetales disappear into the forest.

"I'm hardly considered much of a fighter compared to the others I have seen over the years," I responded to Dante, as I remembered the monsters like Sam.

"Well hey, why don't we head back to our home, and we can catch up there?" Dante suggested. I gave the leafeon a nod, and the two of us made our way through the forest.

After a short walk, we came into a familiar clearing in the forest. Everything here was just how I remembered it. The tree we slept in still had the hollowed out hole in it, and our pond was still there as well.

"This feels like I'm dreaming," I said with nostalgia.

"Well, I'd imagine that happens when you randomly leave in middle of the night," Dante responded to me, "You know, a goodbye wouldn't have hurt?" A frown instantly formed on my face as Dante reminded me of the circumstances I left under. I always knew it was sudden, and I never once took his feelings into consideration, I was more worried about myself at the time.

"I'm so-so sorry Dante, I shouldn't have done that, but I felt like there was no choice at that point," I said with regret present in my tone.

"Well, I've missed you over the years, and me being a big brother, I always worried about you," Dante said, as I could feel the pain he went through over the years for me abandoning everyone.

"I've missed you as well, and I've really regretted the day I left," I told Dante.

"Then why didn't you at least come and visit once in a while, at least let us know you weren't dead. I was actually beginning to come to that conclusion!" Dante shouted at me in anger, and I flinched back from seeing the built up emotions in him coming out all at once.

"Because, I was mad and I didn't think I had a place left here. Everyone practically hated me here, even Dad didn't give a shit about me, and viewed me as a waste of space," I replied to Dante.

"Dad didn't hate you, he was just a bit selfish, and didn't understand what he was doing to you. He didn't realize what he was doing to you, until you snapped, and left us," Dante said to me, and reassured me that I was wanted in this world.

"Where is Dad, shouldn't he be around here somewhere?" I asked Dante, as I began looking in every direction for the jolteon. As I looked around, I noticed a sad look in Dante's eye.

"Dante, where's Dad?"

"Dad passed away last spring, and just like mom, he fell sick," Dante bitterly answered, and those words rung in my ears, as I took it in.

"Dad's… But I didn't…" I tried to speak, but I couldn't form a sentence from the shock of hearing such news.

"I'm sorry, but you came a little late to make peace with him. But, he did want me to pass some final words off to you, in the event that you returned."

"What did he want me to know?" I asked curiously, as I sniffled, and I attempted to hold back any tears, since I didn't want to cry for someone who treated me so poorly.

Dante exhaled as he tried to keep a grip on his emotions, "He wanted you to know that he was so sorry for being a horrible father. He said he should have been there for you, and that you aren't a mistake, and that he was the one who was a mistake. He would always love you. Those were the words he wanted me to pass onto you," Dante said, as he stared me in the eyes.

"Dad said that?" I said in surprise, followed by another sniffle.

"Almost word from word, so yes." Dante answered with a nod.

"He did change," I said in surprise, as a bittersweet smile formed on my face, "I wish I could have seen him one last time, if I would have know our last conversation would have been an argument, I would have done things differently," I said at the smile I had, turned to a depressed sigh.

For a few minutes, Dante gave me silence, until he spoke up, "So what have you been up to these past few years?" Dante asked me, as he sat on the grass, and braced himself for a long story.

"Everything is just repeatedly falling apart," I answered him, as my voice began to become shaky.

"Well, why don't you start from the beginning then, we've got plenty of time."

I gave Dante a nod as I took in a deep breath, and got a grip on myself. "Okay, so I'll start from when I had my mental break down, and I left," I began to say and Dante patiently listened to me, like the caring brother I remembered him as. "So, after I left I went in pursuit of my dream, you know, to work on Neuropsychology. So, I went to Luminose city, one of the biggest cities in Kalos. There I met up with my friend Lance, who lived with his trainer. Lance was an espeon that worked as a pokemon therapist, and he actually managed to help me get into one of those special pokemon schools where they teach pokemon to do things to contribute to society."

"I was still considered a wild pokemon, so Lance's trainer had to pretend to be my actual trainer, luckily Lance was able to convince him to do so, since he can telepathically talk to his trainer. Anyways, the only circumstance of me getting into it though, was that I had to get a full ride through it, since I didn't have money to pay for myself to go through the schooling. So, I took a test, and aced it easily. I was accepted, and I went through daily classes to teach me my line of work."

"So, where exactly do things get bad for you?" Dante asked me.

"I was just about to get to that," I answered him, "Anyways, after a long year of education, I was forcefully dropped from the program, due to me not being an Adequate evolution. They said that no one would have a use for a dark type, even if I was slightly smarter than others," I said with spite. "So, after a year of having perfect scores, getting bashed on for being an umbreon by all the psychic pricks, and spending nonstop hours studying and being the smartest pokemon in my class, I was dropped because of my evolution. Just like that, I didn't get a chance to at least defend myself or prove myself in any way," I said as I felt a ball forming in my throat, and I could feel a stinging in my eyes.

"I was cheated out of my dreams, all because of what I am!" I yelled as loud as I could. Dante's arm quickly wrapped around me, and pulled me into his chest as I began to sob. The fur on his chest absorbed my tears, and as I continued to cry, he held me tighter, almost as if he was trying to keep me from falling apart again.

"I'm sorry that, that happened Naomi, I didn't know that you went through so much," Dante gently told me, as he continued to hold me.

"That's not even the end of the story," I choked out of my mouth, "Things just got worse after I left Luminose, and…" I began to say, but I found myself not able to tell Dante what I've become as I was gone for so long.

"What happened after that?" he asked me.

"I… I can't bring myself to talk about it yet, can we just please talk about something else?" I asked Dante.

"Sure, whatever you want to talk about," he responded, as he released me, and gave an understanding nod.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Vincent and I both walked through the woods in silence. He and I needed a quiet place to discuss a personal matter regarding the health problems I have been having ever since I was reanimated. After a long walk away from the pokemon civilization known as Sanctuary, we came into an opening. In front of us now was a giant lake that stretched out for about a mile, and on the other side, another tree line could be seen. The sun was just now setting over the horizon, and the lake reflected the fiery colors of the sun.

It was a surprise to me that he actually got time to help me with my problem. I had a hard time talking to him about it, but surprisingly he was pretty understanding. Vincent's schedule has been pretty full ever since we apprehended Zygarde, and keeping a legendary under mind control took a lot of pokemon. So luckily, he had time to help me at all.

"So, you said you think you have an idea on what has been wrong with me the past few weeks?" I asked Vincent, as I faced him.

The espeon gave me a nod, before he answered me, "We originally had you reanimated to help us, and Genesis engineered you into existence," Vincent stated.

"I know that," I bluntly answered.

"Well, they knew we'd only need you for a few months, and that you'd be a loose end if you lived through everything planned. Of course, I suspect that they've got something up their sleeves with you, I suspected this from the beginning," Vincent told me.

"And you're sure of that?" I asked Vincent, even though I knew for a fact that it was true.

"Positive," Vincent answered, "But don't worry, I haven't told anyone, nor do I plan to," Vincent said.

"And why wouldn't you?" I questioned the espeon.

"I have my personal reasons, plus we'd have to kill you, and I don't view you as a bad pokemon that should be killed," Vincent answered.

I snorted at his remark, "Then you need to check your definition of 'good,' because I'm a horrible pokemon," I replied to him.

"I wouldn't be so sure on that, you're like me," Vincent retorted.

"How're we anything alike?"

"We both did things we didn't want to do, but we had to," Vincent simply answered, "And for our sins, we accept that we'll burn in the afterlife," he answered.

"But I had a choice in my actions, and after a certain point, I stopped feeling weighed down from the murders I've committed," I said to Vince.

"It'll all come crashing down on you one day, believe me," Vincent warned me, "But we should talk about what we originally came here for."

"Right," I said with a nod.

"So lately you have been showing symptoms of constant pains, light headedness, passing out, and feeling weak, and in severe cases coughing up blood," Vincent began to say, and I just nodded as he confirmed everything I've told him about. "I've seen this once before, one of our older members was genetically engineered by Genesis, and I believe you're suffering from the same thing he died from. Shortly after his symptoms surfaced, he lived for about six months."

"Wait, died?!" I spoke back in surprise.

"As a failsafe for some pokemon, Genesis engineers some pokemon to only live past a certain time. This also supports my theory that Genesis is using you. If they are manipulating you, they probably won't want you alive much longer after all of this is over, even if you do escape," Vincent said.

"Are you positive on this?" I firmly asked.

"Everything you have experienced, my friend experienced. Your body is slowly failing you, and to put things short, you're slowly dying," Vincent said, and my head fell low. "The pains you have are probably due to a variety of problems, and coughing up blood can actually occur from a sign of heart failure, which the lack of blood pumping through your body causes you to pass out," Vincent said, and I felt my morale fall even lower.

"Is there a way to stop this?" I asked Vincent.

Vincent shook his head, "A new body and a mind transfer would be the only way, but that isn't an option at the moment," Vincent said, "Sorry."

"How long do I have, six months at best?" I asked Vince, as I looked up at him for an honest answer.

The espeon let out a depressed sigh, "Your symptoms seem to be progressing much faster than my friend's symptoms. Over the past two weeks your symptoms have been getting worse, and I've been noticing almost immediately since I met you, and I didn't meet you long after your reanimation."

"How long?!" I shouted at him.

"Three months, at best," Vincent answered.

"Three months?" I said in a hollow tone, as I slowly rose back up.

"Listen, we can try and get you to a doctor to prolong your life and see if this is really what's up," Vincent offered.

"This is bullshit!" I shouted as loud as I could, and I walked towards a tree. Dark matter formed around my front right paw, and I began bashing my paw into a tree, taking out one chunk at a time.

"Why am I always some damn tool for everyone!" I said as I let out a long yell that scared away the pidgy in the area. As I continued to assault the tree, I felt a pain in my chest, and I fell over coughing violently. My vision began to blur, and I could feel the taste of bloody saliva in my mouth.

"Stark?" Vincent said as he ran towards me, but I held out my paw.

"I'm fine," I said as I spat out some blood, and I slowly struggled to stand back up. I wobbled around for a moment, before I stabilized myself, "I need some time alone," I said as I began to walk away.

"Stark?" Vincent called out to me, and I stopped walked for a moment.

"What?"

"Are you going to be alright? I mean if you need someone, I'm here for you" Vincent offered.

"I just need somewhere to be angry in peace, I'll be back later, if I don't drop dead," I said as I walked away in pure anger.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Ah well quite a few things happened this chapter. So... Dante is alive, you all probably didn't expect me to have one character without an entire family that mas massacred? Nah, I'm just kidding of course. Anyways.

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.

**Fun Fact:** The name Flare was originally just a name I called him until I could come up with a better name. Well, the name grew on me, and I went with it. I was tearing my hair out when I released the chapter revealing Flare's secret, because it seemed so damn corny, but I guess Team Flare is the type of group that would go around naming their pokemon after their organization. Well, as far as I can tell, no one really made a big deal about it, and I think the name is fitting.


	79. The Guardians

**IMPORTANT! hey I accidentally screwed up something last chapter. I wrote that two weeks passes, when I meant to make it one week. Sorry about that, but it isn't a huge deal. Second. I am just going to continue the chapters as if this was all one book, even though it is broken up into three. I'm just doing this to keep things less confusing, so this chapter will be 79. Thank you.**

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 79: The Guardians**

* * *

**Location: The Hall of Origin**

"I suppose you all know why you were called here today?" A pokemon asked four other members in a very large hall with towering pillars supporting the ceiling. A set of glowing orbs hovered around the room, giving off a bright blue light, tinting the room the same..

Celebi looked around the room acknowledging his four colleagues surrounding him: Mew, Entei, Articuno, and Xerneas.

"I am aware," Mew responded as she levitated in the air with her arms crossed, not really caring to be where she was today, "Hopefully you didn't bring me half way across the world for nothing."

"I know it involves Zygarde," The Legendary known as Entei spoke.

"Yes, I'm aware of what happened to Zygarde, and this act of heresy cannot be tolerated," Articuno added into the conversation as the avian stood on the ground.

Standing on the other side of the room was Xerneas. The deer like pokemon stood there in silence, not stating how much she knew of the situation. Celebi noticed how quiet Xerneas was, and he flew towards her, and levitated at eye level with her.

"Xerneas, is something bothering you, you seem… withdrawn?" Celebi questioned.

Xerneas looked Celebi in the eyes, "I'm fine, I just didn't expect something like this to happen," she answered with a small nod. Celebi gave her a nod in response, and he flew to the other side of the room. Celebi flew up to a collapsed pillar and took a seat on it as he prepared to make a more formal statement of why they were meeting.

"So, as you all know, Zygarde has been captured by a group known as The Crimson Dawn," Celebi began to say, "This group is rather small, but they are admirable for their skill in not only combat, but knowledge," Celebi said as he gave the info he reported a moment to settle in.

"The leader is a lucario who goes by the name Mandus. From what I have learned, he is very powerful, and is solely responsible for the capturing of Zygarde," Celebi informed the others.

"You're telling me that a mere lucario took down one of the guardians?" Entei said in surprise.

"I wouldn't underestimate normal pokemon. This lucario is rather interesting. I'd actually be interested in meeting him, but it seems that isn't an option," Celebi told Entei.

"Ridiculous! If he truly is committing acts against us, then we should just go there and make an example of him," Entei said with a growl in his voice.

"I told you not to underestimate him. Zygarde is much stronger than you, and as I looked into the past, I saw that Zygarde was easily outmatched," Celebi told Entei. The Legendary just rolled his eyes at Celebi.

"What is it that they are after?" Articuno questioned.

"I honestly do not know, but I have noticed that they have taken interest in an eon," Celebi answered as he leaned back a bit, and used his hands to hold him up.

"An Eon?" Articuno repeated in surprise.

Entei grinded his teeth together before speaking, "I thought the eons were killed off long ago, why is there one still alive?"

Celebi sighed as he looked over towards his tense colleagues, "We thought we killed them off, but from time to time they are born, even for us it would be impossible to track down each individual eeveelution that contains the blood of an eon. Most eons live their whole lives without realizing what that they are different, but this eon seems to have some control of his powers, even if he is very confused about what he is."

"Then he'll have to die. It was a mistake that that thing was even born," Entei said with fury.

"Hold on!" Mew spoke up, and attracted the attention of all the Legendaries, "I have been watching the Crimson group for a while now. And yes, they are planning to use this eon for something big, but I think it is in our interest to keep him alive for a bit longer," Mew suggested.

"You knew of Crimson all along and you never warned any of us about this?" Articuno said as his eyes narrowed in on Mew.

"I do know of Crimson, but I didn't expect things to escalate this much," Mew answered.

"Mew you are aware that keeping this kind of information from us is a serious crime, and you can be outcasted for this?" Celebi said in a serious tone.

"I am fully aware, but outcasting me will do more harm than good, because I have knowledge of these people. You will all need me as of now," Mew said as she looked into Celebi's eyes.

"So tell me then, Mew, Why keep the eon alive, how does this benefit us in any way?" Entei questioned Mew with a snarl.

"Simple, use the Eon as bait. Crimson will come for him eventually, and once Mandus is taken care of, I will personally kill the eon," Mew suggested, as Celebi began to think about her plan.

"Interesting, that will be taken into consideration, as will you refraining from informing us. But for now, I will not make a big deal of it, since your assistance will be needed," Celebi told Mew, as he turned towards Articuno and Entei.

"Now then, this leads to the next thing I would like to discuss," Celebi began to say, "With Zygarde's absence, a new Guardian is needed to fill his place. Articuno, Entei, you two are the next nominee's. So what I have decided is to make you both Guardians, but only until this whole situation is sorted out. Once this situation is sorted out, only one of you two will remain a Guardian, the work you put in from here will determine who stays."

"So, I finally get a chance to move up the hierarchy," Entei said in surprise, as he looked over to Articuno.

"This will be interesting," The avian Legendary responded.

"Now, would you both like to take the oath now?" Celebi asked the two Legendaries. Both nodded in sync. "Very well, follow me,"

Celebi led the two Legendaries into another room, and down a long hall. After a minute's walk, the entered into a colossal room. Occupying the center of this room was a mountainous spire with a blinding sphere of light at the top and stairs circling around leading to this source of powerful energy. Its mysterious aura filled the room with a nearly overwhelming feeling of divinity.

"There she is, the mother of all creation," Celebi said as he led the other two up the stairs.

"It has been a long time since I've been here. I'd almost forgotten how powerful Arceus's energy was, even if she has been asleep for as long as I can remember," Articuno stated.

"One day she will awake, and when she does, a new world shall be born," Celebi informed the two.

"We know the prophecy just as well as you do, no need to remind us," Entei spoke back to Celebi.

"Of course," Celebi said with a nod as the three reached the peak of the spire and stood below the shining sphere above them. Articuno landed on the ground and bowed his head, Entei bowed his head as well.

"Alright, we shall begin the oath of the Guardians," Celebi said as he flew in front of the two who were bowing to Arceus. "Articuno, and Entei. You two have been chosen to help protect this world. Along with keeping peace amongst the world, you must also vow to protect the Creator Arceus with your lives, no matter what the cost," Celebi said, as the two continued to bow their heads.

"Do you two agree to solemnly dedicate your lives to the Creator?" Celebi asked the two.

"I will dedicate everything to the Creator," Entei said as he continued to bow.

"My life is Arceus's," Articuno replied.

"You two have now accepted the oath of being the next two Guardians. From now on, you all have control over the Legendaries below you in the hierarchy. Everybody will put their trust in you two to help the other Guardians protect the world. May Arceus guide you two down the right path," Celebi finished, and the two Legendaries raised their heads.

"So, we're now officially Guardians?" Articuno asked.

"You two are now on equal ground with Xerneas, Mew, Jirachi, Zygarde, and of course me," Celebi answered the ice type. "Anyways, your first priority will be stopping the Crimson Dawn and saving Zygarde. As to whether you choose to kill the eon first is your call."

Entei acknowledged his two colleagues before he began walking down the incline back towards the Hall of Origin "You all do as you please, I will be heading out to kill this lucario soon. We'll have to see how he deals with the three Legendary beasts."

"Entei, Don't underestimate the enemy, I sense that there is more to all of this, but I can't foresee anything yet," Celebi warned Entei.

"I won't lose to a feeble lucario," Entei scoffed as he walked away.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"So, are you ready for this," I said with a toothy grin, as Flare stood a few meters from me with a toothy grin on his face as well.

"I warn you Black, I may be small, but I'm stronger than I look," Flare responded, with a confidence.

The two of us were now just outside of Cyllage city, in a grass field that was vacant of anyone. Kana stood to the side, as she spectated us two, she was also going to be the ref of this friendly spar we were about to engage in. A breeze gently blew through the air, and the two of us waited for Kana to give us the green light to go. It was kind of weird thinking that this was our first time ever fighting, and I was nervous, since I didn't want to lose to someone smaller than myself.

"Get ready," the jolteon began to say, as Flare and I both got in our fighting stances, "and, begin!" Kana shouted.

Flare inhaled a deep breath as he jumped towards me, and his mouth opened, and embers of all sizes sprayed towards me. The embers singed me, and I cringed as I ran through them and swung my paw at Flare's face. The fennekin quickly jumped back as he inhaled another breath.

"Get back here!" I yelled at him as I ran after him. Right before Flare attacked me, I slammed my body into him, causing the fennekin to misfire a flamethrower into the air.

Flare groaned as he lied on his back. I jumped in the air and targeted his small body. Flare then revealed a sneaky smirk, and he shot a fireball towards me. My eyes widened as the fireball collided with my chest, and I flew the opposite direction, and soon smashed onto the hard ground with smoke rising from my burnt fur.

"Dammit," I groaned, as I felt the singed fur on my chest. Luckily Flare was smart enough not to use full strength, or I'd be back in the pokecenter. After a moment, I shook off the pain, and I got back up. Flare was patiently waiting to see if I'd recover from his sneaky attack.

"You alright?" Flare asked me.

"I'm fine," I replied back, as I began charging up a dark energy in my mouth.

Flare's eyes widened in surprise as a shadow ball flew towards him. He jumped back, and the ball exploded in the spot he was just standing on, and it created a black smoke. Taking advantage of the smokescreen that had formed, I charged through it head first. Flare flinched back as my skull smashed into his right cheekbone, and the fennekin flew back and rolled along the ground, creating a dust cloud in his trail.

"Owww," Flare moaned as he quickly got back up, and faced me, "Okay, try and beat this," Flare said as a few flurries of fire surrounded him, until his entire body bursted into flames.

I nervously gulped in response. Flare was using his most aggressive attack against me. I then let out a grunt as I began concentrating the dark matter around me, and a few particles of darkness became visible around me, but my concentration broke, and I began panting in exhaustion from the failed attempt of using dark matter on a higher level.

"Still not there yet," I said in disappointment. When I looked up and saw Flare charging at me. I quickly dove to the side, as I felt a wave of heat pass me. I quickly crawled back up to my feet in time, just to avoid another tackle from Flare; this time I felt the heat barely singe me.

Inhaling a deep breath, I charged a shadow ball in my mouth, and I launched it towards Flare. The fennekin jumped to the side as he kept his pace, while running towards me. I moved away once again, but this time Flare stopped in place. Flare opened his mouth wide, and all the flames around his body were sucked into his mouth.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I realized what he was doing. I quickly darted towards the nearest piece of cover, which was a rock that was about three times my size. I clenched my eyes shut as Flare blew a Hell storm of fire my way. The rock shielded me from the flames, and I could feel myself over heating from the scorching flames that impacted my cover.

It took a moment, but the flames eventually died down. I exhaled a breath of relief as I crawled out from my hiding spot, and I noticed all the burnt grass. Standing a few meters away was Flare, the fennekin just patiently waited for me, being a good sport in our spar.

"You're holding out pretty well Black, but you're going to continue to struggle if you can't be more offensive," Kana said to me, from a safe distance.

"You wanna get in here?" I responded to the jolteon.

"Nah, I like my fur how it is," She answered back smirking. Taking note of the fur comment, I looked at some of the burns on my body, and I noticed how burnt my fur was. It was rather depressing in a way, since I liked how I looked.

"Alright Flare, let's finish this game," I spoke up to the fox as I readied myself to get third degree burns.

"If you say so. Didn't know you were so eager to lose," Flare teased, as he dashed towards me and shot a spray of embers towards me. I zigzagged around the embers as half of them further singed my fur.

"Ah, damn, ow!" I shouted as I got close to Flare, and continued to get scorched. Flare then inhaled another deep breath, and he exhaled a thick smoke from his mouth that clouded the entire area around me. I began coughing violently as my eyes stung and began to water up from the thick smoke. Suddenly, I saw a bright light coming towards me.

"Arceus n-" I tried to shout, but Flare tackled me with a fire charge, and I felt a fiery explosion against my side as I tumbled to the ground not even knowing which way was up and down. I lied on the ground as the smoke cleared up, as I lied down, I fazed in and out of consciousness.

"You okay?" Flare asked me, as he stood over me, and wore a worried look on his face.

"Did I really just lose to you?" I said in a weak voice.

"And what made you think I was weak? Sure I struggled in the past a bit, but I was just rusty since I didn't fight a lot at the time. But, with all the stuff going on, I feel like I'm getting back into the rift of being a decent fighter again," Flare spoke back to me.

"I feel so lame," I said in frustration as I began to force myself up, but my legs gave out.

"Hey, take it easy Black," Kana said, as she stood next to Flare.

"I seriously lost?" I continued to say in disbelief, "I… lost," I continued on. Never in my life had I expected to lose to Flare, he was just so… small and he looked harmless.

"Don't beat yourself up, you're prone to lose to me. I'm just an offensive fighter, and umbreons are more defensive. Well, if you mastered dark matter, you'd probably chew me up and spit me out," Flare said with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah well… your attacks are just cheap and unfair," I replied back.

"Don't be a sore loser, umbreons can be very scary when they have complete control over dark matter. Just remember back to that one white umbreon we fought back in Ambrette," Flare added.

"I don't even want to talk about that prick," I replied back tensely.

"He's still out there you know, and we may face off against him again. Do you think we'll get that lucky again? Because I don't think so. We'll die if we're not prepared for someone like him," Flare reminded me.

"I know-I know," I replied back in frustration.

Kana randomly walked over me, and looked into my eyes as she pinned her paw to the scar on my chest, and I felt a stinging pain spike through my body from my burns, "I've been meaning to ask you something, has something been bothering you lately, you have been quiet ever since-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," I interrupted her.

"Here we are, back at square one," Flare said as he faced his back towards me.

"Square one?" I repeated.

"You're being withdrawn from everyone, you act somewhat normal when we're in groups, but when we're in private, it is very clear that you're bothered by something," Flare said. Kana continued to hold me down with her paw, as she continued to look at me, almost as if she was breaking down the barrier between us.

I sighed as I laid my head back, and I looked past Kana, and up into the evening sky, "I'm just worn down. Things just seem to be rough, and I don't like the fact that nothing has happened, because I am literally not able to sleep at night because I am terrified. I mean we have so many people out to get us, I mean we can all be killed in our sleep the moment we let our guard down" I confessed to them.

"And that's it?" Flare questioned me, almost as if he knew there was more I was bottling up inside me.

My head turned over, so Kana nor Flare could see my face, "I'm still disturbed with what happened to Nia," I answered in a pained tone.

"Why do you care so much about her, she was a mean pokemon, and sure she helped us, but she was a murderer," Flare said, as he walked over to the side I was facing.

"Yeah well, you just don't empathize with us," I bluntly told Flare.

"Empathize?" Flare repeated back, as he tried to grasp what I was getting at.

"She and I were kindred spirits. As you know, I spent some time getting to know her. I learned that we both had a lot in common. It just disturbs me to see someone like her weighed down so much by her sins that she looked for an escape and went through with it," I said in melancholy.

"I mean, will that be me one day? I'll get so worn down that I'll just give up," I said in a hollow tone.

"Black, you shouldn't let that stuff get in your head, she's probably in a better place now," Kana said, as she released her paw off my chest.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"You're leaving tomorrow, but you literally just got here!?" Dante said in surprise, as we sat in front of the pond at my old home.

"Sorry, I really want to stay, but I really need to get back. I have something I need to do," I replied.

"And why can't you at least tell me what you're up to after all these years?"

"Because, I don't want you to get involved," I answered.

"Well, when can I expect you back?" Dante curiously asked me.

Those words repeated in my ears as I stood there speechless. In all honesty, I didn't know if I planned to come back, my mindset has hardly changed since that night Skull Face stopped me from killing myself. Sure, I had Dante who would try and help me, but I could never tell him what I've done, and he couldn't help me if he didn't understand me.

"I don't know," I bluntly responded.

"This is bullshit," Dante spat out. Dante sat up, as he looked directly at me, "You can't just randomly disappear one day, and then come back years later and leave the next morning," Dante told me as anger became present in his body language and tone.

"I've already wasted too much time coming here. I need to hurry back tomorrow," I sternly told Dante.

"Why would you even bother coming back then, just so I can be reminded of you, and then so I can wait day after day sick to my stomach thinking my sister is in danger. Do you know how hard it was, I love you so much, and I've been so worried about you every single day and minute," Dante bitterly responded to me.

"I came back, because I don't know if I'll ever see you again. I don't know if I'll be able to live with myself much longer," I said with years of pain in my tone.

"Naomi, what are you talking about? You aren't thinking about-"

"I don't know what I am thinking of doing. I would've already done it if someone didn't stop me. I would have tried again if I didn't have one last thing to finish. I feel like I'm only being kept together because I have to set things right, and tomorrow will be the day I begin to make things right," I answered Dante.

"Naomi, you aren't speaking any damn sense, and you're starting to piss me off!" Dante yelled at me as he stomped his paw on the ground, "I can't believe you're acting like this, what the hell happened to my sister? You use to be so open, and now you're withdrawn and you're being distant," Dante said in anger as he leaned close to me, and I felt my body shiver from seeing him so upset.

"You just can't empathize with me, you'll never understand me either," I truthfully responded, as I avoided eye contact in fear of his response.

"Naomi… I'm your damn brother. I may not be able to relate to you completely, but I'll always be by your side. Plus, we're the only family we have left, so don't just shut me out like this."

"I'm sorry, but it has to be this way," I responded with guilt building up inside me.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

I was now far out in the forest, so far that it'd take me all day to get back to Sanctuary. I looked around cautiously in every direction until I was sure that I was alone.

I inhaled a deep breath before I spoke, "Zero, I know you're listening, I demand answers now," I said in a stern tone as I awaited a response.

"I am here," Zero responded through the technology in my head.

"Is what Vincent told me true, and don't even think of lying," I asked him in a dark tone.

For a moment I received no response, "The espeon is absolutely right. We did create you to only live a short amount of time, and your expiration is expected in around three to four months, just as Vincent told you," Zero replied.

"You…, You-" I began to say, but I found myself to infuriated to actually for words.

"Calm down Stark," Zero said in a calm tone.

"I knew I was just going to be thrown away after this whole thing!" I yelled at Zero.

"Stark, I said ca-"

"Don't tell me to calm down, I just found out I'm going to die!" I yelled at him.

"There is a method behind what we did," Zero replied back to me, "If your espionage mission is a success, I can make you healthy, I can give you back your life expectancy."

I suddenly fell silent as I heard the possibility of survival, "You can fix this?"

"Of course, if you do as I tell you. So far you have done great and if you gain a little more trust, they will tell you about what we are looking for," Zero reassured me.

"And how do I know you aren't just lying?"

"I guess you just have to have faith. I'm a pokemon of my word, I will see that you live through this."

"I… I think this over, I will contact you later," I told Zero, and after that his voice stopped talking to me. I let out a stressed sigh as my limbs fell limp and I fell to the ground without a clue on what to do. Truthfully, I didn't trust Zero or Genesis. I knew that Zero couldn't be trusted, and I highly doubted I would be allowed to live.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** It was about time I got some Legendary stuff put into this story, and I actually had to rewrite the beginning part a few times to make myself like it. Well, hopefully it came out good, and it was fun to write, but also tricky. Anyways, thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who supports this story.

Also thank you genericgamer207 for helping me edit this chapter, and putting in extra hard work to help with dialogue between Legendaries.

**Fun Fact:** It has recently come to my attention that fennekin is actually based off a certain fox. The fox is know as a fennec, and it can be found in Africa. These things really do resemble a fennekin, obviously with some differences, but look it up, I'd actually say it looks cute, and I don't say that often.


	80. Always thinking about you

**Book 2: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 80: Always thinking about you**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

I let out a tired yawn as I pried myself off the cold ground. I took a step out of the den I use to live in and I looked up into the night sky. The rings on my body began to glow once I stepped out into the moonlight. I bathed in the rejuvenating lunar rays, and I felt so alive for once.

I looked back in the hole in the tree that Dante and I slept in, and I saw my sleeping brother soundly breathing. I walked back towards Dante and stood over him, and gave one last gaze at him.

"Goodbye Dante, I'm sorry to do this to you again, but it has to be this way," I said with deep melancholy in my voice.

With those final words said, I left my brother so I could regroup with Black, and fulfill my deal with Skull Face. It hurt me a lot to do this to my own brother, but I had one final thing to do, one final task to endure to make things right.

After a few hours of walking I eventually came out of the forest. This was the exact same area I entered the forest, and there was a reason I came back to this exact location. I scanned the area carefully until I noticed a patch of dirt in all the grass around me. I walked up to the dirt patch and began digging up something very valuable to me. After a minute, I felt my paw hit something, and I reached my snout in the hole and pulled out a sack. I placed the sack on the ground and dusted it off before I picked it back up and continued my journey.

The sack which I just acquired contained the injections I needed to keep my brain functioning. I absolutely hated these things, sure it gave me a small boost in intelligence, but I didn't need them to be a genius. These syringes caused more problems than they helped. Example, I am quadruped so I can't inject myself, so imagine having to ask a stranger to inject you with a random needle, but I mostly went with the lie that they were my insulin shots, and I was diabetic. I guess that was believable, compared to nano technology injects.

The route I had planned was going to be efficient. Instead of travelling through all the cities and taking the longest way possible, I was going to follow a river that would literally take me as far as Geosenge. Once I got to Geosenge, I would imagine that Black would be in Shalour, or somewhere around that city. This was the fastest way possible, and I needed to hurry because I spent longer than I needed on seeing my brother.

So for the next hour, I spent my time getting to the river. When I arrived at the river, I began following it as planned. Soon the sun rose and it was early morning. My stomach grumbled in pain, as I felt starvation taking its effect. I tried to ward off the feeling, but my stomach continued to beg me to feed it. I cringed as my stomach began to develop the sick feeling you get when you haven't eaten in a while.

* * *

"Arceus, I'm starved," I complained out loud as I dragged my paws along the rocky ground of a mountain.

"You'll get used to the feeling," A white umbreon responded to me as he walked ahead of me.

"I really don't want to get used to poor living conditions," I muttered to myself. Stark just shrugged off what I said and we continued walking through the mountainous terrain.

After hours of nonstop walking through a forest Stark decided that we should stop for a brake. I knew he was only stopping for me, Stark wasn't the type to take brakes. As I lied on the hard ground with a gurgling stomach Stark just paced around. Here and there he would get bored and he'd randomly strike a rock with a dark matter attack.

"Naomi, how come you never talk about your family or anything?" Stark asked me out of nowhere.

My head jolted up as I took in the random question that I never expected, "My family?" I said in confusion. "Why?"

"I'm bored I guess," he dryly answered.

"Well…" I began to say nervously, "There is my Dad who is a jolteon, my mother who is a very caring glaceon, and my brother Dante who used to always be there for me," I answered Stark.

"That's all, nothing else worth sharing?" Stark questioned me in disappointment.

"We were mostly a normal family, until I left one night," I told Stark.

"Why'd you leave?" he asked me.

"Because… I had a breakdown from all the stress everyone caused me, and I ran away," I answered as I thought back to my brother and wished I stayed with him.

Stark let out a sigh, "I never actually knew my family. When I was very young I just remember aimlessly wandering through a forest until I met Sam. Sam and I stayed together after that, eventually we were captured by Jack, and we were taught to be killers," Stark told me. "I always wondered who my real family was, why I was left alone, why I'm white and not black like most umbreons," Stark said with a little pain in his voice.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I honestly responded to him.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like I expect you to care," Stark said.

I got myself up off the ground, and I moved towards Stark who was now facing away from me. I gave him a strong nudge in the arm, and he turned towards me.

"Stark, my brother always told me it wasn't good to bottle things up inside of you. It'll slowly break you down if you hide your feeling from the world, so if you need to talk I'm here for you," I told Stark as I looked into his red eyes.

Stark quickly jumped back from me as he looked at me with a confused look, "I'm a killer, so stop acting like I need to open up, beside, I don't need people worrying about me," Stark yelled at me in anger, but I couldn't help but not feel anger, but sorrow instead.

"I don't think you're a monster," I truthfully told him.

"Tff, Whatever," Stark muttered.

"If you were such a horrible pokemon, then why is it that sometimes you choose to spare pokemon and humans, why is it that you went out of your way to protect me at times?" I questioned the white umbreon.

Stark froze up for a moment before he was able to respond, "Because, I like to pretend I'm not a monster."

"You wouldn't pretend to do that if you didn't care. I think you want to be a better pokemon. A monster like Sam could kill children and still sleep perfectly fine that night, monsters like him are as light as a feather, but I don't see that in you."

"Then what do you see in me?" Stark asked me as he looked at me with curiosity.

"An umbreon with a lot of weight on his back."

**Six months later**

I cringed in pain as Stark carried me on his back. A giant gash with blood soaking down from it was on my upper right arm. I acquired the gash in a job Stark and I were just on. The mission was to assassinate a man, but his bodyguard scyther managed to get me pretty good. Stark chose to save me, while Sam and Raiden finished off the fight.

"How is your arm?" Stark asked me as he sat me down on the grassy ground right next to a stream just outside of the city we were in.

"It's fine, I just lost a bit of blood, but I think it's slowing down," I responded to Stark as I tried to stand up, but he pushed me back down.

"Don't push it, just rest for a bit," Stark said with concern.

"Sure," I said as I lied on my uninjured side. A few minutes passed by that I spent looking up at the crescent shaped moon. The rings on my body glowed in response to the moon, and I could feel my wound healing up. I looked over to Stark to notice that the black rings on his body didn't really glow like mine did, but I could tell that the moon still gave him more strength.

"Stark?" I called out.

Stark looked towards me, "Is something wrong?"

"No, but haven't you ever considered leaving Jack?" I nervously asked and Stark let out a sigh after I asked the question.

"All the time," he truthfully answered me, "But it isn't that simple."

"It's possible though, we'd just have to get these tracker chips out of us and we could escape to another region or something until Jack forgets about us," I suggested.

"Good luck with getting the tracker out, it's pretty small and hard to get to," Stark replied.

"Well, I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing this, this could be our chance to start over, we could change our lives around," I pleaded to Stark.

Stark walked over to me, and pushed me onto my back as he gently placed a paw on my chest. "Before I met you I would have never considered doing this, but I'd consider running away with you," Stark said as he looked down at me.

"When though?" I asked him.

"I don't know, I need to think about if I really want to do this," Stark answered.

"Well, I'm afraid I'll die before that," I said to Stark, "I'm constantly fearing that Sam or Jack is going to kill me, or I'm going to die on a job. I can't keep living in fear like this, it's driving me mad," I said in a desperate tone..

Stark leaned in closer to me, "I promise I'll keep you alive. I'll protect you from Sam and Jack, just leave all the dirty work to me, I really don't want anything bad to happen to you," Stark said with complete honesty.

I remained silent for a moment as I took in Stark's caring words. It was so shocking to me on how we grew so close over the months, especially since we hated each other at first. Honestly, I felt a connection between Stark and I, he made me feel safe in a time of need, he kept me together when I had my breakdowns, and for this I think I was starting to grow other feelings towards him. Stark's hand soon moved off my chest and onto the ground, and I felt the warmth of his chest up against mine, I felt myself blushing, luckily my fur masked my embarrassment.

I reached out my uninjured arm and wrapped it around the back of his neck and pulled him in closer to me, Stark and I nuzzled our necks together in silence as I cherished the affectionate moment we were sharing.

"Naomi," Stark began to say as he brushed one of his paws against the back of my head, "There is something I've been meaning to tell you for a very long time," Stark said as he exhaled a deep breath, "I… I wanted to tell you that I-"

"What the Hell are you two doing!?" A voice shouted at the two of us, Stark instantly jumped off of me. Looking past Stark, I saw Sam standing a few meters away with his arms crossed. Stark just stood there with a frightened look on his face, it was something I've never seen on him, but I guess he was just mostly embarrassed since we were caught like this.

"N-nothing," Stark replied to Sam as he exhaled a deep breath to calm himself.

"Yeah-well, I don't care about what you two do when you're alone, just stop doing your mating ritual stuff, and let's get back to Jack, we're done here," Sam said as he waved us to follow him.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Stark piped up at the riolu.

"Whatever Stark," Sam said as he continued walking away.

I rolled over onto my chest and I got back up. Stark stood in place with his mouth slightly agape for a moment as he watched the riolu walk away.

"Stark?" I said to get his attention.

"Huh?" he said while still in shock.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me a moment ago?" I asked him nervously.

Stark looked away suddenly and avoided eye contact, "Nothing, just forget about it," he said as he quickly followed the riolu.

My head and ears quickly lowered as Stark walked away. I really wished that moment would have lasted just a few seconds longer. I really wanted to hear him say what I thought he was going to say, I really wanted us to be a thing, and we could both leave this Hellish life and start over.

* * *

I snapped out of my daydreaming and I quickly noticed how much time has passed by. I stopped walking and I stood next to the edge of the river as I looked at the current of water. A tear fell from my eye and joined the flowing current.

"Stark…" I said as I continued to recall our time together. I lied down on my stomach and I placed one of my paws in the river as rogue tears continued to stream down from my eyes.

It had felt like a million years since I'd seen him. I'd give anything to be with Stark again. Ever since the day Stark was killed by Jack, life hasn't been the same. It was like a giant part of me was ripped out of my chest, and nothing could fill this abyss of loss and misery.

If I never stopped Stark from killing Jack, we would both be alright right now. We would both be somewhere else in the Kalos region, living a peaceful life. We would possibly have a family of our own by now, and Stark could proudly say he was a part of someone's life and had family for him to love. It was never fair that Stark was forced into that life, he was a good pokemon forced to live as something he wasn't, and after a while, he became the role he was forced into.

* * *

Everything was pitch black. I heard talking outside of this darkness, but I couldn't understand a word they were saying. I tried to understand them, but they felt so far from where I was. I continued to try and understand them. My eyes slowly creaked open and they were instantly blinded by bright lights that were shining brightly above me.

"She's awake!" a female yelled, and I saw a blur move across my vision. I tried to understand what was going on, but nothing made sense.

A few moments passed by and my vision slowly returned to me. I was currently lying on a bed in some kind of pokecenter. A lot of things were attached to me, but I had little understanding on what was going on. I tried to move, but I quickly found myself too weak to move.

After a few minutes an old man walked into the room. He wore round glasses around his face, and had a wrinkled face. The old man also wore casual doctor clothes, and he appeared to be going bald and had very little of his dark brown hair left.

I fearfully watched the man as he walked up to me and held up a clipboard. "You are probably very confused right now, and I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them."

I tried to speak, but all that came out was a raspy gurgling noise.

"Your name is Naomi, and you have been in a coma. I'm afraid it has been one year, but this is considered a miracle that you awoke due to the circumstances," the doctor said to me.

"Co… ma?" I said in confusion, hardly even able to understand these words, "Na…omi?" I repeated in confusion.

"She appears to be mentally disabled," A psychic voice said in my mind, looking across the room, I saw an alakazam walking towards me..

"I see, it doesn't surprise me," the human stated, "Should we just put her to sleep then?"

"No-no, that won't be necessary, we actually have a program to help pokemon like her. I've actually met her once before all of this, she's a genius and Genesis can make use of a pokemon as intelligent as her. That is why we saved her of course," the alakazam telepathically said.

"Then I'll let you take care of that," the doctor said as he wrote some info down on the clipboard he was holding.

One month later in Flashback

"Alright Naomi, you're doing good," the alakazam said to me as a Kecleon assisted me in walking down a vacant hall. I struggled to move my body, and I managed to walk a short distance down the hall, with the assistance of the Kecleon, "Good job," the alakazam said, and the Kecleon allowed me to lie down..

This was all a part of the physical therapy I was going through to help myself get back to normal. When I was shot in the head by Jack, a lot went wrong in my brain, so I kind of had to relearn a lot of stuff, and build up my muscles again due to inactivity.

"You're doing great Naomi, your recovery is going by very quickly due to the technology we have here at Genesis," the alakazam said.

"I know," I responded to him.

"And after a few more medical operations, we'll be able to increase the dosage you will take for the nanites we're prescribing you," the psychic told me.

"So when will I be free to leave?" I questioned him.

"Very soon, give it two or three months," he told me. "But why are you in such a hurry if you said you were interested in working with us?"

"Because, I have some personal business to wrap up before I can move on with my life," I answered him with the short version.

"Alright, well we'll help you recover so you can do what you need to, I'll be sure to get you a job working with us," the alakazam said with a smile.

"We'll see where things go, I've always wanted to work in the science field, and this organization seems promising," I responded.

"It is promising. Here at Genesis we have some of the most advanced technology. People view some of the experiments as unorthodox, but with our advancements we have created things thought of as impossible, like saving you for example. If you were in a normal pokecenter you would have been in a bed right now drooling all over yourself," the alakazam said, and the thought sent a shiver down my spine.

"Yeah, I look forward to repaying you guys, but I really do look forward to contributing to these advancements in the world," I said with a fake smile. In all honesty, I wanted to work here, but right now I had one thing on my mind: revenge. Before I moved on with anything, Jack had to pay for killing Stark, and Sam was also on my list for being such a disgusting demon..

'I'm coming for you,' I said in my mind as I thought of my revenge.

* * *

After I finished reflecting on the past, I stopped resting and I got back up onto my feet. I wiped off my teary eyes and I looked ahead.

"Skull Face, you better not be lying to me, I'm really running out of options," I said to myself.

Most of the things I was thinking about lately left me with a bitter feeling. I promised Genesis that I would work with them after all of this, but I wasn't even sure if that is what I wanted after this was over. My heart was no longer in the same place; I was just desperate to get closure on Jack. And everything after Jack was going to be a surprise; I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do after all of this.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, that chapter was a lot of things I have never done. So, as you all noticed, I tried writing a bit of romance in this chapter between Stark and Naomi. I've never written anything romance, so my apologies if it came off as cheesy or bad. But hey, I got to learn it somehow, right? Funny story, as I was writing the Naomi and Stark scene, I heard something behind me and my Mom was behind me... That scared the shit out of me, because no one knows I write this story, so if she had to find out somehow, that wouldn't be my preferred way... After that I started locking the door in my computer room, I don't care what they think I'm doing when the door is locked...

Thank you genericgamer207 for helping with the editing, I appreciate it.

**Qestion:** How bad was my attempt at the Stark and Naomi scene? Any tips anyone would like to share, or did I do fine? Sorry, I do like this element of the story, but it is something I'm not good at.

**Fun Fact:** In very early story development, I considered Stark actually being a clone of Black that would be his polar opposite. Thank Arceus I scrapped that idea, it's kinda cliche and cheesy.

**P.S**. I'm sorry if the title of this chapter (Always thinking about you) sounds like a crappy love song... At one point I joked with my beta reader by naming the chapter 'always thinking about you baby.'


	81. The Second Gym

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 81: The Second Gym**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"It's too early for this crap," I muttered as I fought to keep my tired eyes open.

"What, it's only like seven in the morning?" Hesh sarcastically responded to me.

"I'm too tired to argue with you," I responded as I let out a yawn.

Our whole entire team walked down the streets of Cyllage, and we made our way towards the second gym. It was about time that we got to this, plus I was curious to see how this gym varied from the first one we went through. I was interested in tearing this gym apart, after all we've been through, this would be a walk in the park.

After a long walk, we eventually came to the outskirts of the city.

"This is the second gym?" I said in amazement as I looked up the gigantic mountain in front of us.

"Well, it's all the way up there I believe," Flare said as he pointed up the gigantic mountain.

"Fuck this; I'm not climbing up that!" I complained as I looked at the mountain that towered over us.

Flare jabbed my arm with his paw, "Language," he whispered to me as he looked over towards Ebony, who was curiously staring at me.

"Right," I said as I gave an understanding nod, since I had to watch my toilet mouth around a child.

"So, you guys ready to hike up this behemoth?" Alex asked us as he faced a steep trail that would lead us to the second gym.

"No…" I said as I dreaded the thought of walking up this thing.

"Well, Black's ready, so let's go," Alex said, as he began to lead us up the mountain trail.

"I am not ready!" I piped up at Alex.

"That's the spirit!" Alex replied back gleefully.

One hour, nine minutes, and twenty-four point five seconds later

I pulled myself up a giant step and once I pulled myself over I collapsed on the ground breathing heavily. Every muscle in my body ached, and I was already at my limit. After a few seconds of panting in exhaustion, Alex climbed up the step I climbed up, and soon everyone followed him.

Alex was quick to sit down and pull out a bottle of water and begin chuggingit. Flare collapsed on the ground next to me, while Gray and Hesh both sat down and took a moment to repose themselves. Kana and Ebony where the last two to climb up, Kana assisted Ebony on getting up the ledge, and after the two collapsed to the ground.

"We made it," Flare panted as he managed to force himself up, and he gestured towards the entrance to the second gym.

"I'm… I'm done," I panted as I looked towards the gym entrance.

After we all spent around twenty minutes recovering, we all pulled ourselves off the rocky ground, and headed towards the entrance of the gym. My muscles still ached, but I was going to have to force myself through this. Losing wasn't an option; there was no way in Hell I was going to climb back up this mountain.

Our group walked through the entrance that was in the side of the mountain, and we walked down a long dark hall. After a moment, we entered an opening, and a bright light blinded us for a moment. Currently we all stood in a big opening in a cave. And in the middle of this cave was another gigantic mountain. A variety of crystals stuck out of the walls, and added an interesting design to the room, and at the top of the room there were some stadium lights that illuminated the whole room.

At the very top of the room, I spotted a man standing at the top, with his arms crossed. He wore a black long sleeved shirt and some gray pants that were rolled up a little past his ankles. This man appeared to be black, and for some reason he had shiny gems in his hair. I know humans have some weird styles, but this one took the cake.

"Welcome to the Cyllage gym!" The man yelled down to us with a cheerful smile that was rather welcoming. "I don't suppose you all came all the way up here for fun, did you?" the man replied.

"We're here to challenge you," Alex shouted to the man with a smirk.

"Well then, you'll have to climb up here if you wish to challenge me," the gym leader responded.

My eyes grew wide as I looked at the mini mountain again. This one was steep, it'd be impossible for a pokemon without gripping power to climb up that.

"Okay, I did not climb up here just to climb another mountain," I stated in anger as I began walking away towards the exit.

"Well what about my pokemon, not all of them can climb something that steep?" Alex questioned.

"Well they can take the elevator," The gym leader said as he pointed towards the entrance to an elevator. I quickly stopped walking away and I turned towards the elevator he pointed out.

"Well, can't I just ride up the elevator as well?"

"Well if you insist on it, but I highly recomm-"

"Alrighty, I'll be up there in a second!" Alex shouted, interrupting the gym leader. The man frowned as our group got into the elevator and Alex pushed a button, and the doors shut.

"Alright guys, remember to try your hardest, I don't think any of us want to make a second trip up here," Alex warned us, and we all nodded in agreement. "Flare, Kana, Hesh, I hate to say this, but you two won't be able to do much since neither of you have a type advantage. So, I'll strongly be relying on Black and Gray," Alex said as he looked in my direction. "Ebony, I know you're still young, so I'm not going to force you to fight, since you aren't trained yet."

"Ehh, I was never looking forward to this gym," Flare pouted as he looked down in disappointment.

"Yeah, Just let Black and Gray take the beatings, not like I'm in a hurry to die," Hesh teased.

"They'll do fine, no one is dying," Kana reassured us.

After Kana's words, the door to the elevator opened up. We all walked out of the elevator and all of us stared in amazement at the huge arena in front of us. Many stadium lights shined down onto the arena, and scattered throughout the arena were many boulders. Standing on one side of the arena was the gym leader. We all walked towards the gym leader, and we stopped once we were on the opposite side of the arena.

"You know, I would have recommended climbing up here, you'd be surprised on-"

"I don't feel like falling and breaking my neck," Alex stated, and the gym leader just froze up at the statement.

"Well, if you insist. But anyways, my name is Grant, pleasure to meet you," Grant said.

"My name is Alex, nice to meet you as well," Alex responded with a friendly smile.

"You know the game, right?" Grant questioned Alex.

"Wouldn't have made it this far if I didn't," Alex said with a smirk.

"I have three pokemon, so you're allowed to choose three as well," Grant said as he unsnapped a pokeball of his belt and held it out.

"Black, Gray, and…" Alex said as he began to look at my remaining team members "and Kana, I feel like your speed will come in handy, even if you don't have a type advantage. Plus, there could be a pokemon you could be useful against," Alex said.

"I'll try my best," Kana said with a forced smile. I could easily tell she was nervous, she was never much of a fighter, but I have seen her handle herself a few times.

"Black, why don't you go first," Alex suggested.

"Ughh, I'm still sore," I whined as I began to walk onto the arena, "Let's just make this quick, I am not happy after having to climb up this mountain," I said with a growl directed towards Grant.

"Alright, not a bad pick, but I got something that'll pose a good challenge for you," Grant said as he cocked his arm back and threw his pokeball. A bright flash shined as a giant snake like creature submerged from the shining light.

"Go get him Rocky!" Grant shouted as his pokemon began to take a form.

"No… No-no, this is a fucking joke, right?" I said in disbelief as a giant onix slithered towards me as its body left a trail in the solid ground. "Alex! Alex I don't want a part of this, pull out the white flag!" I yelled as the onix threw its whole body at me, and I dove out of the way. Once the onix hit the ground, I felt a strong tremor go through the ground, and I realized how heavy that thing was.

"Okay seriously, this isn't even fair! I'm like three feet tall, I'm nowhere near that thing's size!" I complained as the onix got back up, and began slithering towards me again.

"Black stay on guard, just be evasive and wait for an opening!" Alex shouted at me. Right as he finished up, the onix flung its tail towards me. My eyes widened as the rocky tail swatted me like a bug, I flew through the air until I collided with a boulder. For a moment I blacked out, I only regained my consciousness in time to see the onix coming in for the finishing blow. Head first the onix dove towards me, still on the ground, I rolled out of the way and quickly got to my feet right before the onix smashed into the ground. I quickly jumped towards the onix and began clawing at its face as fast as I could, then I got the bright idea to punch it, but I soon found out how hard an onix was.

"Ahh, shit!" I yelled as I jumped back, keeping weight off my right paw, which was now aching, "And that's the paw I just broke too," I whimpered as I winced from the pain.

"That tickled, little umbreon," the onix known as Rocky said in a deep male voice.

"Okay really asshole, do you think this is fair in the slightest bit? I'm like three feet, how big are you?" I questioned him with an aggressive snarl.

"I register at about twenty-nine feet," the onix answered with a taunting chuckle.

"Arceus…" I said in frustration as I began to wonder how I was going to win this battle.

"Game over, umbreon!" the onix shouted as the snake like creature lunged at me again. I quickly moved out of the way and barely avoided getting squashed by the onix.

"Black now!" Alex shouted, "Use quick attack!" Alec commanded.

Despite it being pointless, I jumped on top of the onix and I began clawing at the top of its head. The onix soon rose up, and I began to rise up with him, many feet from the ground. I quickly dug my claws into a crease in the Onix's head, and I held on for dear, sweet life as the onix dove forward with me still on its back. When I was an eevee, I had always wondered what a rollercoaster was like. Well today I got my answer, and I hate the idea now.

"Alex end this!" I shouted as the onix slithered around the arena at light speed as it thrashed its body around. I could quickly feel myself becoming noxious, and I felt as if I was going to throw up. "Stop, I'm going to-" I was saying before the onix came to a dead stop and I flung off its head. Time moved in slow motion as I flew through the air. I could see all of my teammates looking at me with a worried expressions. Suddenly, I crashed into a boulder, and I let out a loud gasp as I felt the wind get knocked out of me.

"Black!" Alex shouted in concern as he refrained himself from running on the arena.

I let out a groan as I rolled over onto my stomach and I pushed myself up. "This is bullshit," I muttered as I fell back down, but I quickly forced myself up, so they wouldn't call the match.

"Black, if you can't go on just stay down, it's alright to lose!" Kana yelled in concern. I looked over towards her, and I could see all the worry in her eyes. For some reason this sparked a second wind within me.

"One more try," I said in a weak voice as I completely got up.

The onix was now slithering towards me. I felt myself beginning to panic as it made its way towards me. Honestly, I was terrified at the moment. This thing was just shrugging off my attacks, and I couldn't do crap to it. As the onix slithered closer to me, I began walking backwards from it, until I felt one of my hind legs go off the edge. I quickly looked down to see the long drop, I gulped as I looked at the fall that would easily kill me.

"Any last words?" the onix asked me, as he slithered towards me.

"Actually, I do," I said with a sneer. "You hit like a magikarp, seriously, for your big bulky body you suck!" I shouted at him as I showed a toothy grin.

"Don't antagonize me!" the onix shouted back at me in fury.

"What's the matter big guy, don't like being talked down to?" I snidely replied, "Come on, prove me wrong, go full throttle wimp," I taunted. The onix let out a loud roar that caused the entire ground to shake, and the onix dove straight towards me. I clenched my teeth tightly as I waited for the last second, and I moved to the side. The onix missed its target, and flew off the ledge like a total klutz.

"That did not just work?" I said in amazement as I watched the onix crash down at the bottom of the mountain. I cringed as I saw debris fly into the air, and mask the onix.

"Will he be alright?" Alex questioned as he ran to the ledge and looked down at the onix.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Grant responded as he unclipped his next pokeball, "Good job though, not how I expected you to win, but that was clever," Grant said to me.

"I didn't expect to win like that either," I said as I limped off towards my group and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

"Black you did it!" Flare shouted in excitement as he jumped up in excitement.

"Somehow that worked," I responded.

"Alright, let's move this along," Grant said as he threw his next pokeball, and a flash of light blinded us and an amaura appeared in front of us.

"Kana, it looks like this will be your battle," Alex said as he looked towards Kana with a smile.

**Point of View Kana**

"M-Me?" I said in surprise as I stepped back nervously, "I really don't know if I'm-"

"You'll do fine!" Flare gleefully said as he gave me a nudge in the arm, "Beside, Black just took down an onix singlehandedly, plus this'll be your only chance to do something, since the next one probably won't be in your favor," Flare told me.

"I'll… I'll try," I said as I nervously stepped onto the arena.

"You got this!" Flare shouted at me from the sideline. I looked back and gave everyone a fake smile, honestly I didn't want to be here. While I did enjoy travelling with everyone, I didn't really like the concept of fighting, it just wasn't something I enjoyed.

"Is your pokemon ready!?" Granted shouted to Alex from the opposite side of the arena.

"Kana?" Alex said as he awaited my response. I looked back at him and noticed the excited look on his face, I could see the confidence he had in me, but I wasn't sure if I'd live up to his expectations. I gave a weak nod towards Alex. "We're ready," Alex shouted to Grant.

"Then the battle begins!" Grant responded and my heart rate instantly spiked up. I quickly inhaled a deep breath as I tried to calm myself, and I waited for Alex to give me a command.

"Kana use thunderbolt, but be ready for oncoming attacks," Alex commanded me. Doing as he said, I began charging the electricity in my body into an attack.

"Amaura, counter it with an ice beam!" Grant commanded right as I shot my thunderbolt. The Amaura did as Grant said, and our two attacks collided. My attack was instantly stopped, but the ice beam continued on towards me. I instinctively jumped to the side, but before I did my shoulder was nicked by the ice beam. A chill ran through my body as my shoulder was practically frozen.

'I'm going to get frostbite if I get hit by that,' I thought to myself as I began to shiver.

"Kana stay on the move, you are faster than amuara, use your speed to your advantage," Alex told me.

Taking his advice, I dashed towards the amuara in a zigzagged pattern. Electricity circuited through my fur, and my speed only accelerated as I neared my target.

"amuara, use powder snow!" Grant commanded.

amuara opened its mouth, and a gust of wind came out of its body with snow . I quickly felt the chill of the breeze, and I dashed around the sting of the cold. Once I dodged it, I slammed my hip into the amuara's side and all the electricity circuiting through my body shocked the amaura. The dinosaur creature let out a high pitched whine as it tumbled to the ground.

"Use mist!" Grant desperately shouted. The amuara then opened its mouth, and blew a chilling mist that sent chills down my spine. I shivered as I jumped back away from the amaura. Then out of nowhere, I felt a bunch of sharp pricks in my side. I let out a loud shriek as I flinched back, and moved back even further. I scanned the area carefully, but due to the thick mist I couldn't see anything. Seeing that I had a moment, I looked at my left side and I saw multiple shards of ice sticking out of my side with blood dripping down. I placed my maw over one of the shards, and I pulled it out, my wound was instantly filled with a sharp stinging pain that made me wince.

"Use ice beam!" Grant shouted. I quickly ducked down just in time to avoid getting hit by a concentrated beam of ice. The beam aimlessly sliced through the mist, and I ran towards the direction of the beam, knowing exactly where my target was. Electricity began to circulate through my body again. The fog began to clear up, and right as my target became visible, it noticed me.

"Hail!" Grant commanded. Amuara launched a series of sharp needles towards me. I held my head low to keep my eyes safe. Multiple shards punctured me, but I continued to run towards my opponent as my body screamed for me to stop. Once I was close enough, I tackled the amuara with everything I had, and the dinosaur let out a loud cry as I electrocuted it. I quickly moved back to safe distance as the amaura crashed down onto the ground.

In a final desperate attempt the amaura shot another ice beam towards me. I quickly jumped out of the way. I then lunged towards the amaura as fast as I could, while electricity ran through my fangs. I bit down as hard as I could on the dinosaur's side, and it let out a loud whine as it fell limp, and almost appeared lifeless until its muscles started having spasm from the electricity running through its body.

"I did it?" I said in an unsure tone as I backed away from the amaura.

"Well, your jolteon packs a strong electrical charge, I didn't actually expect her to take down my amaura in two attacks?" Grant said in amazement.

"I guess she's a diamond in the rough, she's full of surprises," Alex said as he shot me a cheerful smile. A smile managed to creep on my face as well, and I actually felt good about myself overcoming this challenge with very little struggle.

"So, one more pokemon to go Alex, are you switching out your jolteon, or are you sending in your absol?"

"What do you want to do Kana?" Alex asked me.

"I think I've had enough for today," I said as I walked off the arena, and stood in the sidelines with everyone else.

"You did great Kana, see that wasn't bad at all," Flare said with a gleeful smirk.

"I'd say you even did better than Black, who only won by being cheap," Hesh added in.

"Lay off it, it's like fifty times my size!" Black yelled at Hesh as he pried himself off the ground.

"Gray, it's your turn, let's finish this strong," Alex called back to Gray, who was sitting away from the group in solitude.

**Point of View Gray**

I stepped onto the arena and I faced Grant as I awaited him to reveal my opponent. No matter what he threw at me, I was going to surpass them.

"Brace yourself, this last one is my strongest pokemon," Grant said as a smirk formed on his face. Grant unclipped a pokeball off his belt, and he tossed it out onto the arena and a tyrunt came out of the ball. The dinosaur growled at as it revealed it razor sharp teeth.

"Are you ready, Gray?" Alex asked me. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and gave a nod. "We're ready when you are," Alex said to Grant.

"Great, then the battle begins," Grant replied back.

A moment of silence passed by, no one made a single noise. A small smirk then appeared on my face out of nowhere. This battle may have actually been somewhat challenging if I didn't have a type advantage, or from the fact that I have been put into a lot of fights recently that would make this fight seem like no big deal. This tyrunt wasn't intimidating in the slightest, I have seen far worse in the past few weeks.

"Rex, use crunch!" Grant shouted at his tyrunt.

I chuckled to myself as I watched the dinosaur charge at me with its mouth ready to gnaw on me. I didn't even wait for Alex's command. I charged up an ice beam in my mouth, and instead of shooting it at the tyrunt, I shot it at the ground below it and created a sheet of ice leading towards me. The tyrunt let out a confused screech as it lost its footing, and tripped on the ice sheet. It slid on the sheet, and I jumped in the air as I charged another attack. I launched my attack at the peak of my jump, and razor sharp hail rained down on the tyrunt. The dinosaur let out a pained roar as its skin was impaled, and left gashes across its body.

"Rex, dragon claw!" Granted desperately commanded. With another attempt at a fierce roar, the tyrunt charged straight at me as its claws began to glow with a strange purple energy.

"Just sloppy and predictable," I whispered to myself as the tyrunt slashed its claws at me horizontally. I ducked under the attack, and I thrusted my horn at the tyrunt's stomach. Luckily I held back, if I didn't the tyrunt's stomach contents would be all over the ground right now. I withdrew my horn from the minor gash in its stomach, and I leapt back from my foe.

The tyrunt panted in pain as I just watched his every movement. The tyrunt held its wound with one of its hands. "You're pretty good, absol," the tyrunt spoke to me as he began to pant. "I guess I am expected to lose from time to time, since things have to be fair. But, your whole team seems to be a bit ahead of this gym level," the tyrunt stated.

"We've all been through a lot, a fight like this is considered a break for us," I replied back bluntly, not even sure why I bothered talking to him.

"Let's finish this!" the tyrunt yelled out of nowhere, and he charged at me with his teeth ready.

I just sighed as he snapped at me with his teeth. I flinched back, and avoided losing a chunk of my body. He swung his claws at me, and I moved every time, not feeling the slightest bit threatened. His speed was pathetic compared to the riolu I fought… The riolu I should have killed.

In one final desperate attempt, the tyrunt threw his whole body at me. I quickly jumped on him, and used his head as a jumping pad as I made my way into the air. With my back facing him in the air, I leaned back in a flip manner, and I shot an ice beam at him as he looked back at me. The beam contacted his face, and sent him tumbling to the ground with half of his face frozen.

Once I finished my back flip, I walked towards the fallen tyrunt. "It wasn't a bad fight, but work on being less predictable, try not to be so head on," I suggested as I walked past him, and headed towards my group.

"Way to go Gray!" Alex shouted in excitement as he ran towards me, and pulled me into a hug and lifted me off the ground.

"Wha-stop!" I shouted in discomfort. After a moment, Alex saw my discomfort, and he set me back down on the ground.

"Heh-heh, sorry, I was just excited," Alex replied back with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, great job Gray, you went flawless in that fight," Kana said with a cheery smile.

"It's no big deal, it's not like we haven't seen worse," I responded back, and the jolteon frowned since I was probably being a 'kill joy'.

After a few minutes of everyone excitedly celebrating, Grant walked over towards us, and knelt down to our level.

"Well, you three really impressed me. I've seen some tough teams walk through here, but you all mostly went flawless against me, that's something you don't see every day," Grant praised us.

"Thank you," Kana replied, and even though Grant didn't understand her completely, he got the gist of it and playfully roughed up the fur on her head.

Grant then looked back at Alex, "It took me a bit to realize this, but you're the one who was on the news. You're actually a pretty popular story, even if you are anonymous to everyone," Grant said.

"And what would make you think that?" Alex said tensely, as he and Grant peered at each other.

"Simple, some of your pokemon were listed on the news, and it was stated that you were a trainer as well. I had a feeling I might run into the very person that had pokemon that managed to survive an attack from such infamous killers. It's no surprise my team lost, but I don't mind losing to a worthy opponent any day," Grant honestly stated.

"Listen, I'd prefer if we keep this quiet, last thing I want is to draw attention my way," Alex stated.

"Of course, I wasn't going to go alerting the media or anything, personally I'd understand not wanting to be reminded of that night constantly, so of course I'll promise to keep silent."

"Thanks, I really do appreciate that," Alex said, as he extended his hand out towards Grant, "And thank you for battling my team."

"Usually I'm the one going for the handshakes," Grant said as he shook Alex's hand. Right as they finished, Grant reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge. "According to the rules you've earned this," Grant said as Alex accepted his second gym badge.

"Thanks, it means a lot," Alex said, with a smile now replacing his tense mood from a moment ago.

After a few minutes we all rode down the elevator, and we made the long journey down the mountain. After a long descending trip, we finally ended up at the bottom of the mountain, and we headed back into the city.

Everyone throughout our team talked amongst each other as I walked in silence. Black, Flare, Hesh, and Kana all talked amongst each other, while Ebony followed a few steps behind. That left Alex and I. While Alex couldn't talk, and Ebony was just timid and shy, I guess I was some kind of an outcast from the social group in our team. Flare and I had grown distant since it was revealed that I had a problem with umbreons, Kana and I had conflicting personalities, Hesh and I barely knew each other and he seemed to be the type to like groups, and Black resented me, I could see it in his eyes every time we talked, or perhaps I'm paranoid. Though, if he did, I couldn't blame him. I did most of this damage to myself through my own ignorance.

"Ebony, aren't you excited?" Kana suddenly asked the eevee that was walking behind the group.

Ebony jumped upon the random question, "I- I am," she answered timidly. I swear that child is a ghost or something, she rarely talked to anyone, every conversation was also forced on her, I honestly forget she exists at times... Even though she was the youngest out of the group, she was accepted much more than someone like me. I let out a chuckle, I guess to an extent I was a bit saddened that I did this to myself. I'm not blaming no one, I just wish I would have had a better mindset back then. The most attention I received was from my victory, other than that I was shut out from the group.

After a while, everyone went out to get dinner somewhere to celebrate. Instead, I decided to go my own way for the night, and spend my time alone. The sun was now setting, and the moon was slowly ascending into the sky. I lied on my back out in a field of grass outside of Cyllage, I gazed up to the moon and stars as I felt a cold breeze blow through the air.

'The moon, the very thing umbreons yearn for every day.' I thought to myself, as I tried to imagine what it felt like to get my energy from the moon.

'Eclipse was always basking in the moonlight,' I thought to myself. My thoughts of Eclipse were comforting at first, and I remembered the good times we had, but my thoughts soon went towards his final actions. I soon rolled over onto my side, and I stood up as I dug my claws into the ground.

"Dammit, why?" I said in melancholy as my losses rushed into my mind. I remembered everyone's face so clearly, they were the ones who accepted me. To this day, I constantly yearned to reform the WPA, and to carry on the hopes and dreams of my real friends.

Every day that went by was another day wasted in this pathetic life. I honestly couldn't care less about the eight gym badges, it was honestly just something to distract me from what I really wanted to do. Kill Eclipse in the most violent way possible. I swore I wouldn't, but the thought was just too satisfying, it was so pleasing to imagine him suffering and begging me for mercy after what he did.

A psychotic chuckle exited my mouth as my eyes began to feel heavy. "Don't worry Aaron, I'm just venting, a promise is a promise," I reassured my dead friend who I liked to think was watching me from the afterlife.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, hopefully I didn't do to bad on this gym battle. Also, I don't watch the anime and I only play the game, so I may have not nailed Grant's character 100% but I think it'll work. No matter what, this can't be worse than my first attempt at the first gym leader. Anyways, hopefully this was enjoyable.

**Question: **How do you think Gray would respond if he met Eclipse again? (The umbreon that betrayed Gray).


	82. Chasing Shadows

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 82: Chasing shadows**

* * *

**Third person point of view**

The day was now nearing its end, and soon night would follow. Three pokemon lurked through the shadows of Cyllage city, a houndour, greninja, and a quilava. The trio kept to themselves, and made sure that no one in the city knew of their existence. These three pokemon were in search of a particular someone, but this particular someone happens to not be Ryder. The trio came to a halt behind a building that was vacant of both pokemon and humans.

"I am going to get a birds eye view of the city, wait here," the greninja known as Scarlet stated as she ran towards the wall of a building and ran up the wall until her momentum slowed down, and she then she began climbing the building until she reached the top of the two story building. Scarlet didn't stop there, she sprinted in a speed that made her movements a blur, and she soon climbed atop another building that was much higher and gave her the view she desired. Scarlet stood on the ledge of the building as she peered over Cyllage city. A few moments passed as she scanned the area before she jumped off the ledge of the building and withdrew her sword. The metallic blade rung for a moment, before she impaled the blade into the side of the building, and her speed slowed down enough for her to grab the ledge right before she splattered onto the ground. Scarlet hopped onto the ground next to her teammates, and she shook her head slowly as she walked pass them.

"Nothing eh?" the houndour known as Flynn stated as he followed Scarlets lead, along with a quilava that lazily followed behind.

"Keep searching for… it," Scarlet said, not really sure on how to refer to their target.

"I say we just shake Ryder up a bit, that outa lure it out," The quilava known as Merrick suggested.

"We can't get involved with him, he is not to know we're here," Flynn responded to Merrick.

"What difference does it make, the outcome will be the same no matter what, I mean come on?" Merrick complained as the flames on his back intensified.

"It does matter, none of this can be wasted, and right now that thing is meddling with our plan," Flynn retorted.

"You two, stop bickering. We're not interfering with Ryder, Mandus has other plans for him," Scarlet said to the two of them.

"Well how else will we find this thing, it'll take forever to search Cyllage, and that's just assuming it's in Cyllage right now!" Merrick responded in anger as his back flames arose to a higher level. Out of nowhere Merrick was splashed by a random hydropump of water.

"Calm down, don't be such a hot head," Scarlet responded to Merrick in her usual monotone voice.

"Oh har har!" Merrick yelled as the flames on his body regained their usual size, and dried him off. "Ugly bitch," Merrick muttered below his breath as Scarlet turned her back towards him. Despite the fact that Scarlet heard the insult, she chose to ignore it, since she knew it was best to not fuel the flames of Merrick's anger problem.

"Looking for somebody?" a voice called behind the group. All three of them quickly turned back, each in their unique fight stances.

Standing a few meters away from them in the shadows was a canine like pokemon, the only feature that was visible to any of them was the razor sharp teeth that formed an ominous smile, and red eyes that peered through the darkness.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

My vision gazed up into the sky as I observed all of the stars that were scattered throughout the sky, along with the moon that would be full in a few days. I sat comfortably atop of a hill as I gazed up into the night sky. There were two things in this world that made me feel at peace. One would be the moon, the other was Naomi. She is no longer alive though, so I guess only one thing left in this world actually made me feel at peace. Such a pathetic existence I live. For as long as I can remember I was always a tool to those around me, first Jack, and now Genesis. Perhaps this is what I deserve? After all, I am a killing machine.

The one thing I wanted most now was to kill everyone that is with Genesis. Them manipulating me like this is unforgivable, even if it's the last thing I do, they'll pay. Being brought back just to live a few months was cruel, and here I thought I had a chance to change my ways and start anew.

Do I really want a new life though? Or should I say, do I want a life without Naomi? I really wanted to run away with her, and let her trick me into thinking I'm not some soulless monster. It could have been just the two of us in a whole new region; we could have found a territory of our own and settled down. While I couldn't say I wanted to start a family of our own, I did want to spend more time with her. She was smart, cute, and she always knew how to crawl under my fur and bring out the humane side of me. When I'm with her, I feel like I have a heart, I don't feel like I'm living a hollow existence with a single purpose.

"Are you just going to hide from everyone until your time is up?" A voice called out, and I turned my head back and saw Vincent walking towards me.

"What do you need?" I bluntly asked him.

"I came to talk to you about a few things," Vincent answered as he kept a small distance between us.

"Then make it quick," I told him as I looked back up into the sky.

"I know you're still taking in the bad news. I'm not even going to pretend I can relate to you," Vince said, but I didn't bother replying to him. Of course he didn't understand how I felt, I had very little time to live, and my only hope was a lie.

"Listen, I've told Mandus about your condition. We talked it over along with a few other members and we all came to an agreement," Vincent said, and I peered at him from the corner of my eye. "We don't know if any medications or anything will prolong your life, and-"

"Did you just come here to remind me?" I snapped at him.

"I wanted to tell you that I think you shouldn't spend the rest of your life fighting," Vince finished.

I completely turned around and I gave my full attention to Vince, "You want me to quit?"

"I'd like to say retire," Vincent added, "But you've been fighting your whole life. I think it's time you stop this and spend the time you have left being happy and living your life for yourself," Vincent said.

"And what would I do for the three short months I have left? Go find a hole and die alone, sit there and think about my regrets, or maybe I'll just-"

"That's enough Stark!" Vincent yelled over me. "Stop loathing around and feeling bad for yourself. Neither one of us has the right to feel bad for ourselves after what we've done," Vincent stated with irritation.

"I know," I truthfully admitted, despite me wanting to say otherwise. "I just don't know what to do… It seems like no matter what I do, I end up miserable."

"Well, you just have to decide on how you want to spend your time left," Vincent responded, "There is a war to be fought. One that won't be easy, if you continue to fight with us, I highly doubt you'll make it to the end. But, a decision will have to be made very soon; we are starting a mission soon. Mandus says he'd like your help if you stay, but you are allowed to retire if you wish to."

Could I even retire honestly? Vincent thought he was giving me a choice, but in reality I had no choice. Either I stayed and did Genesis's dirty work, or I was dead. This whole decision was rigged from the start, he only thought that I got a say in it.

"For now I plan on staying, I really don't have much else to live for, so maybe I'll find something along the way," I answered, slightly lying.

"And you are sure this is what you want?" Vincent double checked. I responded with a nod. "Alright, just know that we can't go easy on you, even if you are this way."

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

'So… how am I going to present myself to Black…' I thought to myself as I continued to follow the river that would lead me to my destination. Excluding the few breaks I had earlier, I haven't stopped once. I would probably be back in Cyllage by morning if I didn't stop.

'I'm dead in their eyes… I don't even know how they'll respond to me coming back to life magically. What do I tell them, a creepy pokemon impersonating my dead crush stopped me from killing myself. No-no-no, they don't need to know that about me, they can think it was just his idea.'

I let out a muffled frustrated scowl with the sack in my maw as I tried to not think about how I'm going to present myself. Instead, I just focused on navigating. The only light I had was myself and the moon. Although umbreons had almost perfect vision in the dark, we never really needed it since our kind are lunar glow sticks, as some racially remark.

Far off in the distance a giant wall of rocks began to become visible. This massive incline in the ground was the mountains that were near Cyllage. I am so close, yet I still had no idea on how I was going to do this.

Suddenly my ears flickered as I heard a twig snap behind me. I quickly spun around, but no one was behind me. I cautiously scanned the area, until my vision was directed towards a tree, which was the only possible hiding spot. Dark matter surrounded my right paw as I dropped the sack I was carrying and slowly walked towards the tree.

Once I was directly in front of the tree, I ran towards the other side and aimlessly swung my paw. Another paw quickly swiped my paw, and caused me to miss my target. A frown formed on my face the moment I noticed who was stalking me...

"Why… Why the hell are you following me!" I screamed at my leafeon brother, who cringed at the sight of my fury.

"You forgot to say bye…" he nervously replied, but he held his ground.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me…"

"Nope," Dante responded ruefully.

"Seriously, why are you following me, did I not make myself clear that you couldn't come with me?!" I snapped at Dante.

"Oh you made yourself clear alright, but apparently I didn't make myself clear when I said you aren't shutting me out of your life like that again," Dante retorted.

"You need to leave, I don't have time for this," I told Dante. The leafeon just frowned at me.

"I'm not leaving until I get my answers," Dante said with determination, "I want to know why you have changed so much, why you're so distant."

"No, I don't have time for this, you need to go back home, I don't have time for this!" I screamed at him.

"Naomi, that's enough," Dante sternly stated. "You apparently don't understand how much you mean to me. And I refuse to go home, that place means nothing to me anymore, for years I only stayed in that place just because I wanted to see you again, so that you wouldn't come home one day thinking we were gone or dead" Dante stated. "In all honesty, if you're going to shit on me like this, then don't bother coming home, I won't be waiting for you, nor will I be searching for you," Dante bitterly stated.

"I knew I shouldn't have visited," I said as I turned around and started heading down the river.

"Hey, stop ignoring me!" Dante shouted as he follow behind me.

"Dante, please understand that you can't come with me," I tried to reason.

"Listen I put a lot of work into tracking you down, I'm not just turning back with my tail between my legs," Dante said to me.

"There is nothing to talk about," I replied.

"Regardless, I'm still following you."

"Stop being immature!" I shouted at him as I picked up my pace.

"No, you're immature for acting this way," Dante retorted.

Arceus, we sound like a bunch of cubs arguing… Why can't he just let me go? As much as I wanted him to come with, I couldn't risk his safety. Dante was the last thing I held dear, so if I stayed away from him it would be more likely that he'd live longer. But this all came at the risk of making Dante resent me, if he didn't already. I want him to come with me so badly, but there is no way to tell what will happen, for all I know Sam could come back for revenge, and Dante could end up a victim to his psychotic rage.

"Naomi, can we just stop and talk about this, you don't have to keep hiding from me," Dante said in a much more tranquil voice than a few seconds ago.

Doing as he said, I stopped in place, but I didn't face back towards him.

"What do you want to talk about," I asked Dante as I kept my back faced towards him.

"You made it very clear at one point that their was something you wished not to speak of. Well, I can't help but feel that this thing you don't want to speak of is tearing you asunder. Why can't you just speak to me, I'm your brother for Arceus's sake, I'm not going to judge you, You'll still be my sister, and I'll still be on your side, its always been this way."

I slowly turned back to face Dante, and I saw the honest look on his face, the face of the brother that always loved me, the brother that was always by my side, the brother that never judged or gave up on me. It hurt so much to block Dante out like this, I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't bare the thought of him getting hurt in all of this. Plus If I told him of Jack and Sam he'd probably want to kill them, and I doubt Dante would have an idea what he would be getting into.

"Dante, you're absolutely right, what I'm not telling you is the source of my pain."

"Then speak to me, don't bottle up your emotions Naomi, it'll cause more harm than good."

I exhaled a deep breath, I could not believe I was about to tell someone about my past few years. So, for the next thirty minutes or so I gave Dante a watered down version of my story. I told him how I was captured by Jack, how I was abused, how I was forced to kill a few pokemon against my will, and how I unexpectedly grew a crush for Stark, who later died because I had to stop him from killing Jack.

"So, that's everything that has happened the past few years," I said as I exhaled a depressed sigh that was followed by a sniffle. I wanted to cry at this point, but I was just so worn, it has been such a long day, and I was honestly too tired to cry. Dante just stared at me for a few minutes, before I moved closer to me.

"I had no idea you want through things like that, I knew you were bothered by something, but not something that extreme," Dante said in a shocked tone.

"Well… Now you know," I replied in a hollow voice.

"Well, do you feel better now?" Dante asked me, as he moved in close to me and pulled me into a hug. His hugs usually felt… comforting, but right now all I felt was a sense of disgust in myself. Now Dante would always know that I was a killer, he would know all the horrible things I've done, I don't see how him knowing that would make me feel better, I wanted everyone to be ignorant about my background.

"I don't know," I bitterly answered as I leaned towards him for support, but I didn't hug him.

"So, what exactly are you doing now, why are you in such a hurry?" Dante asked.

I remained quiet for a moment before answering, I was just so tired of talking about this, but I came this far, didn't I? "I recently met a pokemon who is… unique," I oddly answered, "This pokemon for some reason is taking an interest in a… acquaintance of mine," I said awkwardly. Were Black and I friends? "Anyways, this pokemon said in exchange for me teaching this umbreon friend of mine darkmatter attacks, he'll do a favor for me, which is killing Jack."

"And you're sure you want to get revenge?" Dante questioned me.

"It's all I can think about, he's destroyed so many lives, I just want some form of redemption, I want closure," I told dante as I closed my eyes and tried to imagine a world with Jack dead.

"Listen, you don't have to do this, if anyone comes near you I will protect you, I'm good at warding off unwanted people and pokemon," Dante offered. "Just let me help."

"It's not that simple Dante, if we run into them we will most likely die, Sam is psychotic, he'd probably enjoy torturing you in front of me," I stated, and the thought sent a tremor down my spine.

"I can handle myself, and I can protect you as well," Dante replied.

'That's what Stark thought as well.'

* * *

**Point of View Third Person**

"Who are you?" Scarlet asked the pokemon that was hidden in the shadows.

The pokemon in the shadow's stepped out in a form that was very familiar to each of them.

"S-Stark?" Flynn piped up in surprise as Stark's red eyes peered into them. "How did you get he-"

"That's not Stark," Scarlet interrupted, "Stark has blue eyes now, not red," Scarlet stated, as her eyes deadpanned on the white umbreon with the intent to kill.

"Now," Scarlet began to say as she began to unsheathe her sword, "I'll ask you one last time, who are you."

"Who I am doesn't matter," the imposter responded, "But what I'd like to ask is why you three are seeking me out. I'm actually a little impressed Crimson noticed me, I was meticulous enough to only show myself when necessary," the fake umbreon spoke.

"Why we're looking for you doesn't matter," Merrick mimicked in a childish voice that was full of sarcasm.

"So then, I suppose you didn't track me down to talk," the fake umbreon stated.

"That depends, why are you stalking Ryder, why go out of your way to help him, what is he to you?" Scarlet questioned the imposter.

"Ryder himself means very little to me, I would even say that his persona makes me sick to my stomach, such a whiny child. I could tell you all about what I want with him, but I don't see much point in telling three pokemon that'll be dead soon."

"Excuse me bub? There's three of us, and one of you. So, don't act like you have the upperhand," Merrick stated as he gnashed his teeth together.

"Answer my question shapeshift, who are you, and what do you want with Ryder, I am not asking again," Scarlet fiercely stated as she tightened the grip on her sword.

"If you must have a name, you may call me SkullFace, and I seek to use Ryder for a greater purpose, one that will help perfect this world."

"If you seek to make this world a better place then maybe we can talk, perhaps we seek the same," Scarlet suggested.

"If I had to choose between being Mandus's dog and the other evils, I would rather not choose at all," Skullface stated.

"Other evils?" Flynn repeated.

"Those the world looks up to in ignorance, those that will condemn this world soon," Skullface stated.

"The Legendaries?" Scarlet stated in confusion. Skullface gave a small nod.

"Wait!" Flynn piped up, "I know the Legendaries watch over us and do nothing, but that doesn't exactly make them 'evil'. We only use our methods because they don't do anything."

"Such ignorance from the ones that are hunting some of the Legendaries, of course how could you know what's really happening in this world," Skullface said ah he shook his head in disappointment..

"Then enlighten us, all knowing imposter," Merrick spat out snidely.

"I could enlighten you on the conspiracies that are taking place, but I don't think any of you serve as useful pawns on my chessboard. So, in order to win a game of chess, sometimes you have to kill the pawns to move your better pieces forward," Skull face began to say, and Scarlet darted towards him in a flash and with a clean cut, shut slashed his jugular open.

The imposter umbreon let out a loud gurgle as he fell to the ground with blood pouring out of his neck. Scarlet looked down at the fake umbreon that was writhing in pain.

"For someone who talks a lot, you dropped fast," Scarlet stated as she stabbed her blade into the side of Skullface's head, instantly killing him. Scarlet withdrew her blade out of the dead umbreon, and she flicked her blade to get the unwanted blood off of it.

"You're quicker than I imagined," Skullface spoke as he got up without struggle, and his wounds were no longer present. Scarlet quickly jumped back to a safe distance as Skullface began to walk towards the trio.

"Uhhh Scarlet, I think your blade is getting dull or something," Merrick stated as Skullface continued to walk towards them.

"Did you really think you could kill me?" Skullface questioned in an offended tone.

"No, but this will!" Merrick shouted before he inhaled a deep breath, and blew a flamethrower that blinded everyone. After a moment Merrick stopped, and the smoke cleared out shortly. Nothing remained in the spot Skullface stood in, only a burnt spot on the ground.

"Burnt out of existe-," Merrick chimed before blood came up from his mouth.

Scarlet and Flynn both turned to see Skullface standing over Merrick with one of his paws going through his back, and coming out of his stomach. Merrick just stood there frozen in place. His mouth agape, and he tried to speak something, but no words formed. Skull face placed his other paw on Merrick's back, and he used it to assist him in violently pulling it out of his body. Merrick let out a cry of pain before he fell over.

"How mind-numbing," Skullface stated as Scarlet swung her sword at him in complete fury. A series of slashes came towards Skullface, but he just stood in place as each swing phased through his body as if he wasn't a physical object.

Blood splattered into the air as Scarlets arm fell to the ground, and Skullface landed a few feet away from her, with dark matter surrounding his body.

Scarlet gripped her wound as she jumped back towards Flynn who was now spraying embers towards Skullface as suppressive fire. Skullface just began licking the blood off his paws as Flynn continued to assault him. After this kept up for a half a minute, Flynn stopped as he began panting.

"I told you three from the start that you were going to die," Skullface began to speak as Flynn charged towards him with his teeth bared ready. Right as Flynn lunged towards Skullface his body stopped in midair, almost as if time paused.

"I'd expect this kind of attack from a child," Skullface stated as he jumped into the air, and slashed Flynn's throat with his claws, and the houndour fell to the ground and blood splattered everywhere.

Skullface began walking towards Scarlet as the greninja kept her view deadpanned on the monster that was pursuing her.

"What are you?" She questioned him in a weak voice as she tried to stop the bleeding from her lost arm.

"I am many things, but I think most would perceive me as a monster," Skullface said as he bared his teeth ready and lunged at the greninja. The three members of Crimson now laid on the ground, each of them lying in a bloodbath of each others blood.

"Naive puppets, you don't understand what's really going on. Ryder is mine, I own him. Mew only thinks she has control over me, but they'll all soon see who they should really be afraid of."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Thanks to everyone that has been reviewing lately, it is really inspiring to see that so many people are interested in my story. I try not to make reviews my fuel for writing, but everyone's thoughtfulness has really inspired me a lot. So thanks to each and every person that has taken the time to review and support this story.

**Question:** What is your opinion/theories on Skull Face?

**Fun Fact: **Both gym battles took place on the 6th chapter (Of their own books). Also it took me +70 chapter to get to the second gym... I never anticipated myself to get so in depth with the story, hopefully it's not annoying anyone.


	83. The Pursuing Shadow

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 83: The Pursuing Shadow**

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**Point of View Stark**

Vince and I sat next to each other just outside of the town Sanctuary. We watched as the pokemon community started their day. Off in the horizon I could see the sun's beams shining over the tree line. It always amazed me how these pokemon chose to sanction us here, and not outcast us since we were criminals. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Mandus only told them we were a rebellion for pokemon rights.

"They're back," Vincent said as he began walking towards the town.

I looked in the direction he was heading, and I saw three familiar pokemon, Scarlet, Flynn, and Merrick. I followed in Vincent's paw prints. We approached the trio, and I nodded at them.

"So, did you find that strange pokemon?" Vince questioned the three.

Scarlet shook her head, while Merrick rolled his eyes, and Flynn just appeared emotionless.

"A waste of our time, are you sure that charmander wasn't just lying to you?" Merrick questioned.

"No, I extracted the info straight from his memories. That pokemon is real," Vincent defended.

"Well, there was no sign of it," Merrick replied.

"Perhaps another time then," Vincent said.

"Perhaps you can go next time," Merrick snidely stated as he walked away, leaving only three of us left.

"Anyways, Scarlet, Flynn. Mandus wishes to speak to you two tonight," Vince informed the two.

"About?" Scarlet bluntly questioned.

"A new mission is coming up, a big one," Vince answered.

"I'll speak to him later then, for now I wish to rest, it has been a while since I've had some real rest," Scarlet stated as she departed from us.

"And what about you Flynn, you've been rather quiet?" Vincent asked.

The houndour looked at Vincent and wore a dull expression, "I have no plans as of now," Flynn answered.

"I see, well you can join Stark and I. We're mostly just loafing around since we have nothing better to do today," Vince offered.

A moment of silence passed by as Flynn continued to stare with his dull expression, "Perhaps later, I have some things I wish to do," Flynn stated, "I'll see you two later," Flynn said as he walked past us, but as he did so, he stared at me.

I waited a moment after Flynn left, "He seemed… odd," I stated.

"Agreed, he did seem a little different. Perhaps he is just tired; they haven't slept since they left the other night," Vincent stated.

"Maybe."

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

Hours passed, and soon it was mid-afternoon. Stark and I were still mostly loafing around doing nothing. It was quite nice having time off for once, usually Mandus had me busy with things., I could go on, but that's a story for another day. Long story short, I'm a busy espeon.

"So, Vince, I've been meaning to ask you something lately," Stark began to ask.

"And what is on your mind?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed we both have white fur. Is there a specific reason for your white fur?" Stark questioned me.

I let out a small chuckle before answering, "I was wondering how long it was going to take you to ask that. It's usually something that gets me a lot of attention, because of that I like to stay hidden. But, I use to suffer from albinism. It's just a lack of pigmentation in my body. But, as a result it makes me more likely to get skin diseases, skin cancer and that stuff. Actually, that's one reason my family lived where we did, it snows in Snowbelle most of the year, so it was best to live in a place that was always gloomy, since we didn't have access to medications," I answered Stark with a little more info than he probably needed.

"I see. I actually have no clue why my fur is white, I've done research, but it all points towards stuff like what you have, but I know I'm not albino," Stark responded.

"I see, perhaps we'll get answers on that one day," I responded.

"Yeah well… I don't suppose those answers will come in three months," Stark bitterly stated.

I frowned in response. I could tell he was depressed over his condition. I would imagine having a fixed amount of time left would be horrifying, knowing that each day is one day closer to the end. I tried to think of a response for Stark, but their was nothing I could say that wouldn't make him feel worse.

"Well, Genesis was actually the ones who helped me with my condition. They were able to modify my body to not be as bad as it is. I still have my white fur and reddish-pink eyes, but I'm far less likely to get skin diseases," I said to Stark in an attempt to change the topic.

"Yeah, from the little I did learn about Genesis, they are a very interesting organization. I could only imagine what they can achieve if they continue to grow," Stark said.

With the best of my abilities, I diverted the conversation away from Stark's short time left. I usually tried to keep him occupied, I know first paw that it helped to keep your mind off darker thoughts. About thirty minutes passed by before Flynn reproached us.

"Welcome back," I greeted Flynn. Flynn didn't pay much attention to me, and he instantly pinpointed his attention towards Stark.

"Stark, I need to talk to you, in private," Flynn spoke in a voice that sounded a little ominous.

Stark remained silent for a moment, as I guess he too noticed Flynn's odd behavior. "I can spare a moment," Stark answered.

"Good, then follow me," Flynn said as he began to walk into the forest. Stark didn't bother responding and he followed Flynn.

"Vincent," Scarlet's voice called out from above. My vision panned upward up into the tree's and I saw Scarlet sitting on a branch.

"How long have you been up there?" I questioned the ninja like pokemon.

"Long enough," she answered, before she jumped down. "Have you noticed it too?"

"The only thing that has gotten my attention lately is Flynn's odd behavior," I answered.

"That's what I'm here about," Scarlet said as she looked me in the eyes, a look that showed she was serious about this situation. "I don't know when, but at some point on our trip Flynn's behavior changed without reason. Merrick noticed as well, and I spoke to him a moment ago," Scarlet said to me.

"Now, why would Flynn want to talk to Stark in private is my question. Their bond doesn't go past colleague, and I can sense a bad vibe from Flynn. Something is wrong," Scarlet said as she began walking in the direction they left in.

"Where are you going?" I questioned Scarlet.

"Seeing what Flynn is up to," Scarlet answered.

The two of us quickly yet silently moved through the forest until we spotted Stark and Flynn. On sync we both hid behind a tree. Flynn seemed to be silent at the moment, and Stark was wearing an uneasy look on his face.

"So… I'll ask a third time, why did you bring me out here?" Stark questioned Flynn, but only got silence as a response, "Okay, you're just creeping me out now."

"I'm just wondering how long your teammates are going to keep hiding," Flynn said, and caused my fur to stand on edge. I looked to my right to see that Scarlet was the first to reveal herself, so I followed her lead and revealed myself as well.

"How rude. This meeting was meant for the two of us," Flynn stated in a dark tone that didn't belong to him.

"Flynn, why did you bring Stark out here?" Scarlet questioned. A cold breeze blew by as no one said a word.

"I'll ask one last time, why did you bring Stark out here all alone," Scarlet spoke as she placed her hand on the sword on her back.

"I don't think that concerns you, Scarlet," Flynn answered venomously.

I can't place my paw on it, but something at the moment felt so wrong. Something about Flynn was so unsettling, so fake, like he was another pokemon.

"Stark, step away from him," Scarlet said as she withdrew her blade. Stark gave a nod as he began to walk away from Flynn.

"I'll give you three one more chance to walk away, I'll only need a minute with Stark," Flynn stated.

"That's not going to happen," Scarlet said.

"Have it your way then," Flynn said as he shook his head.

The houndour opened his mouth and blew a wall of fire in our direction. Scarlet responded by shooting a hydropump at the fire attack, which protected the three of us. A few trees ended up ablaze, but Scarlet took the time to put the flames out.

"Flynn, not in the forest, this is the home of many pokemon," Scarlet stated, "I will not allow such brazen behavior."

"Flynn, what are you doing?" I questioned the houndour.

The houndour just sneered as a response and he sprayed off an ember towards Scarlet and I. We both jumped out of the way.

"You've lost it," Scarlet stated.

"I'm not the one who lost anything, it's you who lost something," the houndour stated. The three of us just glared at him as we tried to piece together what he was speaking about. Suddenly his body turned pitch black, and his shape changed into something bigger.

"I won this battle the moment you came near me."

My eyes widened as I looked at the new form this thing took. Time felt as if it froze as I looked at an exact copy of my mother. Everything about her was spot on, her smooth silky fur that was perfect, to even the friendly nature she gave off, her slim body, and even the gentle look she had in her eyes, the look of someone who didn't want to hurt anyone.

"No-no-no-no-no-no," I began to say in a panic as the leafeon began to approach me. I looked to my left and right, and I quickly discovered that I was all alone.

"Vincent, is something wrong?" my mother, no, that thing called out to me. Even her voice was an exact copy. It was a smooth, soft, and a calm voice, one that was very comforting. Even right now I felt that it was comforting, but that is also what terrified me.

"Vincent, why are you moving away from me, you didn't do something, did you?" she questioned me as she cocked her head to the side, and gave me that accusing mother look as if I did something wrong.

"Mom…" I said in a shook up voice.

"You know, I actually think I know what you did," the leafeon said as she moved closer to me, and deadpanned her vision towards my eyes. Soon I found myself backed up against a tree, and my mom was right in front of me.

She gently stroked her paw against my cheek, her fur was warm, just as I remembered it. I trembled uncontrollably as she continued to peer into my soul.

"Vincent, why'd you do it? Why'd you kill me!" she screamed in my ears so loud that I was deafened. As my ears rung in pain, her throat suddenly ripped open on the left side and her blood splattered all over me. Her head hung to the side, unable to support itself, but she still remained standing.

I fell down to my butt unable to stand from the shock. Her paw then pushed against my chest, and she slowly forced me on my back. The blood from her neck poured all over me, the blood was so cold and the feeling just made me want to scream, but there was a lump in my throat that prevented any screams of terror.

"Vincent, are you not going to answer me?" she asked as she began to nuzzle against me with her head. As she nuzzled against me, she rubbed the giant gash in her neck against my muzzle, and I could feel the flesh that was torn up.

"S-stop," I managed to beg fearfully as tears began to stream down my face.

"Did you stop when you killed us?" My mother asked me.

"I-I didn't have a choice. I-I had my…" I began to say but I found myself unable to finish as I choked out a sob. All these years all I've told everyone was that I had my reasons for what I did, and that it was for a better world, yet I couldn't bring myself to say that to my mother's face.

"Well, you've been a horrible son over the years. You can't even start with an apology, you only think of defending yourself. There is a special place reserved for monsters like you," my mother spoke venomously. "You're going to burn for what you did Vincent, you have to pay," my mother spoke, and as her sentence finished the world began to grow dark, and soon the sky was completely black, but this darkness felt much more ominous and much more dark than the darkness you would see when you close your eyes. The trees around me began to wilt and shrivel up. The air soon became a bitter numbing cold, and it became hard to breathe, almost as if I was on top of a mountain.

My attention was directed back towards my mother, I continued to shake uncontrollably as I looked up at the demented sneer on her face. Her teeth were razor sharp, almost as if they were a bunch of tiny daggers. Her teeth never looked this ominous before, this was all a nightmare.

"Please stop!" I begged as I tried to struggle free, but she pinned me down with her paw. I should have easily been able to overpower her, but I felt so weak. I began to try and push her paw off with mine, and that's when I noticed that my paw's were different. I looked downward to also notice that my tail was no longer forked like it usually was, instead it was a big bushy albino eevee tail.

"Poor Vincent, nothing but a defenseless child," my mother chimed with her demented smile.

"Stop, I don't want this anymore, I'm sorry!" I screamed as her claws dug into my flesh. Her head began to lower towards me, and I continued to try and squirm free from her.

"It's too late," she spoke as her teeth ripped into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I began screaming repeatedly for mercy as she began to rip off my flesh, and soon everything became a messy bloodbath.

**Point of View Stark**

"Who are you, and where is the real Flynn?" I snapped at the houndour in front of me. I stood in a defensive position as I faced this monster. I glanced to my left and right to see all of my teammates mysteriously unconscious. I didn't understand how this thing knocked them all out at once, but why didn't he do it to me as well?

A chuckle escaped the houndour's mouth, "The other night your three friends came searching for me. I instead found them first. So, I played some games with them and tested their abilities. They don't remember anything, but I killed them three, or they would have thought I killed them if I didn't alter their memories. The only one of the three I killed was the houndour, simply so I could get to you," the imposter answered me.

"You killed Flynn?" I questioned in disbelief.

"He's dead, I could bring you his body another day if you'd like, although not much of it is left. I didn't like the idea of killing a Crimson member, but I needed a way to get to you, so one death wouldn't hurt that bad."

"What do you want from me, why is it so important that you'd kill someone?!" I snarled at him. I didn't really care that much for Flynn, but I never really felt that he deserved to die. It was almost a bit painful knowing that I got him killed.

"I'm here to kill you, Stark," the houndour spoke.

"Show your true self," I demanded.

"You don't need to see that today," the imposter stated as he began to approach me.

"The tell me this, what did you do to everyone?" I questioned as I looked at my fallen teammates. Each of them was in a deep sleep, my attention mostly noticed Vincent, who was twitching in his sleep as a rogue tear streamed down his eye.

"What I did to them isn't important, just know that right now they are all suffering, and it will end the moment you die," the houndour said.

"Or, it'll end when you die," I retorted with a growl.

"Then do what you do best Stark," the imposter said as he jumped back and sprayed some embers at me. The attacks came too quick to dodge, so I turned my head and got singed by the attack.

I opened my mouth and shot a dark matter attack that created a thick mist in the area. This creature was now blinded, but I have used this attack enough to know how to find my victims. I sprinted in the direction of my opponent, and once his figure became visible I sprang towards him with dark matter surrounding my fangs. In midair I felt an unknown force push me back, and I smacked into the ground. The mist around me began to clear up as the houndour walked towards me.

"You're not going to win this," the houndour spoke with a bored expression on his face.

I began to stand but the houndour opened his mouth and shot an electric bolt from his mouth. My eyes widened from the attack that shouldn't have been possible. My body was struck and I fell to the ground unable to move.

"I'll make this quick," the houndour spoke. I heard the sound of Scarlet's sword unsheathing, and I saw the blade float into the air and hover towards me. "It'll be over in an instant," the monster said as the blade flew downward.

A blue blur flew in front of me, and a hand grabbed the blade by the handle. Standing next to me now was Mandus. The lucario stared at the houndour with a death glare. The paralysis on my body wore off, and I got myself back up to my feet. Suddenly I heard some rustling in some bushes and Merrick and the black scyther known as Kane jumped out of the bushes. The two joined Mandus and I.

"How did you find us?" the houndour questioned in annoyance.

Merrick sneered at the question, "Simple, Scarlet told me she was going to question Flynn on something. She told me to alert everyone if she isn't back in a certain amount of time, and guess what bub, times up," Merrick chimed with a snide attitude.

"Hmmf, seems she's more meticulous than I predicted," the houndour said as he looked towards the passed out greninja.

"Who are you, and what business do you have with us?" Mandus asked the houndour.

"Perhaps another day, Mandus," the houndour said.

"Then show your true form," Mandus demanded.

"I'll show you something better," the creature said as its body turned completely black, and its shape morphed into something that stood on two legs, but was still around the same height. Soon the form developed colors, and it turned out to be a young riolu child.

Mandus flinched back at the sight as the young riolu looked at him with innocent eyes. Suddenly the riolu sprang into the air, and slammed her leg into Mandus's head. The lucario flew back and smashed into a tree.

Merrick and I both responded by shooting attacks at the young riolu. She dodged Merrick's embers, and ducked below my shadow ball. She quickly tackled merrick to the ground and held the quilava in a chokehold. The quilava squirmed around, and after a few second he began to weaken and his back flames began to die down.

Kane intervene and jabbed his blade at the riolu, but she quickly dodged the attack. Following by the dodge, the riolu jumped into the air and her right arm circulated with electricity as she punched the black scyther in the chest. Kane let out a grunt as he collapsed to the ground.

"Boring," the riolu chimed in a childish voice as she dashed towards me. I quickly reacted by shooting a shadow ball, but the riolu just did a front flip over it. The riolu lunged towards me with her fist, but before she made contact Mandus sprang out of nowhere and grasped the riolu by the neck.

"How dare you take the form of-" Mandus began to say before the riolu shocked him and fell to the ground, but quickly sprang upward and upper-cutted him. Mandus flinched back from the attack, but this time he managed to keep his footing.

"You!" Mandus snarled as he clenched his fist and his body began to pulse with a blue aura that was full of hatred. "How dare you take the form of her!" Mandus shouted as he moved in a flash and smashed his fist right where the riolu was right before she moved to safety.

"Still cold about this, huh?" the riolu said as she got in a defensive position.

"Who are you, Rhys?" Mandus questioned.

"Good guess, but Rhys is up to other things other than tormenting you nowadays," the riolu responded with a childish giggle.

"Then who are you?!" Mandus demanded.

"You can call me Skull Face for now. But, I'm afraid this will have to conclude our playtime, it seems I have run out of time," the riolu stated.

"We're not done here!" Merrick shouted at the riolu, but she ran off into the forest.

"Should we chase it?" Kane asked Mandus, who was standing in place almost as if he was in shock or something.

"No," mandus answered as he began to walk back towards town.

"Mandus, shouldn't we-"

"Now's not the time for that. I'll deal with that thing another day, but for now we don't know enough about it," Mandus stated.

As Mandus left the area, I heard some shuffling and I looked to see Scarlet and Vincent awakening. Scarlet was quick to get back to her feet, but Vincent remained on the ground as he stared off into the distance with a blank stare. It took me a second, but I noticed Vincent was trembling.

"Vince?" I questioned the espeon, but he didn't respond. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Vincent?" Scarlet questioned as she walked towards him and kneeled down. Merrick and I both made our way towards him, but Scarlet extended her hand towards us, and made us stop.

"Give him some space, I think he's in shock," Scarlet stated.

"How do you know?" Merrick questioned her.

"Because, if he went through what I did, I doubt he's in good mental state right now," Scarlet answered.

"Should I ask?" Merrick said.

"While I was unconscious I was thrown into an alternate world where I was faced with my worst nightmares. It was terrifying honestly, but luckily I'm not like Vincent right now," Scarlet answered as she pulled Vincent up onto his feet.

Vincent managed to stand on his own, but he looked very zoned out, almost as if he was in another world. He was still trembling, it looked as if he was frozen in fear. I couldn't help but wonder what happened, or how that Skull Face creep did that to Vincent.

"Come on Vincent, let's get you home," Scarlet said as she helped guide him back towards town. Vincent took weak baby steps forward as Scarlet helped guide him.

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**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well that was a fan chapter to write. Apparently I traumatized my beta reader with this chapter... Well, I actually have a deleted scene for this chapter, which was an extension of what all happened with Vincent, but I didn't put it in since it was a bit graphic, and I think it was best left out since I didn't want to make this chapter about gore and etc. Anyways, I hope this was a good read, and thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I really appreciated it! Also the name Rhys that was mentioned earlier in pronounced "Reese". Just in case someone was confused on it.

Also, thank you genericgamer207 for editing this chapter. I keep forgetting to add his name on some of the chapters also, so always assume he helps me, until said otherwise.


	84. If you buy me lunch

**Well, it seems that scene with Vincent from last chapter got a lot of attention ^.^ Especially the part I left out, perhaps I'll rewrite the part I deleted and release it on a later date, but we'll see if I feel like it.**

**Guest Review responses**

**Frost: **I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and for your request, I'll see if I can fit it in somewhere if their is an appropriate chance, but I got a lot of content to cover in a short amount of time, so I'll have to see what happens, and if it'll fit in without being forced. Also, thank you for taking the time to review.

**Anonymous:** Yeah, you can expect something along the lines of what you are wanting at some point, but I can't get into to much, since I like to surprise everyone.

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

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**Chapter 84: If you buy me lunch**

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Point of view Vincent

"So… How do you feel?" Stark questioned me as I began to sit up.

"I feel… better," I answered him as I gave off a forced smile.

Stark was currently visiting me after I went into shock from what that thing did to me. The whole nightmare I endured was rather demented… Of course I guess someone like me deserved a punishment like that. Stark and I both sat in silence for a moment inside the tent I used for my home. A tent was probably one of the better homes here in Sanctum, most were tiny straw huts or stuff made out of twigs. Most Crimson members were housed well, considering our circumstances.

Stark and I both sat in silence for a few minutes before Scarlet stuck her head in. We both looked at her in surprise. "Stark, Vince, Merrick and I want to talk," Scarlet asked in a dull worn out voice.

"You aren't going to lure us out in the woods and try and kill us are you?" Stark questioned.

"I'm in no mood for jokes right now," Scarlet said before she withdrew her head from the tent.

"That wasn't a joke," he called after her.

"Let's see what she wants," I suggested to Stark, and the two of us exited the tent.

Once outside we were greeted by Merrick. The two led Stark and I to a private section in Sanctum, a spot where hardly any pokemon hung out. The four of us all sat in a circle. For a few minutes nothing was said, Merrick just stood there digging his claw into the ground as he wore a dull expression, while Scarlet sat down and stared into the distance with a blank stare, almost as if she was disconnected from reality.

"So…" Scarlet began to say as she continued to stare off into the distance, "Flynn… he's gone," Scarlet said.

I frowned from the reminder. Flynn was a good friend of mine; he was an honest pokemon that wanted to help the world, just like everyone else here. He was also one of our youngest members, he was just a young adult and he had to meet this fate…

"That bastard," Merrick snapped out as the flames on his back grew bigger, and some blue flames even started to show near the base.

"Yeah… I'm having a hard time taking this in as well," I admitted as I looked towards the ground.

I still remembered the day Flynn joined Crimson. He happened to stumble in the area. He tried to steal food from us because he was starving to death. Of course we fought each other, but it didn't take long for him to collapse from exhaustion. We decided to take him in and nurse him back to good health. Afterwards he shared his story on how humans destroyed his home and that he had nowhere to go, and that is why he was so hungry. Mandus offered for him to join, and Flynn gladly accepted.

I looked over towards Stark. I could see that he was the least bothered out of our whole group. It didn't really come off as a surprise to me, since he hardly knew Flynn and his whole life has been full or murder. But, I could still see a tad bit of tenseness on his face, I know that he didn't completely shrug this off.

"So… What did that thing do to you two, and why didn't he do it to Stark?" Merrick questioned. Everyone looked up towards the quilava. Personally I didn't want to speak of such things, it was demented and I'm never going to un-see any of that.

"Things," Scarlet tensely answered.

"Listen, I'm not trying to bring up this stuff to mess with you, but I'm not about to let that thing get away with killing Flynn, and right now we need to figure everything we can out about that thing," Merrick said with fortitude.

Scarlet let out a sigh as she looked towards the ground, "It was a never ending nightmare, like my own personal Hell," Scarlet started off, and I could already tell her experience was as demented as mine. "It started off as if I was still with you guys, but soon Fl-that thing transformed into my late lover. The world around me soon changed to match the night I lost him," Scarlet now began to grow hesitant as her breath became short and her eyes began to dilate. "It just turned into a cycle of me watching over and over again as he died and I helplessly watched," Scarlet finished. I could tell that she was done with this story; she never talked about her late mate.

Seeing that Scarlet shared her painful experience, I figured it was my turn, "Mine… mine started off similar… I saw my mother in my nightmare, at first she seemed to be somewhat like her usual self, but as things progressed everything became Hellish. The beautiful mother I once knew became a demon, and she attacked me viciously in ways that should have killed me. I was unable to resist her, and I was forced to watch as my mother ripped me to pieces, and no matter what I wouldn't die. Not only did she physically attack me, she also kept reminding me of my sins and telling me how I deserved this," I answered uneasily as I remembered the dark dream.

"But that leads me to my real question," Merrick began to speak as he directed his attention towards Stark, "He had complete control over Vincent who is a master psychic and Scarlet who is part dark type. Why would he lure you all the way out there to try and kill you and not even use an effective tactic against you, I mean Scarlet and Vincent didn't even stand a chance," Merrick said.

"I honestly have no idea," Stark answered, "I told Mandus and everyone everything I know."

"I'm not accusing you of lying, but that bastard is just one giant mind fucker!" Merrick piped up.

For a while Merrick rambled on in anger as he talked about killing this creature, but I learned to block out his psychotic rage. His heart was in the right place, but his actions were usually a bit unnecessary.

After a bit of time Merrick calmed down and we all decided to part ways for a bit. Stark and I were walking back to my home. Mandus instructed Stark to keep an eye on me, since I was put in the mental state I was in earlier. I didn't mind having Stark watch me, he knew when to talk and when to be quiet. He wasn't the worst company I have had in my life.

After a while we made it back to my tent and I lied down on some cushions in my tent. I quickly found comfort in these cushions, and I tried to block out the images I have seen. That nightmare actually did something to me I didn't expect to happen. There is a technique some psychics learn in their lives. It's rare, only the gifted can learn such abilities. Ever since I've killed my family I have been using this psychic ability to suppress my depression and all the emotions and pain I have felt since that day, this technique can help suppress physical and emotional pain. The moment I saw that knock-off of my mother, I felt overwhelmed with guilt and regret. It was as if all the emotions I have been bottling up over the years all hit me at once. Fear, sorrow, regret, and resentment towards myself. Truthfully, to an extent I did hate myself. While I don't one-hundred percent regret my path, I do feel overwhelmed with guilt at times, even with my psychic powers suppressing my emotions. Every day in my life after I did what I did is actually a battle to not show how I really feel, I always force a smile on my face and try and act like I'm not drowning in depression to the point of suicidal thoughts. Of course I would never actually kill myself, solely because I have come too far to kill myself. I have a bit more to go before I can finally let go.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

Well, today was yet another crappy day in this ever so crappy shit stain of a city known as Cyllage. So, here I am strolling the streets to pass the time by. I would be with Erica right now, but she's unpleasant to be around. Erica and I do not get along, she always has to tell me what to do, oh Payton do this, do that, oh and she gave me the worst name ever… Payton. I don't want that name, it sounds kinda feminine if you ask me. Personally, I would have been perfectly fine with Charmander, and I could continue calling her a bitch in my pokemon language. David was so much cooler than her. The contrast between the two was like night and day, good and evil, a bro and a douchebag. When I get David back we're going places, and Erica can kiss my tail flame.

As I aimlessly wandered the streets I just mostly daydreamed about random things. Most of which were better days when I was still with David. We sure did get into a lot of trouble together, with us both being us and travelling around a lot. I could only imagine the filth hole he was being kept in, I'd kill those Crimson fuck faces once I get him back, or I'm telling the police if I don't kill them all first.

"Hey, Charmander!" A voice called out from behind me and interrupted my thoughts. I froze in place, before I dramatically turned to face whoever was behind me. Some weird leafeon was glaring at me with a determined look. It was very obvious that he was a wild, he wasskinny, yet still muscular, typical body build for the unfortunate savages.

"Whatever you're selling I don't want, unless you can hook me up with some Girl Scout cookies, then we're talking," I told the leafeon as I turned back around and began walking off.

"Hey, I need to talk to you in private," the leafeon demanded.

I stopped once again and I turned to face the leafeon, "Do you know what happens every time I speak to someone in private? Horrible things happen, horrible. I either got people threatening me, impersonating my dead friend, or doing some bizarre freaky shit I don't like, I'm just done with that man, I don't want to add to that list."

"I can drag you by the tail if you like?" the leafeon threatened me.

"Hmmm, now I'm no expert, but I'm sure grass types burn pretty easily," I told the leafeon with a toothy grin as I began cracking my knuckles.

Five minutes later

"Ughhhh, I hate you so much," I groaned in pain as I lied on the ground in some smelly alley with a swollen cheek and a serious migraine.

"Just quiet down," the leafeon responded as he sat on my back and kept me from moving.

"Seriously, I can't breathe," I muttered as the leafeon's weight crushed me.

"Sorry what was that?" the leafeon said after he whacked me in the head.

"Dante, you can get off him now," A feminine voice called out and the leafeon got his ass off me.

I let out a groan as I got myself back up. That's when something clicked in my head, and I noticed that that voice sounded pretty familiar. My head shot up and standing before me was a little umbreon that killed herself a week ago.

"Oh Arceus it's you again!" I said in a panicked voice as I began to run, but the leafeon was quick to tackle me to the ground.

"Seriously?! What the hell is wrong with you, everyone thinks I killed myself and you say that?" the umbreon chick said with a wry expression.

"Seriously, leave me alone Face Skull creepo, I don't want to do your dirty work again!" I screamed at the phony umbreon. Of course I knew that she killed herself, I was told a while back. I did feel sad for her, but to be honest I hardly knew her. She was kinda cute, but I don't think I wanted the whole emotional package. But this creep was not that umbreon, I wasn't that smart, but I'm not a complete moron.

"Excuse me?" the scrawny umbreon said, "I think he calls himself Skull Face for one, and two I'm not Skull Face. Skull Face actually helped me fake my death so I could escape the police," she informed me.

"Seriously?" I said in amazement. She nodded her head in response. "Wow… that's some serious hardcore shit right there," I admitted. "I mean this is like an intense plot twist in a movie or something, except this stuff doesn't happen usually in real life."

"Well, that was easier than I thought," the umbreon said, "Now, can we trust you not to run?"

"That depends, will you buy me lunch?" I asked humorously but I soon found another bump on my head, and I was now moaning in pain with a serious migraine.

"One more time, I didn't quite hear you," the leafeon said as he began to give me a knuckle sandwich on my head.

"Okay fine, just stop pissing me off!" I yelled in annoyance. With those words said, the leafeon finally got off me.

"Aiden, I'll buy you that lunch. I actually have some money in my bag," the umbreon chick said.

"Seriously, I knew you were a cool person!" I chimed in excitement as I jumped up.

"Heh heh, sure," she said nervously.

So the umbreon lady got her bag which was full of heroin or something like that and she got her money. She took me to some pokemon street vender who was selling sandwiches and she bought each of us one. Of course she complained about me choosing the most expensive one, I like my extra meat; I wouldn't be a man otherwise.

So, we all sat in a plaza atop of a table. Us smaller pokemon didn't have to sit on chairs, instead we'd just eat on top of a table. The umbreon lady placed her sandwich on the ground, she then skillfully managed to unwrap it with her paw and she bit off chunks of it as the sandwich laid on the wrapper that was on the table. Once I stopped being memorized by her eating techniques, I began eating my philly cheese taurose meat sandwich. A quiver ran through my spine upon the first bite, with the magic sauce on it, it tasted as if it was handcrafted by Arceus himself. As we ate, the leafeon struggled to eat his sandwich properly, he ended up tearing the paper wrapping of the sandwich to pieces, and right now his sandwich wasn't a sandwich, more of a salad that was everywhere… I guess eating civilly for four legged pokemon would be a daily challenge for them.

The umbreon lady began to say something to me, but in the end I was enjoying my sandwich too much to even pay attention to her. Instead I continued to munch on the sandwich as I enjoyed every single bite.

"Aiden!" the umbreon shouted in my ear, and caused me to drop my sandwich.

"Speak up, I can't hear you," I sarcastically responded as I began to put my sandwich back together.

"Listen, I need to ask a favor from you."

"Uh huh, no one wants to just talk anymore, nope, no one can just hang with Aiden to be nice nowadays," I responded with annoyance.

"Sounds like a personal problem," the leafeon added in.

"Anyways…" the umbreon started again, "I need you to tell me where Black is, and I also need you to bring him to me, I think I'm going to need your help on convincing him of who I am," the umbreon lady said.

"Sure thing," I said with a mouthful of food, "I'm always looking for an excuse not to go home to my trainer."

"Again, sounds like a personal problem," the leafeon stated again.

"Uh huh. This is your personal problem right now, and I'm going to be nice enough to help you out," I said as I shoved the last bit of my sandwich into my mouth.

"So you'll help?" she asked me with a smile on her face.

"Sure, under one condition," I said with a toothy grin, "I want you to buy me another sandwich that was so damn good!" I said as I licked the sauces off my fingers.

"I'm not exactly rich, that was most of my cash actually, but fine I can get more cash later," she said.

"Well as my old trainer said, seventy percent of Kalos is in debt, so you're richer than seventy percent of Kalos," I told her.

"I guess, but it's not exactly easy for me to get cash."

"And how does one such as yourself exactly get money?" I questioned her.

"Well… I steal it," she responded with an embarrassed chuckle.

"You really are a grade A criminal," I said as I shook my head jokingly, "Anyways, I'll get Black to meet you, but no guarantees on how he'll react to a dead chick coming back from the dead."

"That's perfectly fine."

"Also ughhh… well this is embarrassing, what's your name again?"

The umbreon let out a long sigh of disappointment, "Nia… or actually call me Naomi, Nia was never my real name."

"Okay Naomi, so where do you want me to have Black meet you. Perhaps on a lake at sunset, or maybe I can have you two meet in a five star restaurant?"

"This isn't a date, and we're not like that," Naomi growled at me.

"Oh… I thought since you two were umbreons that…" I began to say before I noticed the leafeon starting to eye me. I seriously thought those two were a thing or something. I mean, she did risk her life to save him from what I was told. Maybe I'd take that cutesy out to dinner with my whopping zero dollars I have been saving up all these years, then again, I do know where Erica keeps her wallet.

"No Aiden, I'm simply doing a favor for Skull Face for helping me, I'm just going to teach Black some things and then I'm going my own way," she responded.

"So then… since you're single, maybe we can get dinner later?" I asked her with a confident smile.

The look that formed on her face was very wry, and full of shock. Her jaw hanged slightly agape as she slowly inched away from me. Her leafeon friend on the other paw wore a look that was full of rage… perhaps her and him were together?

"Yeah…" She said awkwardly, "How about you just help me and I buy you another sandwich, and you can eat that alone tonight."

"Yeah, alone," The leafeon said in a low voice.

One hour later

Well… turns out that was her overprotective brother and he appeared to not appreciate my attempt of asking her out. I swear, I must be that leafeon's punching bag or something, because right now I am covered in bruises, and I think he broke my jaw, but I'm not sure since I lost feeling in that area long ago.

I limped down the hall towards the room Ryder or whatever his name was, was staying in. I finally made my way towards the door. I began knocking on my half broken arm until my legs gave out and I fell against the door and just used it for support. Suddenly my body fell as the door opened. I nearly whacked into the one who opened the door, but instead I smacked into the ground in a dazed state.

"Are you alright?" a jolteon asked me. I remembered her, she was that one jolteon I've seen many times… Well no duh!

I began to mumble something that didn't even make sense to me, but at the moment I was just out of it. After all that physical trauma my head took, I think I reached my physical limit, and I think I may have brain damage.

"Aiden, are you alright, Aiden?" The jolteon questioned as she began to jab me with her paw.

"I need… I need Ryder… err Black, or whatever you guys call him," I answered her as I got myself up off the ground.

"We call him Black, but he's not here at the moment, I think he'll be back in an hour or so," the jolteon told me.

"Dammit, it's important," I said in frustration as I gripped my sore head.

"Here, why don't you come in, you look pretty beat up, if it's that important you can wait for him," the jolteon offered.

"Swag," I replied as I walked in.

"Umm you're welcome?" she said with confusion, "Well, no one is home now besides Ebony and me, so make yourself at home," the jolteon said.

"I will," I said as I spotted the mini-fridge and checked its contents. "Yes!" I said with glee as I pulled out a can of Doctor Pop. After that I quickly made my way to the couch in front of the TV and I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The first channel to pop up was humorous central, and it was a show I actually loved, 'North Park'.

"Ummm, so what brought you here?" the jolteon questioned me.

"Well, I'd prefer to tell him that personally, you'll find out later, but I think he needs to know first," I said nervously as Is scratched the back of my head.

"Alright…" she replied awkwardly.

"So, I got a question about Black?"

"Shoot."

"So, on a scale one to ten, how upset is Black about his friend that killed herself?" I said a little more casual than I should have.

The jolteon frowned from the question, "Black's taking it a bit hard. He's a lot better now, but when he first heard the news he didn't speak for three days. We all gave him the room he needed, I honestly felt horrible for him, but after a while we had a talk with him and he kind of pulled out of it. He seems to be acting like himself on the most part, but from time to time I can see a hint of loss," the jolteon answered.

"I see, I thought they were just acquaintances," I said, going somewhat off how Naomi described their relationship.

"I'm not sure, I hardly saw them together. I know he visited her some nights, I don't know what they were doing though. I think there was something between those two, but I'm not going to ask him something like that, ever," She responded with a bit of pain in her voice. I could see that this jolteon knew Black pretty well; she seemed to have a good idea on how he felt and stuff.

"Well actually they weren't together, I would have thought the same until someone told me otherwise," I informed the jolteon.

"Who told you that?" she questioned me with a bit of surprise.

"Ughhhhhhh you know, the grapevine," I tensely responded as I began chugging my drink. After I finished chugging I let out a belch and it slaughtered the mood of the situation, just as I planned. "So miss Jolteon, why don't you tell me about yourself," I said in an attempt to change the topic.

"That was very random," she responded with a weirded out look.

"Yeah, I know," I ruefully admitted

"Sooo, ummm what's the little eevee's name," I asked with a nervous chuckle as I looked at the eevee that was peacefully sleeping on the bed. This was another horrible attempt to change the topic, and I could only imagine what this jolteon thought of me.

"Ebony," the jolteon answered, "You know, you ask a lot of weird questions out of the blue."

I began to panic as she caught on to how awkward I was making things. This was going worse than my first attempt at a date with a snivy. Suddenly I heard the door opening, and I looked towards the entrance to see pokemon flooding into the room, one of which was Black.

"Black, my buddy, what's up?!" I obnoxiously asked the umbreon as I walked towards him, "I see your arm is no longer broken."

The umbreon gave me a blank stare. I honestly found it near impossible to read his expression.

"What are you doing here?" a fennekin questioned me.

"Yes Aiden, what are you doing here?" the umbreon asked me in a rather hostile tone.

"Ummm…" I said as my mind drew a blank, "I'm just here to ask if you wanted to hang out my umbreon friend. You know, because that's what friends do... They hang out, and they let their friends that invite them to hang out choose the spot, you know what I'm saying yo?"

"Don't you dare degrade me by calling me your friend," Black growled at me.

"I'll buy you lunch," I said with a timid smile.

"Black, why don't you just go with him, after all he did help us that one night," the fennekin supported me.

"Thanks little buddy," I said as I winked at him and gave a thumb's up.

"And why do you want to hang out with me?" Black questioned me. "I don't recall us ever getting along well."

"Honestly," I said as I leaned in close to his ear, " I think you're pretty cool, so maybe we go down to the pokemon club, maybe party a bit, or whatever a emo err a cool guy such as yourself does."

"Get out before I kill you," the umbreon snapped at me.

"Okay, okay, I don't think you're cool… but I really need you to follow me for a minute, please," I said with as much seriousness as I could muster.

"Why?" he questioned me.

"Because I need to talk to you about something important, and I think you really need to hear what I have to say. I won't take too long, and I promise you'll be grateful," I pleaded.

"Fine, but make this quick."

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**Chapter End**

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**Thank you genericgamer207 for editing this chapter and catching flaws and etc.**


	85. I want Answers

**Well I got another chapter for everyone. It's sad... Winter break ended and I was enjoying all the extra sleep I was getting :/ Although, I think sleeping past noon isn't good XD oh well, I get up at 5:50 every morning so I deserved it. Also, happy New Years to everyone, let's all try and make this a good year, because last one sucked for me :/**

**Guest Review Response**

**Frost: **I wouldn't worry about me getting bored of writing this story. I have come to far to stop and I actually enjoy writing it a lot, otherwise I wouldn't dedicate to writing on a weekly routine. And thank you for reviewing again.

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

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**Chapter 85: I want answers**

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**Point of View Black**

"So, you're not going to tell me where we are going?" I questioned the bizarre charmander that was leading me down the streets of Cyllage.

"I told ya, you'll see when we get there," Aiden responded carelessly, what he didn't understand was that I didn't trust him.

"You know, usually when people try and lead me to unknown areas, hori-"

"Horrible things happen," Aiden finished for me.

"Yeah…" I awkwardly said.

"Funny. I said the exact same thing to a leafeon earlier, and horrible things did happen, but here I am now," Aiden said.

"Should I be worried?"

"Nah," Aiden said carelessly. "This way," Aiden suddenly said and led me into a plaza that was mostly vacant, excluding a few lone humans scattered throughout the plaza.

"Just take a seat, someone will be here shortly," Aiden told me as he hopped up on the table and lazily leaned back. Instead, I just chose to stand on the ground. I preferred to keep arm's length from that charmander, I still wasn't quite warmed up to him yet. I guess to an extent I didn't have a reason to dislike him, but that one day when I got nasty with him, I just haven't gotten over it, along with him knowing Vincent a bit. Perhaps to an extent I'm just acting to high and mighty to just let it go and suck up my pride and apologize. It's a strange feeling when you don't want things to be tense with someone, but you just can't bring yourself to let the minor things go.

"Black," A feminine voice called out from behind me. My ears flickered upon hearing this familiar sound. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. My head slowly turned to see who was behind me, but I just froze up upon seeing who I thought I did.

"N-Nia?!" I eventually managed shout in surprise as I looked at the umbreon behind me, along with a leafeon who remained a few steps behind her. It was her, no doubt, but how? I just remained in place as I tried to keep my emotions in check, but at the moment I was feeling very confused, yet overjoyed to see her after all that has happened.

"Heh, I suppose I got some explaining to do," Nia said with a nervous chuckle, but I couldn't bring myself to reply. Nia was dead, I came to terms with that, she killed herself and that was that. It wasn't possible, it's a fact, she is dead and this has to be a hallucination.

"But… You're dead," I managed to say as I continued to look at the phantom before me.

"Yeah, everyone thinks that, I guess Skull Face did a good job at putting up a convincing show," Nia said as she moved closer to me.

"Nia, how? I thought you…" I tried to speak, but words couldn't form due to the lump in my throat, at this point I was just making an idiot out of myself and I could feel something forming in my tear glands.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well, I was a bit worried about you, with all the stuff that has been going on lately," Nia spoke to me as she moved in closer to me and pulled me into a hug. I just remained limp as she hugged me, my mind wasn't able to process any of this and she wasn't answering me. As she held me tightly a tear managed to escape my eye, but this wasn't a tear of sorrow.

"I'm sorry I put you though that," Nia whispered into my ear. I remained frozen from what was going on, nothing could describe how surprised I was. After a moment Nia released me from the hug, and gave me some room. I was quick to wipe my tear.

"How are you alive?" I questioned yet again.

"Yes Nia, how are you alive?" another voice spoke, this voice was also familiar, yet more ominous considering the circumstances. All of us turned to see a jolteon walking towards us, but not just any jolteon, Kaz. A shiver ran down my spine as that imposter freak walked towards us.

"Who are you?" Nia questioned my imposter brother.

"Heh, I guess you don't recognize this form, It's me, Skull Face," the jolteon answered, "Now, why don't you all follow me, it's a bit crowded here after all, and I'm no fan of crowds," that thing ordered us, as he led us to an alley. For a moment we were all hesitant, but we followed him. Once we were halfway down the alley Skull Face stopped.

"So this is the Skull Face person you told me about," the leafeon stated as he protectively stood in front of Nia.

"Well, it seems Naomi told you all about me, I guess that'll save me some time," Skull Face said with a shrug.

'That's right, Nia's real name is Naomi,' I noted in my head as I glanced at Naomi.

"ughhh, what more do you want from me Skully? Can I just go if I'm not needed?" Aiden questioned as he nervously raised his shaking hand.

"I'm here to tell you all how things shall be carried out from here on out," Skull Face said as he glanced at all of us. I was half tempted to argue with him, but I would at least listen to him first, since he has helped me. But no matter how much that thing helped me, I could never accept him for wearing the face of Kaz and leading me on for so long to think it was some hallucination. He was sick and twisted; there was no doubt about that.

"Naomi," Skull Face began to say as his body turned pitch black and morphed into a vaporeon that made Nia and the leafeon freeze up.

"What are you doing mocking our mothers image!?" The leafeon raged as he lunged towards the vaporeon. In mid jump an unknown force knocked the leafeon back into the brick wall and pinned him against it.

"You're on thin ice Dante. I have no problem making an example of you," the vaporeon said in a condescending tone.

"Leave him alone," Naomi snapped at him and she ran towards Skull Face. I wasn't far behind her either at this point as we tried to team up against Skull Face.

"I'm not in a good mood today," the vaporeon stated with a dark tone. Before we knew it, we all found ourselves pinned to the ground with a crushing force that felt as if it was going to crush my bones. I tried to gasp for air, but the force was too much, at this rate I was going to die. Just as everything started to blur, the force let up and I began gasping for air.

The vaporeon walked towards Nia before it kicked her onto her back and forced her to make eye contact with itself, "Naomi, you're tasked with teaching Black how to unlock his capabilities with dark matter. This is so he can defend himself until the time comes." Skull Face soon made his way towards the leafeon who was hardly even conscious on the ground, "Dante, you are going to keep your sister in check, she's emotionally unstable and I don't need her killing herself when we have a de-"

"Don't you dare talk down about my family in any way, you-," the leafeon snapped at Skull Face, before another force hit him and sent him rolling along the concrete ground. The leafeon tried to stand back up, but he quickly fainted to the ground.

"Think of it how you want, just keep her alive and well, and we won't have any problems," Skull Face said before he moved towards Aiden who was paralyzed in fear this whole time. Skull Face's body soon turned into the ominous black before it morphed into something around Aiden's size that also stood on two legs, "Aiden," The now Snivy said in a feminine voice as she held Aiden's chin and forced him to make eye contact, "I have my own plans for you, so just keep doing what you're doing," the snivy stated with a smirk. Aiden just stood in place trembling before he fell to his knees.

"Stop it," Aiden whispered to himself as he grasped his head and fell over to the ground, "Please, go away!" Aiden screamed in complete terror as he clenched his eyes tightly shut. Skull Face looked down at Aiden as he condescendingly glared at him. Aiden just continued to tremble as he began to whisper something over and over to himself, but I couldn't make it out with his shaky voice.

"Hmph, as you wish." Skull Face's body turned pitch black again before he transformed back into Kaz's form. I hated it so much when he wore that form, I couldn't stand it. He's not my damn brother, yet he keeps mocking me with his appearance. He keeps all these secrets from me; he's just like Crimson, for all I know he could be with Crimson. I can't take him keeping me in the dark like this; I can't take him manipulating us like his pawns anymore.

"Just what the hell do you want from me," I snapped at him. "I'm happy that Nia is back and that you helped save her, but I'm not doing a damn thing you tell me to until I get some fucking answers! I am absolutely sick of you manipulating me, I'm sick of you wearing my brothers form like some mockery of my family, I want answers and I want all this bullshit to stop right here and now!" I screamed at Skull Face in absolute fury to the point that I felt like I was going to lose my voice.

The jolteon just frowned, it was obviously a fake frown, "You are better off left in the dark for now, if I was to give answers it would only cause mass confusion amongst everyone. Plus, I doubt you would accept the truth, so continue surviving for now," he answered me.

"If that's your answer then I'm not learning a thing from Nia, and besides, what if I just die and keep you and everyone from using me for whatever the Hell they have planned" I bitterly responded to his answer.

"Do as your told Black, I'm not negotiating with you," Skull Face replied with a venomous glare.

"As if I'd do what you tell me," I snapped back.

"You'll regret going against me Black, I promise you that."

"I could really care less," I replied.

"I have tried really hard this whole time to be kind with you, but this kindness won't last long if you're going to be insubordinate," Skull Face said with anger in his tone.

"And why would I care, you're just using me?"

"Let's just say it like this. Your fennekin friend, Flare was it? If you do anything to go against me I will take that fennekin and spread his entrails all over this city, and you can all try and identify which body piece is which. Defy me and the closest friend you have will suffer an unbearable death," Skull Face spoke venomously.

A chill instantly ran down my spine from the threat. I honestly had no clue what this guy was capable of, but he was far from normal. After all, he saved Gray, and altered his whole perception on me. I had no idea what to expect on how he'd fight, or if he would really do something like that to Flare.

"If you touch Flare or anyone, I'll kill you," I snarled.

"Tff, get in line," Skull Face responded as his body began to fade to black until it broke down into black particles, which then blew away. All of us watched in silence in the direction in which Skull Face escaped from.

"What the Hell is he?" the leafeon broke the silence.

"Dante, are you alright?" Nia urgently questioned him.

"Yeah, I just got a serious migraine, that guy hits hard."

The two swapped a few whispers between each other as I stood in place. I couldn't wrap my head around what he wants from me. Again, I'm sure it has to do with my evolution disorder thing, but what does it have to do with anything? Why are all these people so obsessed with me, can't I just live my life in peace?

"Aiden are you okay?" Nia questioned the charmander that was lying on the ground shaking, his tail flame burning faintly.

If this Skull Face person only wears the face of the dead, then who was that snivy he turned into? How does he know about something Aiden probably kept to himself mostly? How does he know about Kaz, does he know about the rest of my family, or just him?

"Black, we should probably take this somewhere else," Nia said, and broke my train of thought. I glanced back at her, before I gave a nod.

We all headed back towards the plaza we met in originally. We all sat on a table, but none of us said anything, except for Nia who kept whispering with her brother who was lying down with a serious headache. Aiden on the other hand just stared off into the sky with a blank stare; it was a completely different side from the odd charmander I saw most of the time. I on the other hand just remained quiet as I tried to understand this situation. I didn't like the fact that I knew nothing about this Skull Face, but he seems to know a lot about me, and from the looks of it, possibly everyone around me.

"Nia," I called out, and she adjusted her stare towards me, "Why does this Skull person have interest in me, and what is this deal you made with him?"

Nia remained silent for a moment as she thought of my answer, "Truthfully, I don't understand what he sees in you, I understand very little about this person as well."

"And this deal?" I questioned.

Nia's gaze lowered towards the ground as she remained silent, I on the other paw just peered at her, I wasn't letting her dodge my questioned. Well?" I pried.

Nia still remained hesitant, until she looked back up towards me, "About a week ago when I was in the pokecenter I nearly tried to kill myself. I was so close to attempting it, until suddenly everything faded to black for me. Next thing I know, I awoke in a forest only to discover that I wasn't dead. Soon Skull Face confronted me, and filled me in on how I escaped. After a bit of talking Skull Face made me an offer. In exchange for me teaching you to efficiently use dark matter, he'd kill Jack and Sam for me," Nia finished as she wore a hollow look on her face.

"I see," I said without a real idea on how to respond.

"Listen, I really don't mean any harm by this, I have no idea what he's capable of either, but I need Sam and Jack dead, I'd do anything for that," Nia defended herself.

"Right, because you're their dog, and you want them out of the picture," I bitterly replied to 'Naomi'.

"Black you don't understand what those two put me through. I need them dead to move on, so I can sleep at night without having nightmares of getting my throat slit in my sleep. I don't expect you to understand, but I know you know the disgusting feeling of being a murder, having blood that won't wash off your paws. They made me into a killer, they took every moral I had and took it from me, I can hardly tell who I am anymore!" Naomi offensively shouted at me.

Upon hearing Nia's reasoning behind all of this, I remembered who she was and what was keeping her going all along. I couldn't hold thing against her, I know her revenge was all she clung onto at the moment, she was just as ignorant as me right now. "Right, sorry… that was a bit uncalled for, I didn't mean it," I said honestly. "I'm just so lost right now, I don't even know what to do about all of this."

"It's fine, just remember that I'm on your side, if it comes down to it, I'll fight with you," Nia said with a small smile, one that she struggled to form.

"What do I do?" I questioned Nia.

"We just keep going one day at a time."

"But how am I supposed to deal with all of this? There is way too much happening around me; I got those Crimson Dawn freaks after me, Mercenaries, Genesis, and now whatever the Hell that thing is. This is just too much, I feel like I can't even tell who is on my side at this point. I don't even get how I'm going to win with all these numbers against me, I'm just one pokemon, and I can't expect my friends to stand by me through this, I don't want them to die for me," I vented in frustration as I tried to see some light in this dark situation.

"I don't know honestly, we'll just have to take it one day at a time. But I hate to say this, but Skull Face was looking out for you when he wanted me to teach you dark matter. He's trying as hard as he can to keep you safe, for what I don't know though."

"I don't really like using dark matter past shadow ball. It's past my comfort zone," I stated with some honesty. Naomi just stared at me in confusion, until I realized she was waiting for an explanation.

"When I fought that riolu a week back, I thought my frien-ur colleague died. I did manage to use dark matter with my right paw. But, I just remember being so full of hatred, almost as if that energy lusted for blood, like I needed that riolu's blood. But that's the thing, I wanted to kill him in the most brutal way possible, yet I'm usually terrified of blood. Just the sight of it sends tremors down my spine, it makes me sick to my stomach," I informed Nia.

"I see," Nia said with a nod, "I've been taught about that actually, and I remember it quite a bit. Dark matter is fueled by negative emotions as you know. Rage, hate, sorrow, and all of that can fuel dark matter like gasoline thrown into fire. Of course, it is possible for you to become lost in these emotions while using it, since you're drawing upon these negative emotions to battle. So, when you are in a fight for life or death, your mind subconsciously knew this, just like when you fight your body knows to increase blood flow and to do other things to ensure your survival. As an umbreon your mind is naturally wired to use these emotions of yours to benefit you in a fight, so we'll have to work on you keeping your emotions in check while fighting, because we don't want it to get out of paw at a bad time," Naomi enlightened me with a lot more info than I really understood.

"Rrrright," I said with a confused nod.

After a few hours of Nia and I both talking, we agreed to part ways for now. Nia told me that she'd be watching from a safe distance. We both agreed that her existence would have to be revealed very carefully to everyone else, if done at all. Nia didn't really have much interest in interacting with anyone else, but I reasoned with her on how they were in danger because of all of this. So, now I have to break it down to my team mates that the pokemon that died is magically alive. The hard part was going to be leaving Skull Face out of all this. I also told her how we would be on the move soon, and that I may not get the chance to tell her exactly when, but she's smart so I think she could track me down easily.

I walked down the hallway to our hotel room. I reached the hotel door and I knocked on it with my paw. A few seconds passed by until the door was opened by Alex.

"Hey Black, I was wondering where you went off to with that charmander, everything go alright?" Alex asked me.

"A lot happened Alex. A lot happened," I answered him as I entered the hotel room with little interest in trying to interact with Alex.

I walked into the main room of the hotel, and I joined all of my friends who were gathered around the TV as they watched some movie. I just took a seat next to Kana and Flare who were right next to each other.

"Oh, hey. So how was it?" Flare whispered to me.

"Interesting," I answered, unsure on the word that would describe my time with Aiden.

"Well you missed the news, but we're leaving tomorrow morning," Flare informed me.

"And where are we going next?"

"Geosenge," Flare answered with a lack of enthusiasm, compared to his usual self, "But then we will be in Shalour, which is a beautiful city, it has a beach like this one, but the sights on Shalour are glamorous, I've been there before, it's a stunning city and we're going to have a great time there," Flare said excitedly with a smile.

"And what about this Geosenge place?" I questioned him.

"Well… it's an older town surrounded by ruins. Really outdated place," Flare answered in a dull voice.

"Ah but you're missing the main thing Geosenge is known for," Kana butted in.

"And that would be?" I asked curiously.

"Well quite a few years back this terrorist organization known as Team Flare tried to destroy the world using some weird plant thingy, but I don't know the exact details. It's really scary stuff, of course most of Kalos didn't know what was going on until after the whole incident, luckily Team Flare didn't succeed, obviously," Kana answered me with a cheerful smile. "Actually it was shortly after this incident that Alex adopted Flare, kind of ironic actually," Kana said jokingly.

"Huh, Team Flare and Flare Coincidence?" I teased Flare.

"Heh, really funny," Flare replied uneasily.

"What?" I questioned him as I noticed how awkward he was acting.

"I just don't really find that funny, I actually got teased quite a bit for my name, so maybe go easy on those jokes," the fennekin said in a tone that lacked any form of joy that he was usually overflowing with. It took me a moment to reply at first, this wasn't the Flare I knew, he usually didn't care and I know for a fact that he had a good sense of humor, better than mine at least.

"Sure," I said with an understanding nod. With us leaving Cyllage I'd have to tell Nia so she can follow me.

**Point of View Flare**

After a few movies it didn't take everyone very long to end up asleep. I on the other hand was wide awake. It would only take us a half day to get to Geosenge, and that was the last place in the world I wanted to go to. I knew this day would come, but I really wish we would just go around it, or not stop a day in Geosenge. Since we have to get through a dangerous cave, Alex wants us to rest at Geosenge so we can be at full strength before we tackle this cave.

After what felt like an eternity, morning came. Excluding me, Alex was the first to awake out of our group. It didn't take long for him to get us all up and going. After about an hour we were all outside and ready to continue our journey to the next gym. Currently we were on a dirt road in a big grass field. If I remembered correctly this walk should be mostly open space, until we enter the ruins of Geosenge.

I really can't do this… It has been so long since I've returned to Geosenge. Everything I have done wrong in my life was because of Team Flare. My alternate life was my deepest darkest secret, no one knew about my days as a Team Flare member, not even Kana. If they were to find out, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Most days I forget about my past life, and I wish it'd stay like that, but this half day is going to be nothing but a painful reminder of everything, including Annie. To be honest I mostly forgot about her, but then again I don't even act like myself anymore, I guess when I accepted my new life Annie died in a way. When I fought Hunter he was right about me, I have changed a lot over the years, and I'm not the same fennekin I was back then.

* * *

**Chapter End**

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**Author Note:** Well Naomi is back in the picture now, or at least for the main group. Sorry if things seem a bit slower on the story than usual, these are transitional chapters and I guess we need them. Or we can have characters teleport to their objectives XD.

I got one question if it isn't to much trouble for anyone to answer.

**1)** Do you like the flashback chapters or do you prefer to have the character basically explain what happened in other ways? I ask this because I'm not sure if the background chapters are to long and people may just want the gist. So you can answer that as you please on your opinion on my flashback chapters. Of course I'm not forcing anyone though.

Also thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I know I don't reply to all my guest reviews (Mostly because some I can't reply to since I'd just be thanking you and I think multiple responses just saying thank you would take up a bit of space) but I do read all of them and I want to thank everyone who has supported this story! And another huge thank you to everyone who answers my questions when I ask them, it really does help me at times.

Thanks **genericgamer207** for being a lazy sloth who does absolutely nothing but suck up space in my author notes... Err I mean thanks buddy for putting in all the hard work! No but seriously, genericgamer207 helps out big time with his editing, I still remember when I had the grammar of a third grader lol.


	86. Ivy

**Thanks to everyone that answered my question on the flashback chapters. I was curious since I wasn't sure if people viewed them as annoying since it puts everything on hold for a few chapters. I'll try my best to make future content as convenient as possible. **

Book II: Impending Twilight

* * *

**Chapter 86: Ivy**

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

I comfortably lied on a mattress, still hidden below some bed sheets. I gave out a tired yawn and tried to fall back asleep. I wasn't ready to start my day, it was too early. Bright rays of sunlight shone through the window making it rather difficult to sleep past noon. For the next thirty minutes I tossed and turned as I tried to sleep, but I submitted after a bit and threw my blanket off me. I let out a groggy yawn as I crawled off the fire resistant mattress I slept on.

"Ughhh, what time is it," I grumbled as I looked towards the clock, "Eleven-forty-three… I'm up early today," I noted as I walked towards the door to my bedroom. I pushed the door open and made my way downstairs towards the kitchen.

David was in the kitchen talking to someone on the phone while he scratched his blonde hair with his free hand, I would have eavesdropped, but it was too early for this stuff right now. My first priority was breakfast. I made my way towards the fridge and to the pantry and acquired the necessary items to start my day right: a bowl, a spoon, some two percent milk, and some captain munch. I hopped up on a stool at the table and I poured my bowl of cereal and I began to eat my breakfast as David continued to talk on the phone.

"Yeah I gotcha, I'll be there right away," I heard David say as he put away his smart phone. David walked up to me and roughed up my head as he walked past me. "Sorry Aiden, I got to run, boss wants me in today," David said as he made his way towards the door as he grabbed a backpack full of his journalist stuff, which consisted of his camera, a laptop, notebooks, and all that good stuff you would think a journalist would have.

"But its Saturday," I commented as he began to open the front door.

"I know, I know. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. Also I left some cash for you to get lunch and stuff. See ya!" David said with a bit of pep as he left me to myself.

"Way to spend the weekend David," I remarked as I finished my bowl of cereal and pushed it to the side and laid my head on the table attempting to nap a little bit to shake off my grogginess. After a bit I gave up on napping, and I checked the spot David always left the money at. I walked into the living room where we had our couch and TV. I walked up to the table in front of the couch and located the twenty dollars David left me.

For the next two hours or so, I choose to kick it back and watch some TV. I mostly watched adult cartoons and such that we had recorded. The cartoons I watched were just so vulgar and stupid, and I loved it. After I felt satisfied with my kicking back time, I decided it was time to head out and do something. I grabbed my twenty dollars as I headed towards the door and I put it into my black sling backpack that had orange faded flame details on certain parts of it. The flames weren't obnoxious, they had an artistic design that made them look swag, not lame or anything like that. I slung the backpack over my shoulder and I headed out.

I walked around the streets of Lumiose city with one objective in my mind, hanging with Ivy for a bit. I walked to the house Ivy lived at with her trainer. I stood in front of the door as I rose my hand up to knock on it.

"Looking for someone?" someone called out from behind me. My head cocked back to see a snivy standing a few meters away as she wore a smirk on her face.

"Hey Ivy, I said I'd swing by sometime today," I said as I walked towards her, "What are you doing outside though?"

"Ehhh, just hanging in the sun, you know, I'm a grass type and all," she reminded me as she walked up to me and gave me a strong hug, even though she was actually pretty weak compared to me. I hugged her back as I lifted her off the ground for a moment and gave her quick kiss on the cheek.

"So, how would you like to get some lunch or something, my treat?" I asked her with a smile.

"I suppose, but I get to choose," she said as she giggled at the end of her sentence.

"Of course you get to choose," I said with a chuckle.

Ivy took me to some place that specialized in stuff like coffee, sandwiches, salads, and a whole bunch of other healthy things I didn't care for. We both got our meal to go; we had a place we preferred to visit when we had time. Before we left the shop I carefully placed our meals in my sling backpack and we headed towards the outskirts of Lumiose where we went on some trails in the forest, but it didn't take long for us to wonder off the trails.

Ivy and I headed towards this steep mountain like incline in the ground. We both began climbing up the rocky mountain like thingy. It was a long climb, and I usually did barely manage to make it to the top, I would imagine I'd die if I actually fell… Ivy didn't struggle as much as me since she used her vines to help her up. I gasped for air once I reached the peak of the mini mountain.

"Winded again?" Ivy joked with me as she walked along the rocky surface and looked off into the distance towards Lumiose. As I caught my breath I walked towards the edge as well and looked towards the city. From here we got a good view of Kalos. The way everything always looked so tiny from up here, the view amazed me every time. Being smaller than the average human child, and spending most of my time around humans, it felt nice to finally be above everyone for once.

After taking in the magnificent view, I took our lunches out of my bag. I kept both of our lunches contained in plastic containers that kept them from getting crushed. I handed Ivy her container as I sat down and pulled out my lunch. I opened up the container and began to eat my sandwich. Ivy on the other hand indulged in a nutritional salad. Ivy wasn't really much of a meat eater, she wasn't a vegetarian, but she took her diet to heart. I love the girl, but I swear she needed to eat more meat, but I guess keeping her figure required her to eat healthy… but a cheeseburger here and there wouldn't kill.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to see me until later?" Ivy questioned me as she continued to eat her salad.

"David got called into work for some reason, which pisses me off since his boss has no concept of what a weekend is," I replied with a mouthful of food.

"Welcome to life Aiden," Ivy said jokingly.

"Hah, I guess I have it easy," I replied with some honesty.

"I've been meaning to ask, did you ever find out when you and David are leaving on another trip?" Ivy questioned me.

"Crap that's right!" I shouted as I remembered, "Yeah I meant to tell you this a lot sooner, but we'll be leaving Tuesday. Sorry, it was kind of last minute for us, we just knew that the trip was coming up," I said as I nervously scratched the back of my head.

"It's fine, but when will you be back?"

"Ughh… anywhere from one to two weeks, but this stuff can be random," I answered.

"Awww, I see," Ivy said in disappointment.

"It's not that long," I reasoned with her.

"No, it's not long enough, I just can't get rid of you Aid-"

"Ay! You're the one who always wants to spend time together and stuff, so I'm guessing you're going to be left in emotional ruin after I leave," I teased Ivy.

"Totally, I'll just sit at home crying myself to sleep because I can't last one day without you," Ivy said with sarcasm.

"Heh, see I knew you wouldn't do well without me."

"I was being sarcastic!" Ivy piped up.

"Riiight," I said jokingly.

Many jokes later Ivy somewhat tired herself out with trying to convince me she could survive without me. Of course I knew she could, but her reactions were gold. Ivy leaned against my side as she wrapped her left arm around my front side and she basked in the sunlight. I on the other hand enjoyed the peace with her and stared off towards the city.

Usually Ivy and I weren't this boring, but we did enjoy spending time alone, especially in this spot since no one came up here. Ivy and I enjoyed doing many things together, games, movies, and just being idiotic together. Yep, she was someone I enjoyed being with.

After a long date with Ivy atop of the mini mountain thingy, we decided to climb down and head back home. After a very long walk we eventually made it back to Ivy's home. The day probably only had a few hours left until it would get dark out, and David and I did have plans to watch corny horror movies tonight, it was a Saturday tradition to watch movies so bad that is was hysterical.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?" I asked Ivy.

"I'll be free around this time tomorrow, so if you can stop by then, sure," Ivy answered.

"Gotcha, I'll see ya tomorrow then," I said as I gave Ivy a small wave, but she responded with a hug.

"I am going to miss you when you leave, just don't do anything stu-"

"Payton," A voice interrupted Ivy. "Payton!" the voice shouted from all directions, "Wake up already!"

My eyes sprang open as I awoke in the hotel room I was staying in. I let out a groggy yawn as I buried my head into the pillow I had.

"Come on Payton, today's the big day, or do you plan on sleeping all day?" Erika barked at me.

"Sleep always sounds good," I stated to myself as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to go back to my dream, but I found that it was slipping away from me, and that I had to accept that things weren't like that anymore.

"Come on, today's the day we conquer the second gym, so come get some lunch before we leave, and you need to stop sleeping in so late, it's not a good habit," Erika began lecturing me, but I just tried to block it out. Erika eventually left me to myself, and after I woke up a bit more I pried myself from the mattress.

I got off the mattress and leapt up onto a chair that was next to some cheap desk that was in the hotel. I looked across the room as I saw Erika carrying something over towards me. She handed me something wrapped in paper towels. The object was square and I could already tell what this meal was. I unfolded it to find a small sandwich on wheat bread.

I let out a depressed sigh, "Just like the dream," I said as I just placed the sandwich on the desk and ignored it. I loved sandwiches, but I wasn't really craving one at the moment, especially one that looked healthy. It looked like one of those sandwiches I would always get stuck eating when I spent time with Ivy. I was a sandwich lover, but I preferred a big meaty sandwich, not this disgraceful sandwich that hardly contained meat. Ivy usually always forced me to eat healthy, I hated it, but I was more than happy to put up with it for her.

I watched as everybody ate their lunch. Our team now consisted of three pokemon since Erika caught a mienfoo during our stay in Cyllage. She named the mienfoo Jade. Juda and I received a serious ass whooping to catch this pokemon. As we were getting the shit beat out of us, Erica surprised the mienfoo with a greatball, I guess the mienfoo wasn't strong enough to resist it. The mienfoo mostly remained quiet, she talked here and there but she spent most of her time meditating.

After everyone finished getting ready, we all headed out the door for the second gym.

**Point of View Flare**

Well, it was mid-afternoon at this point, and the sun was at its peak today. Our party was now travelling through the ruins that surrounded Geosenge. We all treaded through a field of overgrown grass and had many ancient ruins everywhere. Most of the ruins were shaped like spires, but many had collapsed and were worn out from the years. I could never remember what the purpose of these ruins were for, or if a reason as even discovered, kinda sad since I grew up around this area.

"So, anybody know what was up with all of these rocks?" Hesh asked as he tapped one of the spires.

"I have not the slightest clue," Black responded to Hesh.

"I believe archeologists are still trying to figure that out to this very day," Kana informed Hesh.

"Huh, well I can't see why someone would build all these spire shaped things… I mean why? Was there really nothing better to do back then?" Hesh jokingly asked.

"Who knows," Kana replied.

The conversation they were having carried on for a bit, and Black would jump in and out of it. I mostly blocked out what they were saying, I didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now, I just wanted to get out of here and never come back. Every step we took brought us closer to Geosenge, and I just couldn't stand going there and being reminded of who I was.

After a long walk through the ruins, we finally arrived… We all took a moment to stare at Geosenge town from afar. I gazed at the old worn out civilization that was out of touch with the modern world. a shudder ran through my body just from looking at the town.

"Well, here we are," Alex commented as he led us into the town.

Everyone followed behind Alex as I stood frozen in place. 'I can't do this," I said in my head. I tightened my teeth together as I stared at the town. Everything about it looked so innocent, there was no reason to be driven away like I was. That is, except for my background here. No one here would know me, but it was the memories that I feared the most. I didn't want to be reminded of those days. I didn't want to be reminded of Annie, and I didn't want to remember those I stood by.

**Point of View Aiden**

I gasped heavily as I pulled myself up the mountain that would lead us to the second gym. I had finally reached the bloody top of this evil place. I panted heavily as I lied on my back and felt like dying right there. Mountain climbing was a lot easier when the distance to be traveled wasn't so far… The rest of my teammates managed to get up here before me, and most of them had already recovered from the long climb. Erika walked up to me and handed me a bottle of water out of the backpack she had.

"Here, I'm sure you'd appreciate some," Erika said.

"Thanks," I replied with gratitude as I took the water and began to slam it down. My dry throat instantly became replenished, but I still wanted more than what I had. After I finished chugging the water I handed it to Erika and she placed the empty bottle in her bag.

"Take a few guys, I know you're all probably exhausted right now, I know I am," Erika said as she sat down and looked off into the distance. It took a moment for me to look up, but when I did I got a perfect view of Cyllage city. My jaw dropped from the sight, it was just awesome. We were so high up, I mean really high up, this was even higher than the spot Ivy and I always went to.

"Pretty nice view isn't it," My bulbasaur teammate said as he sat next to me.

"Yeah," I said with a bit of nostalgia. This view really did take me back to my time with Ivy and our special spot…

After a ten minute break we decided it was time to make our way inside the gym. My jaw dropped upon entering the second gym. Inside this big mountain was a big hollow opening with another mountain, it was a mountain within a mountain!

"Do mountains usually form inside of mountains?" I questioned my teammates.

"Not usually. I think this is a human made structure, not natural," Juda informed me.

"Right, I knew that," I awkwardly replied as I realized how obvious it was.

"Welcome to the Cyllage City Gym!" A voice called up from above. All of us looked on top of the mountain where we saw a dark skinned man with a bunch of rocks stuck in his hair.

"Tff, nice hair," I teased as I burst out laughing. The man awkwardly looked down at me as he noticed my hysteria. My laughing continued to grow out of control until I fell on my knees and my gut started to hurt. "Seriously, what went wrong to get that mess on your head!" I managed to yell as I continued to laugh uncontrollably.

"Payton!" Erica barked at me as she kicked me in the hip with her foot, but nothing aggressively hard.

"Right-right, I'm sorry Erica," I said as I held my hand over my mouth to hold in my hysteria. Tears were beginning to form in my eyes, never before have I seen something so ridiculous. I mean I know humans loved to wear jewelry and stuff, but seriously, gems in your hair? With hair that nappy he probably was a gem thief and he probably stores his stolen goods in that disgraceful haircut.

"Anyways," I managed to hear the gym leader mutter. "You have two choices, you can either climb up this mountain, or you can take the elevator," Grant said to us.

"Hah, as if!" I spat out.

"Erika took a moment to observe the mountain, and then she looked at the elevator, "Yeah, we'll just ride up that elevator, I think we've all had enough climbing for the day," Erika told the gym leader.

"Alright, I'll see you up here in a moment then," the gym leader said as he walked out of our sight.

We all hustled into the elevator and began to ride it up towards the top. I lazily leaned against the wall as my other teammates did their own thing. My mienfoo teammate Jade just closed her eyes and began to meditate as she always did. I swear, I hardly knew that mienfoo, but she was a quiet one. It amazed me that we managed to catch her; I mean Erika barely got the mienfoo to cooperate with us. I suffered a serious ass whooping just so Erica could catch her, so this mienfoo better make it worth it.

After about a minute in the elevator, the doors opened and we all made our way onto an arena. The gym leader was quick to approach us once we made our way up.

"I didn't introduce myself earlier, my name is Grant, pleasure to me you," gem head said.

"Likewise, my name is Erika," my trainer said as she shook gem heads hand.

"Are you familiar with the rules. I see you have three pokemon, so it's just simply three on three, of course one pokemon at a time per team."

"I know the rules, and we're ready to begin when you are," Erika said, "Actually... would it be possible if we could do a three on three all at once, you know, so my pokemon can collaborate."

Grant took a moment to think about the question, "Hmmm, that's a request I've never got before," the haired freak said as he placed his fingers on his chin," You know, I think that'd make things more interesting, so why not."

"Sweet," Erica said with a smirk on her face as she walked towards her side of the arena.

"I just warn you," the gem head began to say, "Things may get a bit chaotic, so just be wary of that."

"You don't have to worry about us," Erica responded.

The gym leader walked to his side of the arena and unclipped three pokeballs from his belt. Juda, Jade, and I all stood in defensive positions as we braced ourselves for this battle. Grant threw his three pokeballs and three pokemon took shape.

"Holy mother of Mew!" I yelled as I saw the gigantic onix that was accompanied by a tyrunt and an amaura. "Nope! I'm done," I said as I threw my hands up and walked off the arena.

"Payton, what are you doing?" Erika questioned me.

"Would you look at that onix Erika," I said as I pointed towards the rock snake. "That thing eats pokemon bigger than me for snacks."

"Payon, listen I know it's bigger than you, but size doesn't matter," Erika tried to reason.

"Size doesn't matter my ass!" I piped up.

"Listen," Erika said as she kneeled down and place one hand on each of my shoulders, "I'm not going to force you to fight if you're too scared,"

"I'm not scared! I just have logic not to fight things fifty times my size," I cut her off.

Erika just frowned. I guess she was getting the gist of what I was saying. "I'll tell you what Pate, if you tough this one out, I'll take us all out to dinner tonight, and I'll let you get any desert," Erika offered.

"Bribery huh? I'm not a little kid you know, I'm not dying for a nice meal," I complained.

"Well fine, I guess we hiked up here for nothing," Erika said in frustration.

"I guess so," I said as I stubbornly crossed my arms.

"Aiden," Juda called out from behind me. I glared back at him. "Just get in here and fight, don't be a coward," the bulbasaur insulted me.

"I'm not a coward; I just don't want to die so young!" I snapped at him.

"I see," the mienfoo spoke up for once, "It seems what I have heard is true. The more they bark, the weaker they are, I had a feeling you were all talk, charmander," the mienfoo said with a snobby attitude.

"Listen, I don't know who you think you are to just insult me like that," I yelled at Jade.

"Then prove me wrong, are you just a coward?" the mienfoo asked me.

"Fine!" I piped up as I walked onto the arena, "I'll get killed here with you all today!"

'Oh man I'm so dead!' I screamed in my head as that cocky look on my face quickly melted away into a nervous glance as I looked at the onix that towered over us. I gulped nervously as I looked at the other two opponents.

"So… how are we going to divvy this up?" I questioned.

"Erika will tell us that once we start," Juda answered me.

"Right," I said with a small nod.

"Are you ready to begin?" the gem haired freak questioned me.

"Ready!" Erica yelled back to him.

"Then let's get this started," Grant said with pep.

"Jade, go for the onix, stay fast and wait for your openings, Juda go for the amuara and use your distant attacks, Payton go for the tyrunt and use the moves we worked on during our training!" Erica quickly commanded us the instant the battle began.

Jade was the first to make her move, the mienfoo moved with a blurring speed that was almost scary.

"Rocky, use rock tomb!" Grant commanded. "Amuara block all of his attacks and overwhelm him with your own, and Rex, use crunch!" Grant commanded his pokemon.

The onix was quick to fling its tail against the dirt and splash multiple chunks of rocks towards the mienfoo, but Jade quickly weaved around the attacks as she continued to move at her blurring speed. The mienfoo jumped in the air and kicked the onix. The boulder snake flinched back as a loud crack echoed through air from the powerful kick.

Juda shot a razor leaf towards his opponent, and the amaura responded with ice based projectiles, and the two dodged and countered each other's attacks. I heard something running towards me and I turned to the side to see the lovable dinosaur running towards me. Rex I believed he called him, such a laughable name.

The tyrunt opened its mouth wide as it launched towards me and clamped its teeth down where I was before I moved to the side. I opened my mouth wide and I blew a flamethrower at the tyrunt's face and the dinosaur just clamped his eyes shut as I barely burned him with my flames.

"Type advantage, right," I noted as the tyrunt snapped towards me with his teeth again. I repeatedly dodged the attacks, each time his attacks came closer and closer to getting me.

'Payton go for the tyrunt and use the moves we worked on during our training,' Erika's words echoed through my head. As I dodged the attacks I began to concentrate my energy until a purple energy surrounds my claws. This was an attack Erika spent a good amount of time teaching me, learning this resulted in many arguments and a lot more migraines.

"Chomp on this!" I shouted as I swiped my dragon claws against the tyrunt's maw. The dinosaur flinched back as the powerful energy took its toll on him. "Come at me, I have something to prove to somebody," I said with determination.

"Rex, use dragon tail!" Grant commanded towards his tyrunt.

The tyrunt's tail pulsed with a similar energy as my claws. The tyrunt quickly turned in a three-sixty and swung his tail at me. My eyes widened as I instinctively attempted to grab his tail. The tail smashed into my ribs and I felt all the air leave my body, but I forced myself to hold onto the tail.

"Ughh… you hit hard," I groaned as I pulled on his tail and threw him onto the ground, "but I hit harder!" I shouted with a toothy grin as I ripped my claws into his chest and the energy sent the tyrunt rolling along the ground. Once the tyrunt stopped rolling he tried to stand back up, but his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell unconscious.

"Victory!" I shouted triumphantly as I held my fist into the air.

"Took you long enough," Jade said from behind me. I quickly spun around to see her and Juda both standing casually behind me with two defeated pokemon in the background.

"Wait, how long have you two been watching me!" I yelled in confusion.

"Long enough, we finished our opponents before you and we wanted to see how you'd manage on your own," Juda said with that same dull expression she always had, "And you didn't do half bad."

"And it never crossed your mind once that you could have helped me?" I questioned the two with a bit of anger.

"Nah, you had it under control, plus you looked so proud when you won," Juda said gleefully.

"True, I did kick that dino's ass," I said with a confident nod.

"I guess you proved yourself for now," the mienfoo said as she walked away and head back towards our trainer.

"Oh, good job Aiden, I was wrong, and I'm sorry for being so stuck up," I said in a childish voice as I pretended to be the mienfoo.

After our victory it didn't take long for Erika to collect our gym badge. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit. I wasn't thrilled that I had to climb down that mountain, but at least I got to relax in the end. And no matter what Erica said, I am sleeping as long as I please tomorrow. I guess I had a bit of fun today, excluding my ribs that felt as if they were broken, but Erika checked them out and they were just bruised a bit. She just gave me some painkillers and an ice pack for it.

Tomorrow would be the day we set out for the third gym, I could hardly wait to see what trials await me! Note that that was extreme sarcasm.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** I'm going to apologize right now for making that gym battle a little rushed, but I honestly couldn't see people wanting to read a long gym battle again, except maybe for Aiden's POV, which I did do. So, hopefully it didn't bother anyone, but I did this because I want to move onto bigger and better things.

Anyhoo, hopefully this chapter was enjoyable, and I hope you all liked the additional background info I gave on Aiden. Till next time my fellow readers.

I'm to cool to thank genericgamer207 for all the hard work he puts in...

**PS:** Does anyone actually know what the Ruins near Geosenge town are for, or are they kinda just there?


	87. I don't deserve any of this

Well, here's a chapter everyone has been waiting for, for quite some time now. Hopefully it answers some questions, and I do warn everyone that this is a VERY long chapter... So, don't feel like you have to read it all in one sitting, I know I couldn't. But, I won't stop you all from reading it in one go XD

* * *

**Chapter 87: I don't deserve any of this**

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

Rain showered down from the sky as the ice cold raindrops pelted against my skin like ice cold needles piercing my flesh. My tail's flame flickered dimly in the somber reality I was stuck within this dark forest. I looked off into the distance where I could see a small opening in the clouds that revealed the sun's rays. I walked in the direction of the light, but soon the clouds blocked off the sun and left me in the bitter darkness of the storm. Despite my loss of guidance I continued to aimlessly wander through the forest as the rain continued to beat down on me. I trembled uncontrollably as I trudged through the muck and mud on the ground that wore me down as I fought against it and the horrible climate.

After wandering through the storm for a while, I found a large lake that bordered the forest. The lake stretched left and right for as far as the eye could see, but the opposite side seemed to be barren of trees. The open view showed a sight of the dark skies, occasionally lit up by lightning and its thunderous roar following shortly after. Next to the lake was an old worn down shed, one that appeared to have been long forgotten, and on the shore of the lake not to far from the shed was a pier. This spot appeared to be someones small little campsite.

I slowly walked onto a wooden pier as the rotten boards creaked from every small step I took. I cautiously made my way to the end of the pier and I held onto a wooden stud with my right hand to help me keep my balance from falling in. I gazed down into the water and I could see the many ripples the rain was creating, but I couldn't make out a reflection as I had hoped. My gaze shifted upward towards the black sea of clouds above me that had no glimpse of hope in them.

My eyes began to grow heavy as I felt a hollow emptiness in myself. My right hand slid off the wooden stump it held onto and it hanged limp by my side along with my other arm. My gaze slowly shifted back downward as I lost the will to even hold my head upright. I could only imagine how cold it would be if I actually fell in. But I was a charmander, so it'd only take a few seconds before I actually fell unconscious. It'd literally only be a few seconds that I'd have to feel the numbing sensation, I'd be dead within a minute, I wouldn't even die from drowning, just from my tail flame finally being doused out from the ice cold water.

I leaned forward a bit as my legs weakened and I willingly let myself fall towards the water. Every sense in my body was instantly numbed as I was paralyzed from the breathtaking ice cold water. For a brief moment I began to attempt to swim up, but I remembered that this is what I wanted, a quick and painless escape. Everything began to fade to black as I sank deeper into my grave, perhaps now I will have a chance of being happy again?

My eyes shot open and I took in a sharp breath as my head shot upward from the desk I fell asleep leaning against. A cold sensation ran through my body as I hugged myself and tried to warm up. My eyes shifted down towards my tail to see that my flame was dimly lit just like in the dream, but as I noticed this the flame went back up to its natural healthy size.

"Aiden, are you okay?" Juda questioned me as he approached me, "You look as if you saw a ghost."

"Yeah," I answered faintly as I tried to put that dream together, "I just had a weird dream, that's all."

"About?" Juda questioned me.

"It's nothing, when are we leaving for dinner?" I quickly asked to throw the bulbasaur off.

"Pretty soon actually," Judah answered.

"Then I'll have to get ready," I said as I jumped off the chair I was sitting on.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Our team was quick to settle down in an old worn down hotel in the middle of Geosenge town. I couldn't say many positives on this old worn down lodging, the wooden floor boards creaked with every step, the furniture smelled moldy, and there was about an inch of dust on everything. There was no television in our room, nor was there a couch for Gray to lie on all day, just old worn down wooden chairs that looked like they'd break if someone sat on them.

"So… This is where we are staying for the night?" Black said with astonishment. " It's a bit of a downgrade from that suite Alex's Dad bought us."

"It's only for a night, so it's not like it's that bad," Kana spoke optimistically.

Hesh turned his head from the comment, "Yeah well this night is going to drag out, I don't even think this place has heating, and it's a bit nippy at night around this area I bet," Hesh added.

"Ehh, the cold can't be that bad," Kana protested.

"Well I'm not Gray where I have a big coat of fluffy fur. I mean, look at that! It's like a winter jacket. How do you even survive in the summer, dude?" Hesh asked Gray, who, as usual, was distant from the group. Gray turned towards Hesh as he wore his usual dull expression.

"I deal with it, but you can only imagine how thick my winter coat of fur is, I'll shed quite a bit when spring comes, besides our coats are mostly made for mountainous places, not deserts and such," Gray answered Hesh.

"I see, but it's still a lot of fur," Hesh remarked.

"It does get hot on some summer days, I won't lie," Gray said.

"Hey guys!" Alex shouted to get everyone's attention, "Instead of sitting around this dusty dump all day, why don't we go check out the ruins and stuff. It'd beat sitting in this room all day," Alex suggested.

Almost everyone in our group gave Alex a nod, except Gray and myself.

"Flare, you don't want to go?" Kana said with surprise.

"Yeah what gives, aren't you the adventurous one?" Black added in.

I froze up for a moment from the sudden attention. Truthfully, I just wanted to hide in this hotel room all day. I just couldn't stand being in Geosenge anymore. So I mostly wanted to just sleep this day through.

"Well, I wasn't feeling well last night, so I couldn't sleep, so I'm a bit exhausted today," I said as I gave off a fake yawn that seemed pretty convincing to me.

"Oh, well how do you feel now?" Kana asked.

"I feel fine, I just want some sleep, maybe we can all do something later," I said, even though I had no plans to leave this hotel until we were leaving for Shalour.

"Well, if you feel sick again just tell me," Kana said.

After a bit everyone left without Gray and me. Alex was a bit shocked when he found out that I didn't want to go. I hated to disappoint them, but this is one day where I'm not feeling like myself, if the me they know is even real, or just some fake persona I brainwashed myself with.

"So, you're tired," Gray questioned me as I lied in a corner where the light didn't shine too brightly.

"Uh huh."

"If you say so," Gray said unconvinced as he rested his head on his arms that he used as a pillow.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I questioned Gray.

"Nothing, it just doesn't seem like you to stay behind, even if you are a bit tired," Gray told me.

"Yeah well, I'm about to pass out so…" I said as I jumped up on the rickety bed and curled up into a ball and closed my eyes.

I didn't like the fact that Gray was asking me those questions, even if they didn't seem that troublesome. He knows that something is up with me; he is good at figuring that stuff out. Whatever, as long as I stay here and keep quiet, he won't know a thing, as simple as that.

Time continued to pass by as I lied on the bed. I tossed and turned for what felt like hours, but in reality only about thirty minutes passed. No matter how much I tried to reposition myself, I could never get comfortable. This bed was already Mew awful, but this feeling in my chest was making things all the more worse.

Were the friends I had valid? I mean are they truly my friends? I've lied to them all so much. If they knew the truth, would they still consider me one of them, or would they outcast me like I truly deserve? I always wanted to tell them the truth, but I could never reveal something like that, I'm too terrified to see what they think. I mean am I any worse than Black? He's putting us all in danger by being around us, so would I be accepted over him? Would they choose to accept an ex-criminal?

Time continued to pass by at an unbearable rate. I began to feel myself overheating and becoming claustrophobic inside this cramped hotel room. The feeling of being trapped continued to build and build as paranoia kept eating away at my sanity, until I couldn't take it anymore and I sprang up onto my feet and quickly jumped off the bed and ran for the door.

"Where are you going?!" Gray shouted as he lifted his head up.

"Nowhere, I just need some fresh air, I'll be back in a moment!" I shouted at him as I quickly got the door open and ran out into the fresh air of Geosenge.

I inhaled as deep of a breath as I could manage before I attempted to exhale all of my built up rage and fears. Sadly, none of this alleviated the feeling that was tearing me asunder from the inside out. I desperately looked in every direction until I spotted an old stump on the ground. I quickly slammed my whole body into the stump and a shockwave of pain echoed throughout my whole body. The ribs in my body now felt as if they were shattered, but at the moment I was enjoying this distracting pain. I turn back towards the stump and began mauling the stump with my right paw. Soon I lost feeling in my paw and I decided to bite into the roots of the stump and I ferociously ripped the base of the stump out of the ground. The root disconnected from the base and I flew back onto my back and began panting.

As I panted in exhaustion pain became rife in my bones. My ribs felt as if they were broken from my tackle and I glanced down to my paw to see that is was bruised and had multiple splinters sticking out of it. My teeth ached as well, I could feel splinters of wood stuck between my teeth, I could even feel the gashes in my gums from trying so desperately to tear the stump to little pieces.

I looked over towards the stump, it was mocking me by still standing up. I sneered as I stood back up. I inhaled a deep breath and I exhaled a flamethrower at the stump. The rotten piece of wood was quick to burn, but pretending to inflict pain on inanimate objects wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped. The pain in my chest was still there, my inside was still being eaten away by self-disgust in myself for being who I am, an ex-Team Flare scum.

I watched as the stump was burned to ashes, and afterwards I began to walk aimlessly through the dirt streets of Geosenge. Not many of the humans paid much notice to me, they all just carried out their daily tasks of doing whatever they did.

"Nothing has changed over the years," I noted out loud as I walked along with my head hanging low. Everything was the same; this place didn't age a bit. Most houses were still old worn down cabins that were inhabited by the people that chose to live in an un-modernized country town.

After a while I wandered towards the outskirts of Geosenge where I sat atop of a hill. I looked over the town as I watched the few civilians here carry out their everyday lives. I could see why they'd live here, small crime rates, small community, isolated from the problems around the world. The only bad thing that happened to this innocent town is Team Flare.

I continued to stare off towards the town as a memory began to form in my mind.

* * *

I stared off into the distance in exhaustion as I kept a low profile. We Team Flare members weren't supposed to wander outside the underground facility without permission, but some of us did from time to time. It was another day of pointless training. Another day that I was reminded that I was living in the shadow of my sister, and that I'd never come close to matching someone like her. Whenever I thought I was making progress in my training, she was already twenty steps ahead of me, although that's what made her so amazing.

I banged my head on the ground in frustration as I tried to wade off the thoughts of my pointless training. Everyone usually laughed behind my back as they saw my failures, it was all the more funny when I was compared to my sister.

"Hey!" A voice called out from behind me. My head turned back to see a combusken approaching me from behind.

"Have I met you before?" I questioned the combusken who was now standing behind me.

"Not personally, but I usually train in the training ground around the same time as you," the combusken said.

"I see, are you here to bully me too?" I quickly jumped the gun.

"No-no, I just came up here to relax. I always sit in this spot to calm myself, you just happen to be here today," the combusken said as he nervously laughed, "Mind if I join you?"

"S-sure," I said in surprise and the combusken sat next to me.

"I'm Hunter by the way, and don't let those other A-holes get you down, you just need a bit of polishing and you'll get it right," the combusken said as he extended his hand out towards me. I was hesitant for a moment, no one has ever really tried to be my friend before, I was kind of the dud pokemon.

"I-I'm Flare," I nervously said as I shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Hunter said with a friendly smirk. "Anyways, what were you struggling with in the training area that is always attracting attention? I never really paid attention since I'm always focused on training," Hunter asked.

"Everything," I bluntly answered.

"Everything? Maybe a little more specific," Hunter said.

"Ember…" I answered with embarrassment.

"Just ember?" Hunter questioned again.

"Listen, I'm not very good, and I get enough from the others, so don't-"

"I'm not making fun of you, I'm just a bit surprised, that's all," Hunter said frantically in an attempt to clear up my confusion. "Do it, I wanna see if I can help you."

"I don't know…" I said nervously.

"Come on, I'm not going to make fun of you, I'm not like most of the jerks in Team Flare," Hunter reassured me. I guess I had nothing to lose, so I gave him a nod as I took a few steps back from him.

I inhaled as deep of a breath as I could and I began concentrating everything I had. I exhaled out a small puff of smoke as a baby ember floated to the ground at a gentle and almost harmless pace. I nearly died from the embarrassment of being so weak and pathetic, I was a lost cause.

"Whoa, you do need a bit of work," Hunter stated as he held in a chuckle.

"Thanks," I muttered as I began to walk away from him.

"Hey, get back here," Hunter called out to me, "I said you just need a bit of polishing, let me help a bit, I can mentor you," Hunter offered.

I was hesitant about trusting him for a moment, but I chose to trust him for now.

"Alright, so I can see some errors already," Hunter stated. "For one, posture is helpful," Hunter told me as he kicked my legs apart, "This'll help you take clearer breaths, but it's not about how big of a breath you take, It's about quality," Hunter told me. "Just do what your body does naturally, don't force it out, just concentrate your inner flames. I can't really describe how, you kind of got to get a feeling for it, but just release it, and keep practicing it and you'll get bigger and stronger flames as you keep working at it," Hunter told me.

"And how do I know you know what you are talking about?" I questioned Hunter.

A chuckle escaped him as he sat up and faced away from me. Hunter inhaled a small breath before he exhaled a stream of fire that had a bit of blue towards the base of the flame. The heat of the flame overwhelmed me just from being near it and I leapt back.

"How's that look?" Hunter questioned me.

"You're pretty good," I said in amazement. He wasn't as good as my sister, but he wasn't that far off from what she was when she was around his age.

"Now do what I told you," Hunter instructed.

I gave Hunter a nod as I got into the proper posture and inhaled a medium sized breath. I concentrated my inner flames and I exhaled. A small flutter of embers sprayed out of my mouth and went about a meter from my maw. I stared in surprise as I watched the embers die out in mid-air.

"See, huge improvement, but hardly near lethal," Hunter noted.

"Thanks, I actually didn't expect to see that much improvement," I said excitedly.

"Uh huh, just keep working at it, you can only get better after all. Just one question though?" Hunter asked me and I gave him my attention, "Your older sister is Annie, right?"

"Yeah," I answered.

"Why isn't she training you this stuff, she's one of the best fire type pokemon I have ever seen," Hunter questioned.

"Annie is a very busy person. When she isn't on missions she is reposing herself from the grueling hours Team Flare makes her work. Since she is above many, she also has a lot more expectations," I answered Hunter.

"I see, must be hard having her gone so much," Hunter said.

"I miss her all the time, but she tries her hardest to spend all her spare time with me, she just doesn't have the energy to train me usually."

* * *

As the thought of Annie rushed back into my mind, I quickly snapped out of my day dreaming. I jumped up onto all fours and made my way down the hill. Hunter seemed like such a lost dream, I could hardly believe he tried killing me a week ago. After I descended down the hill, I made my way back into town and headed towards the far back side.

After all the crap Team Flare put this town though, it still managed to run just the same. I would imagine this town would be more fearful around strangers, but no, these people were still as foolish as ever to trust outsiders.

As I reached the backside of town, I came along the remains of what used to be Team Flares big bad ultimate weapon. I remember the day this weapon was almost used to wipe out humanity, that was also the day my reality on everything changed. I was such an idiot back then, I was a puppet to those psychopaths.

I continued my way even further back until I came across a strange rock in the ground. There was a hidden door on this rock that was slightly ajar. Most of the door was barricaded off and covered with caution tape. Luckily I was a small pokemon, so I found a small opening in the barricade and I squeezed through just barely. Once inside I was instantly cut off from the rays of light from the outside. A tremor ran down my spine from the nostalgia of being here, even if this place was condemned for all eternity. Unless maybe one day this place becomes a museum so people can say 'Hey these were the shit bags that tried to drag down all of humanity.'

Before I travelled into the darkness I inhaled a deep breath and blew out a small little flare of light, which this move was known as flash. The small flame floated around me as I walked down the steel stairs in Team Flares main headquarters, and also my old home.

Once I reached the bottom of the stairs I ended up in an empty hallway that was very wide and had many doors leading to different parts of this massive facility. I wondered if this is what Genesis's base looked like. I began to walk down the hallway with a particular spot in mind, right now I was on memory lane and I was getting these dark thoughts off of my conscious.

About a quarter way down the hall, I came to a door. This was an automatic door that had a sensor, but for some reason it was stuck halfway open. I went through the slightly open door and entered the resting area in Team Flares base. This was a dome shaped room with many lights hanging from the ceiling, but most of them had collapsed from the damage done when our base was destroyed. Many plants used to be grown in this room and it was the only place to go to relax in our headquarters.

I could still remember the many times Annie and I came here to talk and bond. I usually hated hanging in this room, but I enjoyed being with Annie enough to put up with it. I almost forgot about her, I almost forgot about her while I was living my fake life.

* * *

My braixen sister and I both sat in a patch of grass in the gardens of our base. There was artificial lighting in this room that was made to replicate natural lights, but it didn't do too convincing of a job for me. Annie sat on the ground as she leaned against an artificial tree that was in this dome-like room. I on the other paw lied on the ground napping, or I was trying to. Most of the Team Flare members were obnoxious and cracked jokes breaking the silence within this room. I cringed as one of the members snorted as he laughed from a joke another member told him.

"Annie, can we go somewhere else?" I asked my older sister with frustration.

Annie flinched as I snapped her out of her nap and she gazed at me before she yawned and stretched out her arms out, "What'd you say, sorry I was somewhat asleep?"

"Would you like to go somewhere else, it's not really peaceful here like you think it is," I said to her.

"You've just got to block them out, when you can manage that you can relax almost anywhere," Annie said.

"But I'm not you," I argued.

"True, but where else would we go?"

"Outside," I suggested.

"Technically you're not allowed outside, you haven't ranked up enough for that privilege. I don't want you to get in trouble or anything, then you won't even be allowed in here at all, they'll probably just keep you in a pokeball all day until you're needed," Annie answered with some truth. She was right, sneaking outside was dangerous if you weren't allowed to.

"Annie, when will you be able to help me train and stuff, you said you'd find time now that you're finally off for a bit," I asked my sister as I looked up to her with hopeful eyes.

"Let's see about tomorrow, I just got off today, I promise I'll teach you though," Annie said with a small smile.

"Yes!" I said as I jumped up in excitement, "And when I learn some stuff from you, I'll be able to get stronger, and Hunter won't stand a chance, and soon I'll catch up to you!" I said as I excitedly frolicked around my sister.

"Alright-alright, calm down a bit Flare, I don't want to get you all hyped up," Annie said as she laughed at me.

"Right, sorry," I said with an embarrassed laugh.

"I'm only off for a week, so we'll see what I can teach you during the time I have."

"I know, but I'm sure learning from you will be much faster than learning from anyone else, since you're like, one of Team Flares strongest pokemon!" I exclaimed proudly.

"Heh, I wouldn't go that far," Annie said with a blush.

"But you are," I said as I stood up on my hind legs and used Annie as support with my forepaws as I looked her dead in the eyes, "I mean who can come close to beating you?"

Annie let out a chuckle as she wrapped one of her arms around me and moved me onto her lap as she hugged me against her chest, "Zylen can for starters," Annie told me.

I let out a stubborn scowl from her answer, "well Zylen is older and I've seen you beat him before, also I was talking about fire types," I argued with my sister.

"Don't look up to me too much Flare, I haven't exactly done the best job raising you without Mom," Annie responded to me as she hugged me tighter.

"That doesn't matter, I know you're trying your best without Mom," I said to Annie as I saw the pain this subject was going to bring up if it continued.

"I know, but it'd be a lot easier with her still around. I mean, I don't know what to do for you at times, I guess my best solution to fixing problems is just burning the problem to cinder, but I can't really burn you." Annie admitted with some exaggerated honesty. Annie was a smart pokemon; I would never consider her dumb for a minute, but most of her problems could usually be solved with the right sized flame.

"I know you're trying your hardest, besides I'm not a kid anymore," I argued with Annie.

"You're nine, I'm pretty sure you still qualify as a child," Annie responded as she set me back down on the ground and stood up. "Don't be in too big of a hurry to grow up, enjoy your younger years while you still have them, I wish I would have," Annie bestowed her words of wisdom upon me.

"Sure," I said with a nod. I don't care what she told me, I was excited to grow up and evolve into a braixen and then a delaphox. I was actually surprised Annie never evolved into a delaphox, she was skillful enough, but the third evolution is the hardest to achieve, not all pokemon are able to make that final step.

"Why don't we head towards the training ground Flare, actually I think I got some energy in me," Annie said and I practically jumped on her in excitement.

"Really!?" I exclaimed in excitement.

"Sure, but only a little bit for today," Annie said and I practically darted for the exit in pure childish hype.

* * *

I lied in the vacant room where Annie and I had that conversation that day. I missed her so much. It has been so long since I've heard her voice, had her lecture me with her wisdom and teach me things. I missed her so much that it felt unbearable, like there was a chunk missing out of me. Annie was more than a sister to me, she was like a mother. Annie refused to get into details, but she told me my mother died shortly after giving birth to me. It took a long time for me to get that answer out of Annie; she never wanted me to feel guilty that our mother died a maternal death after my birth. I did take the news hard, but I got over it eventually. Annie made sure I didn't feel responsible in any way, and I guess I never did after a while.

After I spent some time reflecting on the memories we had in this room, I decided it was time to move on. I exited the room and continued my way down the main hall until I came upon another door. This time the door was shut and there was no way for me to open it without force. I placed my paw in between the two sliding doors and I began to pry it open. After a moment a small gap opened and I then began pushing it open with my head until I could finally squeeze through.

I entered in the dark room as the small flare of light floating around me provided enough light for me to make out the area. The training ground looked the same as it always did, except half of it was now reduced to rubble. Much of the ceiling had collapsed and only half of the room was open now. This room was hardly recognizable after this base was destroyed; most of the training equipment was on the other side too.

I remembered a lot of stuff here in this training area. Annie and Hunter taught me so much. They helped me overcome my weakness and grow so much as a pokemon.

* * *

I sat on the sidelines of one of the arenas as I watched an ongoing battle. The battle was my sister versus Zylen. The two battled on an arena as flares of light ignited into the air from Annie. The zoroark on the other hand swiftly maneuvered around each of the attacks before a pink light engulfed his body and he shape shifted into a blastoise. The giant turtle shot out a stream of water that cancelled out Annie's waves of fire.

Zylen quickly morphed back into his original form as he dashed for Annie. He got in close to her and rakes his claws at her. Annie smoothly moved away from each swipe from his claws. Annie reached her hand back towards her tail and withdrew a wooden stick she had in her tail, a spark ignited the stick and it set ablaze as Annie smacked Zylen across the face with it. The zoroark jumped back as he grasped the burn that was on his face.

The two continued to fiercely battle for a long period of time. I just watched from the shadows as the battle reminded me of how behind I was from her. None of Annie's movements went to waste, her movements were smooth and her attacks were fatal.

"Nice try," Annie said with a sneer as Zylen attempted to punch my sister, but she jumped to the side and smashed the flaming stick into the back of his head. The zoroark smacked onto the ground with a burn on the back of his skull, but nothing serious. It took him a moment, but he eventually climbed back up to his feet.

"That was a good fight," Zylen said as he extended his hand out towards Annie.

"Agreed, let's do this again in the future," Annie said as she shook his hand and the two said their goodbyes.

After the two parted, I made my way onto the arena. "That was awesome," I commented my sister.

"It was a close one, it was tough to keep up with him," Annie said as she sat down with her legs crossed.

"But a victory is a victory," I told her.

"Just because you win a fight doesn't mean you won, there is always other things to take into account, but you'll understand that more in the future," Annie said.

"So, you said you'd train me after your spar, are you ready?" I said excitedly.

"A promise is a promise," Annie said as she stood up, "Why don't you start by showing me how your flamethrower is coming along," Annie suggested.

"Sure," I said with a nod as I inhaled a breath and blew out a medium sized flamethrower. The flames lacked any blue at the base, and the flames didn't get the length they should have.

"It's improving, you'll just have to keep doing the exercises I taught you and it'll reach the level of power you desire," Annie said.

"So you're just going to make me do more dumb training exercises again?" I pouted in disappointment.

"It can't be helped, it's just how you get stronger."

"But you're leaving again tomorrow, can't you teach me something new to practice while you're gone. That way I can practice two things at once?"

"I suppose, but I expect you to work extra hard if I do teach you something new," Annie said as she took a few steps back from me.

"Sweet! What're you gonna teach me then?" I asked excitedly.

"Flame charge," Annie said as her body became engulfed in flames. "This attack is going to require a lot of mind control, it's very tricky, but it's almost the ultimate shield, or so some think. This fire shields you from almost all physical harm, but this armor can also be your downfall."

"How could something like that be my downfall?" I asked as my head cocked to the side and I tried to fathom how such an awesome attack could fail.

"Simple, you get cocky," Annie answered as the flame died down, "It's a flaw a lot of fire types have. They think they're invincible with that enigma, and they let their guard down and get taken down by a projectile or something else."

"I see," I said with a nod, "But doesn't it burn slightly to light your body on fire like that?" I questioned. We may be fire types, but we weren't one-hundred percent immune to our own element

"It gets a bit hot, but that's why you'll need a lot of concentration, so you can keep the flames from burning you and so you can keep the shape of the flame," Annie answered.

"Oh, gotcha," I understandingly said.

"This attack also has one other drawback, which this one can't be helped," Annie began to say and I gave her my full attention. "This attack saps away a lot of energy fast, and it requires a lot of control. It is easy for this attack to be broken," Annie said.

"Got it, I'll only use this one when I need to," I replied to Annie. "So when can we start?"

* * *

I remember those days. The days Annie helped me learn most of the attacks I know today, Ember, Flame charge, Flame thrower. It was too bad I never got to evolve and have her teach me some of her psychic moves. She was truly remarkable with her psychic attacks as well. But sadly it is rare for fennekin's to unlock their psychic abilities until they at least evolve to a braixen. If only it was possible for me to still evolve.

After a bit of time in the training hall I left that room and set out for the next area I had memories in. Soon I ended up in the cafeteria. About ninety percent of the cafeteria was caved in, it was unrecognizable. I couldn't say I really cared; I didn't really have a lot of fond memories here. I never got to eat with Annie much, and I didn't like socializing with others. For a matter of fact, I only had one friend, and that was Hunter, and I guess my sister if you qualify family members as friends.

It didn't take long for me to head back out in the hall. I navigated through the ruins of the Team Flare base until I ended up in the mission briefing room. This room mostly contained supplies, pokeballs and everything else someone would need before starting a mission.

This was where I would be before I did my horrible deeds. It took a while until Team Flare actually let me go on jobs, and I probably only went on about twelve jobs before Team Flare was disbanded. Most jobs were heists, Team Flare needed funding, so the grunts would pick some pokemon and go on jobs to steal money.

On these jobs I saw a lot of dark things. I've done a lot of dark things as well. It's sad when you grow up thinking that bad things are acceptable. Back then I thought being who I was, was alright. I injured a lot of innocent pokemon, inflicted permanent damage on some, helped abduct pokemon from trainers, some jobs even ended with death.

"How could I be like that," I said in disgust as I reflected on all the horrible things Team Flare brainwashed me into doing. "I destroyed lives, I'm a piece of garbage and I don't get why I live such a good life now. Why would someone like me deserve another chance, I enjoyed being who I was, I saw no error, I was content back then." I thought outloud.

"Team Flare just kept feeding us the 'It's for a better world,' bull crap. And I believed them! I thought that me terrorizing people and getting Team Flare money and subjects would help make a perfect world. I was such a sick twisted individual," I continued to contemplate.

"I don't deserve any of this," I said as I fell to the ground with heavy eyes, "Why am I still even alive?" I asked myself. "I should have been executed for my crimes; it was all because of a small mix up that I got away when Team Flare was taken down. Most of the pokemon around me were killed, all human members were put in prison or put on death row. Why out of all those pokemon and human was I one of the few who got away? Not only did I get away, I was given a good life. I don't deserve any of this."

* * *

A siren blared through the Team Flare base. Everything was falling apart fast. Many members were fleeing, many were arming themselves with weapons for a final stand. Team Flare has been compromised. I didn't know the specifics, but as Team Flare got closer to using the ultimate weapon, all of us pokemon were confined in cages or pokeballs.

All of us pokemon were set up by Team Flare. They led us on and on to believe that we were making a perfect world for each other. But no, in the end they only intended to make a paradise for themselves. Lysandre, the leader of Team Flare only gave us a vague reason. He told us that a perfect world wasn't possible with both pokemon and humans, and that it had to be this way.

The fucking piece of shit led us on! I spent my whole life with Team Flare, I tried my hardest to earn a place here, and now they're just going to throw us away like garbage. About twelve pokemon were contained in this confined room with me. Our cells were electrified and barbed, so it was impossible for us to escape. Most of the pokemon that weren't confined in pokeballs were the ones that didn't have access to themt or didn't have time to get.

I waited in my cell as my inevitable doom came closer with every second. How would they do it was my question? Perhaps a lethal injection, no that'd take too long, they'd probably just kill us with guns or poisonous gas. It's kind of funny though if you ask me. When Team Flare betrays us, it's also the time they needed us the most. Upon them making their final preps with their doomsday weapon, the authorities found out somehow and now it'd only be a matter of time before the Team Flare headquarters was flooded with police. Now all of Kalos is putting everything towards stopping them I bet. I guess it's only a matter of time before all life above ground ends or Team Flare falls. Either way I'll end up dead.

Suddenly the door to my room bursted open with a strong heat wave. I jumped up on all fours as a cloud of smoke surrounded the door. My eyes widened as I saw Annie emerge from the smoke. The braixen limped her way towards me, she appeared to have wounds on her left side, but she was still managing.

"Annie, what are you doing here?!" I shouted with awe.

"Getting you out of here," She responded as she moved closer. Following behind Annie was Zylen. The zoroark's claws were covered in blood, and he appeared to be bleeding from a few wounds as well.

"How did you even escape?"

"It's all thanks to Zylen, he was able to trick the guards into releasing him with his illusionary abilities," Annie explained as she pulled out the stick she kept secured in her tail. "Stand back and cover your face," Annie warned me. I did as she said as she extended the stick towards the cell. A loud explosion set off and the front end of my cell was shattered to pieces.

"Let's go," Annie said as she pulled me out of my cage.

"Hey Braixen you gotta get me out of here!" a Meditite begged Annie. A few other pokemon that were locked in their cages began to beg Annie for freedom as well.

"Annie?" I said as I saw the reluctance on her face.

"They're not my problem, I don't have time for this," Annie spoke as she grabbed me by the ear and forced me to follow her. I didn't argue with her though. I couldn't really care less about anyone else at the moment, because survival was everything, and if Annie thinks this would ensure our survival then I would listen to her. Annie led me out into the hall, while Zylen led us to wherever he was taking us.

"Stick close Annie, and keep your eyes open," Zylen said as he began running. Annie and I both followed his lead.

"Over here, we got some pokemon!" A Team Flare member shouted as we turned the corner. The human began to hold up a firearm, but Zylen quickly grabbed his arm and slashed his throat with his other set of claws. The Human was quick to fall, and he didn't move a muscle once he hit the ground.

Seeing the death of the human didn't really bother me. As far as I was concerned these humans had it coming for betraying us like that. Death was something I wasn't new to. I've seen it a few times, and I was just raised not to be affected by that stuff. We continued to navigate through the base, and here and there a human would have to die.

"In here," Annie told us as she opened a door. We entered a vacant room that was full of monitors. After a moment of thought, I realized that this was the security room. Every monitor showed a different part of the facility, but why was this room vacant?

"Annie, why is no one here?" I asked.

"Because, most of our former team is regrouping on the opposite side of this facility to help with final preparations with the ultimate weapon," Annie answered.

"Annie, look at this," Zylen said as he pointed his finger towards a monitor.

Annie and I both looked at the monitor to see some form of advanced police breaching the base. These police were also accompanied by pokemon of all kinds.

"We need to move, they'll kill us if they get the chance," Zylen said.

"Flare stay behind us at all times, and don't wander off. You got it?" Annie ordered me.

"I got it," I answered.

Zylen and Annie both led the way through the maze like facility. At no point did we slow down and we kept as quiet as possible at all times.

"Do you hear that," Zylen whispered and I heard a door from around the corner get barged down.

"In here," Annie said as she opened a door and we all made our way into the room.

Zylen closed the door quietly behind us, "Those are the police breaching the rooms to look for us. I say we take them down when they enter the room," Zylen suggested.

"We don't have a choice," Annie said as she looked at me, "Flare, hide behind one of those desks and don't come out no matter what. Even if something happens stay hidden no matter what," Annie ordered me with a stern voice.

"I can help though," I argued.

"No, this is more serious than anything you have ever done, so do as you're told," Annie strictly ordered.

"Fine," I said as I made my way into a hiding spot behind a desk. The room that we were in was full of computer equipment, but it was vacant from any other humans and pokemon. Annie and Zylen both hid behind the same desk I did, but they weren't hiding as much as waiting to ambush the police. A few silent seconds passed by before the door to the room we were in was barged down, and two police officers and a sneasel entered the room.

"I'll take the police officer on the left, you get right, then we both go for the sneasel," Zylen said to Annie, and she almost instantly responded with a nod.

The two sprang up from their cover and assaulted the police. Annie extended out her stick and a torrent of flames went for the police officer. The police officer managed to spray off a few rounds from his rifle before he was on the ground screaming as he was burned alive. I peeked my head out to see the gruesome scene. I could feel my stomach knotting from how gruesome it was, but to an extent I was use to this stuff.

Zylen on the other hand was now finishing off his police officer. He pulled his claws out of the police officers chest cavity as he turned for the sneasel that was already fighting Annie. The sneasel swiftly dodged each of Annie's flame attacks and when he got close enough he swiped Annie with his claws.

Zylen came in from behind and raked his massive claws downwards, but the sneasel managed to dodge the attack without even looking. Annie shot off another torrent of flames towards the fast sneasel, but he still managed to dodge the attacks with ease. Zylen continued to swipe his claws as the sneasel, but the sneasel found his opening and stabbed his claws in Zylen's leg. The zoroark howled in pain as he fell to his knees and the sneasel aggressively ripped his claws out of Zylen's legs. The zoroark then let out a pained howl as he fell over onto the ground with a chunk of his flesh gashed open.

"Zylen!" Annie shouted towards him as she charged up another fire attack.

"You criminals make me sick," The sneasel said with disgust, "You had this coming!" the sneasel shouted as he ducked below the wave of flames Annie sent towards him. With full speed the sneasel rammed his claw into Annie's stomach. The braixen froze in place as she looked down towards the claws impaled into her stomach.

"Annie!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I jumped out of cover and shot an ember towards the sneasel. The sneasel didn't bother dodging my attack and he took the minor burns as he glared at me with a surprised look.

"A kid?" the sneasel said in shock. "I didn't want to harm a child, but if he's Team Flare then I won't have a choice."

"You can't just kill a kid, it's not his fault!" Zylen shouted as he tried to force himself to stand.

"Orders are orders, I'll make it painless for him, I promise," the sneasel said as I watched in terror as blood oozed from my sisters wound.

"No you won't!" Annie screamed as she wrapped her arms around the sneasel and pulled him into a tight hug. Annie's body combusted into flames as the sneasel let out a pained scream that barely lasted for seconds. After a moment the flames died down and the sneasel fell down and his claws left Annie's stomach. The sneasel's face was frozen in mid scream as his body steamed with hot smoke and his fur was mostly burnt off.

I quickly darted towards my sister as she fell to her knees. "No-no-no-no-no-no!" I cried desperately as I saw all the blood pouring down from her stomach.

"I-I'm… fine," Annie managed to say before she coughed up some of her own blood and fell to the ground on her side.

"Annie, no!" I yelled in fear as I stood next to her and helplessly watched as a pool of blood began to form around her, " I… I don't know what to do!" I said in a panic as I watched my sister slowly die.

"Flare," Zylen called out as he managed to limp towards us. "Cauterize her wound," Zylen commanded.

"Wha-I can't do that, she'll die!"

"She'll die if you do nothing, now do it!" Zylen yelled at me.

"Don't make me do this!" I screamed as I backed away from my sister.

"Flare, you're killing her by wasting time," Zylen argued.

"I can't do that!" I screamed as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to escape this reality, but I soon felt a hand slap against my face.

"Do it!" Zylen screamed as he forcefully pulled me closer to my dying sister.

"I can't do this, please! Don't make me do this to her!" I begged as tears streamed down my eyes.

"Flare," Annie's weak voice called out to me. I looked up with my teary eyes to see my barely conscious sister, "It's okay, you can do it, just be strong," Annie said in a ragged voice as she reached her hand out towards my face and guided my stare towards her.

"Annie, I can't," I argued as I trembled.

"Zylen," Annie interrupted me as she inhaled and exhaled with a ragged breathing pattern, "If Flare manages to cauterize my wound, I probably won't be awake to tell you this so now's my chance. No matter what happens, get him out of here, I don't care if I die to make it happen," Annie said in a weak voice.

"You have my word, Annie," Zylen said as he let go of me. "Flare, help your sister, now."

"Annie, this is going to hurt a lot, and I'm so sorry," I told Annie as tears ran down my face. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, I'm sorry I wasn't helping when I should have," I said before I inhaled a deep breath. It was going to take a lot of heat to actually cauterize her wound since she was a fire type. I wasn't even sure if I was strong enough to produce a flame that would cauterize her wound. Annie clenched both of her fists and clenched her teeth before I began.

"Do it!" Annie yelled fearfully.

I blew out a controlled flamethrower onto Annie's stomach and she screamed at the top of her lungs as I burned her wound shut. Annie only managed to scream for a few seconds before she fell into shock. Once I was sure her bleeding stopped I stopped and I moved back. I felt so weak. My legs were barely holding me up and I could feel myself coming close to vomiting. It only took me inhaling the scent of her burnt flesh to make me lose it and throw up all over the floor.

"I didn't just do that to my own sister," I said in disbelief as I felt myself beginning to panic again.

Zylen crouched down next to her body and felt her pulse, "She has a pulse, but it's faint," he stated.

"Now what," I said as I tried to get myself under control. I was trembling uncontrollably and I felt so fatigued.

"I'm getting you two out of here," Zylen said as he carefully picked Annie up and cradled her in his arms. "You did good Flare, I know it was hard to do something like that to your sister, but she'll live, I promise," Zylen said as he headed towards the door. "I need you to take point though, I'm not able to fight with your sister in my arms, so it's up to you," Zylen said.

"I can do that," I said as I walked past Zylen, but he extended his leg out and stopped me from passing him. I looked up at him to see a serious look in his eyes.

"No matter what, you don't hesitate to kill. They won't think twice about it, so neither should you."

"I know, I'm not new to this you know," I replied as I exited the room and Zylen followed behind me.

I meticulously looked in every direction was we made our way towards the exit of the facility. Every noise set my nerves on edge and made me get into a defensive position. For a while everything remained silent until I heard a scream from down the hall, which was then followed by a few gunshots. I ran towards the turn that was up ahead and I peeped around the corner.

"Hunter?!" I said in surprise as I ran around the corner.

"Flare?" Hunter said as he turned towards me. "I'm glad to see you're alright. This place is full of police. Looks like Team Flare is in serious trouble now," Hunter said with a grin. "Serves those bastards right for betraying us like that. They have no right to automatically assume we can't all coexist in the new world. If we all stood together we may have been able to fight off the police, but instead they're doomed."

"That's right, I almost forgot about the weapon!" I said as I felt dumbfounded from myself.

"Yeah," Hunter said with a long sigh.

"Should we even leave this facility then, I mean it is a bunker to protect us from the weapon as well," I questioned.

"Yes I think it'd be safe," Zylen added in, "The only reason Team Flare survived so long was because they remained hidden from the world. It is impossible for them to fight the whole world. This will all end soon, this could even be the last day Team Flare stands," Zylen spoke.

"But how did we get caught? I mean something had to happen, because everyone was pretty tight lipped about this stuff," Hunter asked.

"That's not important right now. What matters now is getting out of here alive," Zylen said.

"Really quick though, what happened to Annie, why is her stomach all burnt up?" Hunter said as he tried to get a better look at her wounds.

"We'll talk later, just know that she was hurt in battle," Zylen said, "Now, lead the way you two, I can't fight with her in my arms."

"Right, I'll-," Hunter began to say before we all froze at the sight of two pokemon before us. A blue bipedal water type and a quadruped pokemon with thick white fur stood in our way.

"Well, looks like we found some Team Flare stragglers to clean up, eh Dawn?" a croagunk said as he elbowed the absol right beside him.

"Don't get cocky," the absol known as Dawn stated in her calm voice as she rolled her eyes, "You should take all of this seriously. Team Flare has raised some formidable pokemon, I would know that," she said as she made her way closer to us and I saw all the jagged scars that covered her entire body. Scars that showed she had a lot of battle experience. All of the scars appeared to be older and her fur did a good job at concealing them, but some were noticeable.

"Who are you two?" Hunter questioned, "You don't look like police?"

"A very keen eye you have," the absol said as she stopped a few meters from us, "My name is Dawn, one of the higher up at the WPA. Of course WPA and Flare hate each other, so I don't think any introductions are necessary."

"Hold on, WPA is here… and the police?!" Hunter snapped at her.

"WPA and the police work together at times. The world just wants Team Flare gone, so it made sense for us all to band together to eradicate you pieces of trash," the croagunk said as he stood a few steps behind the absol and looked at us with a cocky sneer and eyes that were intimidating.

"Listen, I know you hate us, but we're ex-Flare now. They've manipulated us pokemon, so why don't you just let us go. We have injured and two children right here, or is WPA full of child killers?" Zylen asked.

"How old are you two?" the absol asked Hunter and me.

"I'm twelve," I answered.

"Fourteen," Hunter answered as he remained in a defensive position.

"No, I don't want to harm children around your age, it's against my morals," Dawn said as she eyed Hunter and I with a remorseful look. Her red eyes peered into us as she examined us.

"So then, you don't have to spare me, I'm only looking out for them, I will take full responsibility, you have my word," Zylen said.

"The code of us Absol's is to bring judgment upon the wicked and to protect the weak from danger," Dawn said. "Do you truly seek absolution children?"

"You can bite my ass, bitch," Hunter snapped at her.

"Hunter, shut up and listen to her for just a minute! She's being far more than reasonable, she could have killed you two by now if she wanted!" Zylen yelled at Hunter.

"And what makes you assume she's so powerful?" the croagunk asked with a laugh.

"I've seen and heard the rumors about this absol before. An absol covered in the scars from years of Hell. An absol who can kill her foes before they even see it coming. The White Reaper," Zylen said lowly.

"Ahh, I see my reputation has made it to those who are with Team Flare," Dawn said with a small smirk. "Although I was never too fond on that nickname I got."

"So, children. I will ask one last time, will you come with me peacefully so I don't have to become a child killer? I really don't want to lose sleep for years to come over this," Dawn said as she stared at us.

"And what about my sister?" I questioned as I looked at Annie who was still in Zylen's arms.

Dawn glanced at Annie before she looked back at me, "How was your sister injured?"

"That's not important," I argued as I realized what she was getting at.

"I'd be willing to bet she acquired those wounds in a recent battle. So, how many did she kill before her wound was cauterized like that?" Dawn asked.

"Two…" Zylen answered, "One police and one sneasel. Both were killed in self-defense," Zylen answered. "She ended up like this trying to protect her brother though."

"I see, murder is murder," Dawn said, "The sneasel was probably with the police. In the end they were both just doing their jobs, they both had families to get home to, they probably never wanted to be here to begin with," Dawn said calmly, "I can't let someone like her get off free, but the children will be spared if you and the braixen give in without a fight and tell me what you know about Team Flare's ultimate weapon, you have my word," Dawn said.

"Absolutely not!" I snapped back at the absol. "I'm not leaving my sister to die!"

"And if you think I'll give into a bunch of World peace assholes you're poorly mistaken," Hunter said with a sneer.

"I see, they have made their choices," Dawn said as she closed her eyes. "Sorry zoroark, but I can't help you any further," Dawn then opened her eyes and a powerful energy took shape around her horn to form a blade with a white aura.

"Flare, accept the offer right now!" Zylen yelled at me, "Your sister would happily die for you right here!"

"I can'-" I began to argue before Zylen dropped my sister and quickly wrapped his arm around my neck and began choking me. His move was a quick blur and I hardly saw it coming.

"No, I made a promise to your sister! Shut the Hell up and do what you are told," he spoke in my ear as I began to black out from the pressure that was cutting off my air. I tried to fight him but I found that I was over powered. My body soon fell limp as everything faded to black.

* * *

I stood silently in the mission briefing room. Everything was dead silent and the flare that I made to provide light died long ago. I just stood consumed by darkness in this room. This place was my true home; this place should have been my grave as well.

I had no clue what happened after I blacked out that day. I never saw Annie or Zylen again, and I didn't see Hunter until recently. I could only imagine what went down after that. I just remember waking up in a hospital and I was immediately put into some adoption program for unfortunate pokemon. That's when Alex adopted me. That's when my life changed day by day and everything about me became different.

Alex had no idea who I was. He never knew I was an ex-Flare member. I guess I somehow got a fake backstory to go with my life. Apparently I was housed in a home with an abusive trainer or something like that. All Alex knew besides that was that I was named Flare. When I was given my new life they took everything from me, except the one thing I hated, my name. It took a while for me to get lost in my new life, but I eventually came to love it.

I guess me becoming the pokemon I was, was thanks to Kana. She spent a lot of time with me to actually get me to talk. I couldn't have asked for a better home honestly, Kana saved me from drowning in despair and possibly going back to the life I lived.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, congrats on making it to the end of my 10k word chapter XD. Sorry for a very very long chapter, I just wanted to get most of this out of the way in one chapter, but it'll have to be broken up into two. Anyhoo, hopefully everyone enjoyed the background info on Flare.

Anyways, I'd like to give out some quick thanks to some of the people who helped me on a question I struggled with. A few weeks back, maybe a month or two ago, I struggled with the problem of aging for pokemon. I wasn't quite sure how long pokemon live for and the game nor anime gives a clear answer, and I didn't really want to give a character like Black a 13-20 year life span like a canine would (I feel an umbreon is closest to a canine of some kind). So, I asked some of my followers and I'd like to thank 97, The Pokemon Melody, The Heck, and lastly my beta reader who I asked at one point but I forget when.

Anyhoo, the way I decided to do pokemon aging in this story is just by human years. Why? Because it makes things a lot simpler for me. Yes it may not make 100% sense, but just remember in the pokemon world tears bring people back to life... So, I think my aging method will work fine. I mostly mention this because I mentioned Flare's age back then was 12 and obviously quite a bit of time has passed since then, so I believe that'd make him 18-19 years old. Sorry for dragging that out a bit XD

Thanks genricgamer207 for spending three days editing this.


	88. The ways I've changed

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 88: The Ways I've changed**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Everything in my life changed within a week. Nothing was the same for me. There was no Annie, no Hunter, no Team Flare, just me and this idiotic family I was now stuck with. With lived in some cramped condo in Lumiose city. I hated it here so much, this place smelled bad, the house was a mess and I was surrounded by three others I didn't know, nor liked. First there was my obnoxious new owner, Alex I think his name was. I had a hard time warming up to someone like him, he was always happy for no reason and it pissed me off. Someone like him didn't understand loss, struggle and true loneliness. Next there was an absol, I honestly haven't spoken to him yet, and if possible I'd keep it that way. The absol was mostly silent, he didn't appear to be social either, my speculation is that he's some victim of the pokemon rescue program like I am. And lastly, there's that obnoxious jolteon that won't leave me the hell alone. Out of everyone here she annoyed me the most. There was nothing worse than someone who won't mind their own business, especially when you tell them to leave you alone. So, this is now the pitiful life I lead, and I have no idea what happened to Annie, Zylen and Hunter.

Currently I was lying under a bed where no one would interact with me. Perhaps it was cowardly of me to do such a thing, but I could honestly not care less what people think of me. Quite a bit of time passed by that I remained hidden under the bed on the dust infested floor, before I got bored and decided to crawl out from my hiding spot. My eyes stung as the rays of sun burned my eyes; this was a similar feeling to what I would get after leaving the underground Team Flare headquarters.

After a bit of adjusting to the light, I decided it was time for me to go downstairs and get food. Honestly, I haven't had much of an appetite lately, but from time to time I forced myself to eat so I could keep my good physical health. I made my way into the kitchen where I made eye contact with that annoying human. The fourteen year-old gave me a cheery smile as he waved his hand at me.

"Hey Flare, I was wondering where you were, how are you doing today?" the human asked me as he knelt down to my level and picked me up with both of his hands holding me below my forearms.

"Put me down, now," I grimaced as I began to growl at him. Alex quickly set me down as I snapped at him.

"Sorry little guy, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything like that," the human said ruefully as he backed up and gave me a little room.

"Don't call me little, I've seen and done things your little human mind couldn't hand- wait why am I even talking to you?" I said as I remembered the language barrier. I just rolled my eyes as I walked past the human. I was hungry a minute ago, but I lost my appetite now.

I made my way into the living room where I found that anti-social absol napping on the couch. How could he live like this? Was this absol really content just lying there all day with that mopey expression on his face? I looked towards the TV that was in front of the couch to see some stupid TV show playing. I couldn't say I was much of a TV fan since Team Flare never had cable or anything, I mean I couldn't imagine them inviting a cable guy into their base and setting up a cable box so we could watch The Running dead, or breaking good.

"Oh, hey Flare, I haven't seen you all day," a voice spoke from behind and set my fur on edge. It was her again, that annoying jolteon.

"What do you want jolteon, I really don't feel like talking," I snapped at her as I kept my eyes forward and I didn't look back to see her.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing and if there was anything I could do for you, I know you had it rough before this, with your previous owners," the jolteon began to speak but all the gibberish began to sound like the same crap that seemed to never stop spewing from her mouth, "So, I just wanted you to know I'm here for you," I managed to hear the jolteon finish.

"Ya-ya, whatev," I said as I walked away from her.

'Why am I even still here?' I asked myself. 'I just needed somewhere to stay for a bit, so why am I bothering with these low lives?' I questioned even further. Truthfully I only stayed here for as long as I did because I've been a mental wreck. I needed time to think, and I've had my time to think. Annie was out there somewhere, if not dead, and I needed to find this answer.

'Perhaps it's time I part with these nuisances,' I said in my head as I nodded my head. The idea of leaving sounded rather joyous. No more looking at that sorry of an excuse of a father, no more of that annoying child trying to make me into his little pet, no more of that annoying jolteon that won't stop acting like she owes me something. I'd be free to live my life how I want to, and I intended on finding my sister.

Time went by as it usually did, I remained silent for hours and I kept out of sight as best as possible. I did manage to get some dinner, but I didn't stick around to socialize like normal pokemon and humans would. Soon night came and Lumiose city was shrouded in darkness. It was now around Ten PM, so I figured now was my chance to leave this dump. I tiptoed my way down stairs. The silent absol was asleep as usual, Alex was in bed already, and I bet that jolteon was sleeping by his side like the simple minded pet she was.

I made my way towards the front door, and after a bit of struggling I managed to get the door open. It was rather difficult doing such a simple task, I was so used to the automatic doors at my old home. Once the door was opened I made my way outside into the fresh air.

My first response to stepping foot outside was inhaling a deep breath, "Ahh, the smell of freedom is oh-so sweet," I gleefully stated as I made my way through the condo complex. I trotted around freely as I made my way through the city. Being free made me so happy, I couldn't believe I blew it off for a week.

"No more Team Flare to manipulate me, no stupid Alex, no…" I stopped. "No Annie," I said as I hung my head low. It now made sense to me why I chose to stay with them. Perhaps I was afraid, afraid of being alone. Never before in my life have I been on my own like this. Sure Annie wasn't around a lot, but I had others around me to help guide me, plus Hunter and Zylen specifically were a big hand. Now I had nothing, I had no idea where to even go to find Annie, if she was even alive. For all I know she could be rotting inside the Team Flare base below a pile of rubble, or Arceus knows what.

"No," I stubbornly stated, "I'm not wussing out now, I have to find Annie," I said as I began walking again.

As the night went on, the streets of Lumiose became more vacant. Soon I found myself completely alone on a street. Some of the neon signs on the buildings lit up my path, but other than that everything was dark.

"Flare, where are you running off to?" A voice called out from behind me. My ears flicked upon recognizing that voice, my head spun back to that same obnoxious jolteon that kept harassing me.

"Why are you following me!?" I snapped at her. She flinched back a bit as she rose one of her paws off the ground as if she was ready to turn tail and run.

"I… I just thought it was kind of late to be out roaming, so I followed-"

"Actually, I don't care, just go home," I interrupted her as I continued walking in the direction I was heading.

"Flare, hold up!" Kana pleaded as she followed behind me. "Where are you going, it's not safe to roam around at this hour."

"That's nice," I shrugged as I continued anyways. 'Stupid jolteon, just who the Hell do you think I am, I'm ex-Flare, I'm not afraid of your common thug, thugs should fear someone like me, I've done things that make thug's look innocent' I commented in my mind.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going at this hour?"

"We!?" I repeated. "Listen jolteon, go home and keep fulfilling the role of a house pet, because unlike you, I'm not pissing away my life in that run down condo," I wryfully spoke with disgust just from the thought of that craphole..

"I'd appreciate it if you don't call me that, and second, I'm not wasting my life," the jolteon defended, yet still managed to keep her cool.

"Keep telling yourself that sweetie, humans will just piss on you every chance they get, I learned that the hard way," I warned her as I remembered how Team Flare backstabbed us pokemon.

"I know you think humans are bad and stuff because of your previous owner, but Alex and Mr Hayter are good people. They'll treat you with respect and they're not going to hurt you like your old trainer-"

"Shut the Hell up!" I yelled at her as I spun around while gnashing my teeth together, while smoke managed to escape between the crevices in my teeth. "Just shut up with the whole abused pokemon shit, you make me want to barf, why the fuck do you think you need to help me? Do you like owe me something or are you just so lonely in life that you're going to keep harassing me in hopes of being friends?!" I shouted at her as I felt the urge to vent some of the flames within me. Oh she'd be perfect to vent my anger on, I bet she'd cry like a cub as I burnt the fur right off her. Then we'd see if she's interested in helping me.

"Because, you look miserable and I can't help but want to help mend your heart," the jolteon said as calmly as she could.

"You're full of shit!" I snapped as I darted towards her and slammed myself into her. The jolteon let out a yelp as her and I tumbled to the ground. While she scraped along the sidewalk, I managed to roll along the ground and use the momentum to carry myself back onto my feet. As the jolteon was trying to get back up, I quickly ran to her with an ember charging in my mouth.

"Get the Hell away from me!" I screamed as I sprayed my attack towards her. The jolteon's eyes widened as she jumped away from my attack. I didn't leave it at that though, I opened my mouth and shot out a flamethrower. The semi dark street was illuminated by my raging flames. My flamethrower stopped immediately once I noticed the jolteon dashing towards me along the side of my flamethrower. I jolted back as she closed in on me, I was screwed, there was no way I could charge another attack in time. My eyes clamped shut as she neared me, but no pain came, instead I felt something warm and comforting wrap around me.

My eyes opened up in surprise to see that the jolteon had both of her arms wrapped around me in a tight hug that cut off all my movement.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have it in my heart to harm anyone, so please... stop this," she gently whispered into my ear.

"Kana, why? I just tried to hurt you, not only that, I really wanted to hurt you badly," I said in shock as I felt powerless against her gentle nature.

"I don't fight fire with fire, I'd prefer to put out these angry flames," Kana said as she kept her arms around me.

"That doesn't answer my question though, why would you risk me attacking you again, I could easily kill you right here?" I stated.

"You could, but I don't think you're a bad person. I think you're just lost and you don't know what to do," Kana told me.

"Just let go of me," was all I could think of saying as I processed her words. The jolteon waited a moment before she released me. I backed away from her, something about her seemed so friendly, something that wouldn't allow me to hurt her, I couldn't hurt someone that was trying this hard to help me. She wasn't fake, this was real kindness, and it was different from the smugness I grew up around. It was real love, like what I'd feel from Annie.

"You kind of remind me of someone," I admitted, "Just a bit though, you're a bit too soft to fulfill the roll though," I finished.

"And who do I remind you of?" Kana asked me with obvious interest.

"Never mind," I quickly spoke.

"Hey Flare?" Kana asked.

"What?"

"If you don't mind, can we head home, it's dark and lonely out here, and I'm getting a bit cold as well," Kana asked me.

I remained silent for a moment. She was willing to invite me back into her home after I tried to inflict pain on her, her kindness was going to be her downfall if she trust's pokemon like me, but perhaps she wasn't that bad of a person like I thought she was.

"Sure," I said silently, but the jolteon's face still managed to light up with joy as she smile at me.

* * *

"Kana," I said to myself as I came back to reality. "You really did save me." If not for Kana, I would probably be another thug on the streets. I was different back then, I was hostile towards those I didn't trust. Not only was I hostile, I thought I was on top of the world, I would have taken on an onix at one point I was so cocky.

I stood in silence within the briefing room inside the Team Flare base. The only light I had was the dim Flare I created that was slowly growing more and more dim with each passing second.

The sound of a rock getting kicked filled the air and my ears rose up as my head snapped back. My mouth opened wide as I spun back and blasted a spray of fire out of my maw. My ears flicked again as I heard something searing through the air, and my fire attack collided with an ice types attack. The two attacks ended up creating a thick steam and it was near impossible to see anything.

"Flare it's me!" A deep voice called out from across the room.

"Gray?" I called out in confusion as the steam cleared up and revealed my team member, "What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Gray stated as he walked through the room with a mesmerized look on his face as he observed the Team Flare base, "A breath of fresh air, huh?" Gray referenced what I said before I left.

"Yeah…" I awkwardly responded as I kept a safe distance from him.

"So, this is what this place was like," Gray commented as he continued to look around, "I can't say I wasn't curious," Gray continued to speak as he looked around at all of the computer equipment this base had. "But that still doesn't explain a few things," Gray spoke as he peered at me out of the corner of his eye. "What are you doing here?"

"I was curious," I quickly answered.

"I see," Gray said with a dismissive nod. "There isn't much left of my original horn, but just being here gives me this alarming eerie feeling. To think that this place was almost the end of us all."

Gray's comments continued to wear me down. Each one felt like a knife in my heart as I was reminded of my old life, reminded of my sins. But Gray didn't know, and if I keep it like this I should be fine. I just have to survive the night at Geosenge, after that I can put this whole nightmare behind me and move on. Everyone could continue thinking I was the carefree fennekin that doesn't have a problem in the world.

"You know, this really reminds me a lot of before I was adopted by Alex's family, since I should have been here at one point," Gray said out of the blue and instantly caught my attention. "Of course you wouldn't know anything about me, I never talked about my past with anyone," Gray rambled on. "Before I was with everyone I was a part of The World Peace Association, perhaps you are familiar?" Gray questioned me without looking in my direction.

My eyes grew wide as I stared at the back of his head. 'He's lying, that's complete crap, but why would he lie about that!' I screamed within my head as I began to grow uncomfortable.

"I'm slightly familiar," I answered as calmly as I could. "But why are you with Alex if you were a part of that, and why didn't you tell us?" I began to question.

"A lot happened," Gray said as his stare went towards the ground. "It wasn't until recently that I told myself I was going to start opening up more, because I realized that I was bitter towards the world, including anyone who reminded me of a certain somebody," Gray said in a hollow voice.

"And what happened?" I asked with curiosity. I had to find out if this was serious, if Gray was really with WPA, then that makes us natural enemies.

"I never would have talked about this before, but I guess this is as good as the setting is going to get for setting the mood to spill my guts a bit," Gray began to say as he kept his back facing towards me. "Quite a while ago, since I was pretty young actually, a friend and I were saved by a group of odd pokemon. Of course these pokemon happened to be the ones known as WPA. My friend, Aaron, he had a strong interest in joining, and Aaron was like my brother, so naturally I followed my friend," Gray told me as his voice became more and more hollow, almost as if this was stirring up some of his past emotions.

"Years passed by, Aaron and I formed a team of six, Sarah, Joel, Katherine… well we called her kat most of the time," Gray said before his claws dug into the ground and scraped the steel floors, "and then there's Eclipse," Gray bitterly said as I saw a tremble run through his body.

"Did something happen with this Eclipse person?" I questioned as I noticed him growing more bitter.

"Yes," Gray said with a pause, "I will get to that in a moment. But, for years I built bonds with this team. I grew close to them, I learned their secrets, their past's, their motives, favorite foods, past relationships, we were all kind of like a family; we trusted one another," Gray's voice was full of loss, I could tell just by hearing the sorrow in his words, it was obvious that he cared for these characters, there was no way he was telling me a fib with this much emotion.

"After a while us WPA members started getting hunted down and murdered. Soon members of the WPA lost faith in our cause and cowered away, leaving only the true members to fight. Soon our team was hunted down, but they didn't attack us like how we were expecting. Like a cancer they corrupted our members, made them turn against their brothers and sisters. One day Eclipse lured us all out into a secluded area, there we were ambushed by mercenaries. Joel and Kat were both killed and the rest of us were abducted. Afterwards we were sold into slavery. We were brought to some mines and there we were forced to work tirelessly," Gray said as his body began to tremble a bit, "I remember all the days of non-stop work. The hard labor just continued and continued until it was burned into my mind and I'd even dream about the hard labor. The feeling of being trapped in hard labor even in your sleep is horrific, soon I forgot what it even felt like to breathe fresh air." While Gray was telling his long background story I continued to wait patiently as this story had no end in sight, I found it unbelievable that someone like him went through all of this, but I didn't think Gray was lying either, he just wasn't the type.

"Sarah was the first to die in those mines out of our group; I only pray that when the cave collapsed it was quick for her. At this point I was breaking down and becoming an empty shell. Eventually though, I got a sign of freedom. One day all of us pokemon rebelled and managed to break free, but not without a battle. Finally after being trapped for so long I was free, but not without losing something precious to me," Gray's voice fell silent near the end of his sentence.

"When you are with friends, all you think about is survival, but when you're alone all you think about is when death is going to finally end all this pain and suffering. Well, on that day I lost my brother. I may have achieved freedom, but I was alone and everything I have ever cherished was taken from me."

"At this point I didn't care about fighting for world peace, why should I have, in my time of need the world just drowned me in misery and loss. I just couldn't find it in my heart to care for anyone. All of this happened because of that umbreon Eclipse," Gray said as he turned back towards me and revealed his sorrowful look that would have been impossible to fake.

"You've probably wondered why I hated Black so much. Every time I looked at an umbreon all I saw was Eclipse. I didn't matter if they resembled him or not, all I saw was Eclipse," Gray began to say with hysteria. "I couldn't see Black for who he was, all I kept seeing was that horrible traitor that took everything from me," Gray said with resentment towards this Eclipse pokemon, "This is why I have been so quiet and bitter over the years. I've been a shell of the proud absol I once was. I'm only beginning the climb my way out of this hole I sank into now," Gray said as he closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath.

After Gray finished his story I stood frozen in place with my jaw hanging low. This all seemed so far fetched and impossible, but I know he was telling the truth. To think someone like Gray went through so much, and no one knew. All these years he has been keeping this all bottled up inside. It was honestly heart wrenching. I always thought Gray just had social problems along with a bad temper.

"Thanks," Gray spoke up.

"For what?" I questioned him as my head cocked to the side.

"For listening. I can't remember the last time I've talked this much, let alone about my past and feelings. Thanks, it truly means a lot that you'll listen to an absol such as myself that has only been harsh towards everyone," Gray said as a small yet pained smile forced itself onto his face. Afterwards the room fell in silence for a moment.

"You have quite the backstory, Gray," I commented in an attempt to break the silence. Because of Gray's story I nearly forgot why I was originally here, I never expected this to turn into a confession from him.

"Yeah, sorry I should have given you more of an abridged version," Gray stated.

"It's fine, I think the way you told it actually makes sense out of everything. Perhaps you aren't a bad person at all, just a bit lost in this world," I told Gray.

"Perhaps," Gray said with a nod.

"Why don't we go back to the hotel, I don't really think we're allowed to be down here, plus I think everyone will freak if they beat us back to the hotel," I added on.

"Right," Gray said with a nod. I began to lead the way towards the exit as Gray followed behind. "Flare," Gray called out from behind me.

"What's up?"

"What about you, how did you deal with your emotions, I know you weren't exactly in good shape when you first arrived in Alex's home?"

"I gave it time, and I learned to just live one day at a time," I answered with a bit of truth. I wasn't lying on this. Me transitioning into my new life took a while. I wasn't magically the happy fennekin I think I am today overnight; Kana had to work with me a lot and bring me back down to reality and to help me with some problems I had with how I interacted with people.

"I see, well hopefully there will be some light down the road," Gray said as we made our way out of the facility.

It was kind of sad to think that the moment Gray opened up was the moment I realized that we were natural enemies. Revealing the truth of who I am would be suicide, Gray would attempt to kill me. WPA and Team Flare resented each other, we killed each other left and right, I'd almost say both sides found joy out from terrorizing the opposing side. For now, I have to keep my true self hidden in the shadows.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter


	89. Reunited

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 89: Reunited**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"It's dark in here," Dante spoke to me.

"It's a cave, what did you expect," I replied to Dante as I made my way through the dark tunnels within the cave known as 'Reflection Cave.'

This was quite the interesting place. While it was cold enough here to make me want to snuggle in the blankets humans use, it was still quite the spectacle. The walls of this cave have natural mirrors formed on them and I could see my own reflection in them. On the ceiling of the cave were these strange blue crystals that emitted a blue light that provided just enough light to navigate safely. Dante curiously looked at his reflection along the cave wall.

"Man, I am looking good," Dante said jokingly as he winked as he reflection while nodding.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," I teased as I moved on without him.

"You're just jealous that I inherited all the sexy genes," Dante spoke as he caught up to me.

"Are you saying I got all the ugly genes?" I asked as I glared at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Ughhh…. Well…" Dante said nervously.

"Wait! Is this seriously something you have to think about!" I yelled in absolute anger.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Dante quickly defended as he got to a safe distance. Rule number one for women: never insult how we look, you'll live a lot longer.

"That's what I thought," I said as I continued to navigate through the cave.

For a bit of time the two of us traveled through the cave in silence. Not because I was angry with him, just because neither of us had anything to say. Our main purpose for travelling through this cave was so we could meet Black in Sharlour City. I would imagine he was already there or he'd be there very soon.

As the two of us continued walking Dante and I saw a pokemon standing towards the end of the tunnel. The pokemon stood in place with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as if he was meditating. I had to squint my eyes, but this pokemon was a dewott. Despite the odd detwott, Dante and I continued to move along.

"That's far enough," the dewott stated once we got close to him as he extended his palm out.

"What's the big deal?" Dante questioned the pokemon.

The dewott remained silent for a moment before responding, "Tell me, are you the umbreon known as Naomi, also one of Jack Jaegar former pokemon?" the dewott questioned me.

My ears flicked as I heard those words, "No, my name is Nia," I cleverly stated as I gave off a friendly yet fake smile.

"Uh huh, you strangely match the description of a pokemon we're hunting for. Runt pokemon, scar located on the left side of her golden ring. Even more suspicious that you're accompanied by the exact same species of a pokemon that her brother would be," the dewott stated.

"That truly is an interesting coincidence," Dante spoke as if it was humorous, while I contemplated on killing him for calling me a runt.

"And who might you be?" I questioned the dewott that stood in our way.

"I don't give my name out to killers," the dewott spoke sharply as his stare pierced me, "Do you take me as an idiot, or do you think you're invincible?" the dewott spoke.

"This is a misunderstanding, my name is Nia, I don't know who this Naomi person it, nor this Jack person," I quickly lied as I backed away from the dewott and Dante instinctively stood between me and the dewott.

"Tsk tsk, seems she's a little liar," a voice spoke from behind us.

I jumped up in surprise to see a pokemon staring at us with a rather unsettling smile. The croagunk stared at me with his yellow eyes as he wore a creepy smile.

"What do you want with me?" I questioned as the two pokemon narrowed the gap of space.

"We're a group of pokemon that have been hunted down by killers such as yourself. Ring a bell?" the dewott asked.

"I could honestly care less about who you guys are, just make the croagunk stop smiling like that, it's creepy as fuck," Dante stated as he kept his distance from the croagunk. I could see why he found that pokemon unsettling, a poison type could kill Dante easily with the right attack.

"Be quiet leafeon, our business isn't with you, just miss Naomi," the dewott said.

"And what're you going to do, kill her?" Dante questioned.

"A pokemon like her has taken many of us, right now we're trying to purge Kalos of all threats so WPA can rebuild," the dewott spoke.

"WPA is still around?" I said in surprise.

"Of course we are," the croagunk said, "Our numbers just grew scarce and we all had to go into hiding for a while. Now the time has come where we can get rid of pokemon like you. So stay still for a moment!" the croagunk suddenly out bursted as the sacs on his cheeks expanded and he quickly spewed a liquid poison out of his mouth. I felt something clamp down on my neck, and I was forcefully pulled to safety.

"Don't just stand there," Dante told me after he released my neck.

Suddenly a hose of water sprayed Dante down onto the ground. I looked towards the source of the attack to see it coming from the dewott. While being sprayed Dante managed to get back up onto his feet.

"I do not need a bath!" Dante shouted as the leaf's on his forepaws emitted a green light and he swiped his claw and a storm of razor leaf's flew towards the dewott. The otter-like pokemon was quick to dodge out of the way.

"Heh heh, this one has a bit of spunk, how amusing," the croagunk chimed as he darted towards Dante. "But let's see how much spunk you have after this!"

The croagunk swiped his poisonous fingers towards Dante. Dante's eyes widened as he veered out of the way. Dante quickly retaliated with his razor leaf attack. The leaf's flew at the croagunk, but he didn't even bother to dodge the attack, and allowed the leaf's to leave minor scratches.

"That tickled," the croagunk said with a laugh.

"Fuck," Dante muttered as we both focused on our own opponent.

"Dante, switch opponents, you won't beat him, and you'll have a type advantage if we switch," I instructed Dante.

"You sure about this?" he questioned me.

"I'm positive," I said with a nod. After those words were swapped, the two of us switched positions to face our new opponent.

I cringed as I saw the creepy smile Dante referred to earlier. Honestly, I was a bit nervous to fight a croagunk, since they're known to have poisonous fingers that can easily kill. But I quickly shook off the feeling of fear that was running through my mind. Sadly I had nothing that would work on him. My dark matter wouldn't be too effective against him, and my physical attacks would fail since I didn't have a strong body build like most umbreon's did. Truthfully, I made a lousy umbreon, but that wasn't going to stop me from surviving.

The sacs on the croagunk expanded and he shot some more of his liquid poison at me. My reflex kicked in and I jumped over the poison as I shot a shadow ball. The croagunk chuckled as he leaned out of the way and my shadow ball exploded against the rock ground behind him.

"How did someone like you manage to kill our members?" the croagunk taunted.

"Shut up, I never wanted any of this, none of it!" I snapped at him as I charged towards him. Dark matter surrounded my right paw as I swiped it towards his face, but the croagunk kept dodging out of the way with very little movement.

"Tsk tsk, I liked the leafeon more, he's not as moody and boring as you," the croagunk insulted as he let out a creepo laugh.

"This isn't a game!" I growled at him.

"Right-right, my apologies, I'll take this more seriously since that's what you wish," the croagunk said as the smile on his face went away and turned into a serious look. "Now, time to face judgment, murderer!" he yelled as he lunged towards me as he swung his poisonous hand downward. My eyes barely processed his speed as I barely managed to jolt back.

"Come here!" he shouted as he jabbed his fingers towards me like a spear. I ducked under his attack and shot a shadow ball towards his gut, but he jumped a few meters into the air.

"You're a sneaky one," he stated as he shot some more of his poisonous liquids at me. I dove away from the attack as it splashed onto the ground. The puddles it formed created a large area that I couldn't jump over, separating me from Dante. The croagunk smirked as he stood on the other side and looked towards my brother that was occupied with dodging water attacks from the dewott. Without hesitation the croagunk dashed towards dante as he bared his poisonous fingers ready to strike.

"Dante!" Was all I managed to scream before the croagunk grabbed Dante by his back leg and yanked on it so hard that it caused him to smack down onto the ground. The croagunk could have killed Dante right then and there, but instead the dewott and him withdrew to a safe distance.

"Bastard," Dante muttered as he climbed back up onto all fours.

I charged up a shadow ball and shot it at the puddle of poison on the ground and created an opening for me to cross over. I approached Dante from behind as I feared the worst, but Dante didn't seem to realize what happened.

"That was a dirty hit," Dante growled at the two.

"Never once did we say we were going to fight you one on one, foolish leafeon," the dewott spoke. Dante began to take a step towards them, but instead he fell towards the ground.

"Dante!" I shouted in concern as I ran to his side and looked at his back left leg. I trembled at the sight of his back leg. His once natural tan leg was now infected with a dark purplish color that looked unhealthy, the leaf that was growing off his leg that once looked healthy was now beginning to become a pale brown as it began to slowly wilt as if it was a leaf in late Fall..

"You didn't know, did you?" the croagunk spoke up. "My species fingers are naturally poisonous, and I don't need to explain to you how poison mixes with grass types. Perhaps a normal pokemon would have a chance of surviving, but a grass type will most certainly die within an hour or two. Give it some time, the effects will start to spread slowly, but you're already out of the fight."

"No…" was all I could say as I saw a piece of the leaf on his leg break off and fall onto the ground.

"It's fine, he won't feel any pain. His muscles are slowly going to become inactive, which will soon lead to his heart giving out. It's a painless process almost, but sadly he won't survive without some serious medical attention."

"I'll kill you," Dante spoke in a weak voice as he tried to move, but he was to weak to get back up on his own.

"Dante…" I said as I began to feel panic rush into my mind. There was no way of winning, no way of surviving, Dante was going to die if I didn't kill them fast.

* * *

**Point of View Gray, One hour earlier**

It was now morning and we were all on the road. Our next destination was Reflection Cave, which I wasn't excited about. Put me against an onix if you must, but keep me out of anything like a cave. After all that time I spent underground in slavery, I kind of grew a small phobia of being in subsurface Since every day I lived in that cave, I was fearful that the cave was going to collapse, after all, I did lose two friends from cave in's.

After a bit of walking on the current route, we travelled uphill a bit until we made our way to the side of a mountain with a cave entrance. Usually I would expect a cave to be pitch dark, but it appeared there was crystals on the ceiling that provided light.

"Well here we are, Reflection Cave," Alex stated, "Everyone be careful in here and stick together. According to what I have read online, there are pokemon in this cave that will attack, so be careful," Alex informed us.

Without any delay, we all headed inside the cave. I tremor ran through my spine as I step foot inside the enclosed area. I felt a bit noxious just from the difference in the air. I know there is only a small chance of a cave collapsing, but my luck in cave's were unbelievable bad.

"Are you alright, you look a bit tense?" Kana whispered to me. I swear, that jolteon can read people's expressions like an open book.

"I'm not a fan of caves, that's all," I responded, trying to be a bit nicer than I used to be.

"You're afraid of caves?" Black butted in as he turned his head back with a surprised expression.

"I didn't say that," I quickly retorted, "Caves just make me feel iffy," I responded.

"And I thought you were fearless," Hesh quickly added in.

"And what would make you think that?" I questioned the pikachu.

"Well, you just kinda give off that vibe, ya know? I mean you went against a psycho riolu, you nearly died and hardly mentioned it, I just didn't take you as the type to fear a cave. I mean what's so bad about them?"

"Let's just talk about something else, it's a story for another day," I spoke as I looked away from the pikachu.

As our group made its way through the cave, we discovered these natural mirrors that followed along the cave walls. Everyone had to take a moment to stop and gawk at their reflection.

"Mmmmm, check out this bulk of sexiness," Hesh stated as he flexed out his muscles.

"I think I see a fat roll," Black stated.

"Fat?No no no, that's my six pack!" Hesh defended.

"Right, can a pikachu even get a six pack or are you just on a shit ton of steroids?" Black asked.

"You know what, I don't see any muscle on you," Hesh retorted.

"We're done here," Black said as he rolled his eyes.

"One point Hesh!" the pikachu shouted as he threw his hands into the air.

As everyone continued to obsess and procrastinate I felt a strange sensation in my horn. The feeling that something was wrong. Yes, my horn was broken off at one point, but at times I could still get the vibes of danger, but only when something really unsettling was happening.

"Alright guys let's get a move on," Alex instructed as he began leading the way through the cave. Everyone began to follow Alex's lead, and I did the same as well for a moment, before I decided to break off from the group and investigate this feeling. I took an alternative path from my group and I headed in the direction I felt the vibe coming from.

Being alone in the cave made me even more iffy, but if something was wrong I had to get over it. I continued to move through the cave in silence as I tried to focus on the direction in which this sensation was coming from. It was so faint, but it had to be something serious if I was feeling anything to begin with.

"W-what're you doing?" A timid voice called out from behind me. My head spun back in surprise to see Ebony behind me.

"Nothing, and why are you following me?" I questioned the child eevee.

"I just thought it was strange to see you breaking off from the group," she responded in a quiet voice. "So… I just wanted to see what you were doing, it's not like you to break off from the group."

"You've been watching me?" I questioned awkwardly.

"I kinda watch everybody. I don't interact a lot, so I just mostly spectate and watch how everyone acts, so I kind of got an idea on how everyone acts," she answered.

"That's… weird," I admitted truthfully. "You need to go back to the group though, now," I sternly stated.

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, that's what I'm trying to figure out," I responded.

"Maybe I can help?" Ebony suggested.

"Doubt it," I bluntly replied as I began to make my way towards the danger I felt. Ebony continued to follow me, but I didn't really fight against her, since I didn't want to let this feeling escape me. "If you're going to follow me, then stay hidden if there is danger, and do as I say," I instructed.

"Alright," Ebony answered with a little more energy than before.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

"W-What the Hell is that thing!" Hesh exclaimed in a panic as he backed away from that thing…

"I… I don't know, but it's creeping me out," Kana said as she too backed away.

"What's wrong with it?" I questioned as my head cocked to the side and my eyes remained stuck on the creature that was building an invisible wall in front of itself.

"Should we kill it?" Black added in.

"May not be a bad idea," Hesh quickly replied, "I mean look at it!" Hesh said as he pointed at the creature with blue hair spiking up from each side of its head. The look in this creatures eyes peered into my soul as it wore a grin on its face that made me shudder as if I was back in Geosenge town.

"Guy's, it's a Mr Mime," Alex told us all as he stood behind Black and me.

"Mimes creep me the fuck out apparently," Hesh spoke from behind everyone Even Kana looked disturbed by this creepy creature.

"All pokemon are equal in the eyes of Arceus... even if it is that thing…" I added in as the creature began to close in on me.

Black showed his fangs as he began to snarl viciously "Back up, or I'll… I'll rip that ugly hair off your head!" Black threatened.

The mime just continued to build a wall like structure in front of itself. Something snapped in Black's head as I saw a vein bulge on his head and he charged towards the mime. The mime just kept doing what it was doing as Black charged towards it. Black directed his head towards the mimes gut as he closed in. A loud thud echoed through the cave as Black face smashed into some completely solid, yet invisible object in front of that weird thing, and he fell to the ground. Everyone stared at the mime as he knelt down next to Black and began to start pretending he was tying something around his neck.

"Did that wall actually work?" Kana said in amazement.

Black began to come back to consciousness as he realized the mime was doing something to him.

"Black, get out of there!" Alex shouted. Black's eyes grew wide as he sprang to his feet and tried running, but he quickly yanked back and fell back down.

"What in the hell?" Black questioned as the mime tugged an invisible leash around Black's neck.

"Awww, Black, I think you're its pet now," Kana said from a safe distance.

"No… no, I'd rather die!" Black shouted as he tried fighting the invisible force, and the mime tried keeping Black from getting away.

"Help!" Black gasped as he fought the mime as the invisible force around his neck choked him as he tried to get away.

"Flare, can you use an attack that won't hurt Black?" Alex asked.

"Sure," I said with a confident nod as I began to inhale a deep breath.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

It's going to happen again. Someone's going to die because of me, because I'm weak.

I looked up at the two pokemon as they both stared at me, neither of them looking the least bit threatened by me. I looked back down towards Dante to see him in his weak condition. The poison that entered his body has traveled over the course of a short time. All the leaf's on Dante's body were beginning to wither away, while the purplish color around his leg slowly travelled upward towards his main body.

'If I would have been stronger, I could have just killed these two and Dante would be fine right now. No, I'm more than strong enough to kill the both of them. Stark taught me everything I needed to know to kill, even with the odds stacked against me. I'm not weak fighting wise. I'm just too weak to go through with taking another life, even if it's to save another.'

'This is why Stark died. I was too weak to act properly, both of us could have killed Jack that night, but instead I chose to not let Stark kill Jack, nor did I kill Jack myself. If I was stronger back then, Stark would be alive. Right now, Dante is going to die if I don't kill the two of them. I don't want to kill anyone though is the problem, even if it is to save someone else. But Dante and Stark both risked so much for me, how is it fair that I let these things happen to them? No matter what it costs, I can't keep letting the people I love get hurt.'

"I don't want you to die," I said to Dante as dark matter began to engulf my body, "I'm not losing you to, if I die so be it, but I refuse to let you die here," I continued to speak as the dark matter intensified.

"I don't want you to die. I'll do anything to keep you alive, even if it means hurting others!" I shouted with anxiety as I looked away from Dante and looked at my two enemies, "Even if it means killing, Even if it means reducing myself to a monster," I continued on as I sprinted towards the two.

The croagunk shot his poison towards me, but the dark matter surrounding my body shielded me and burned the liquid before it could touch my skin. The dewott shot a hydropump towards me, but I ducked below the attack as I made my way towards the croagunk.

"She snapped!" the dewott shouted as I threw my whole body towards the croagunk. The croagunk evaded to the side as he spewed more poison towards me, but I lunged through the poison and I clamped my teeth down on the croagunk's stomach. The poison type let out a cry of pain as blood gushed out of his stomach wound.

"I'll kill you for hurting him," I snarled as I released his stomach and I jumped up on him as I wrapped my left paw around the back of his neck and placed the other on his arm as my fangs ripped into his shoulder. The croagunk let out a howl of pain as I ripped off a chunk of his flesh and spit it onto the ground. I then bit down onto his neck. I didn't bite deep into his neck, but I used my grip on him to throw him down onto the ground.

"Stay down or I'll kill you," I threatened him as I sprinted towards the dewott.

As I closed in on the dewott a wave of fire forced me to come to a dead stop. I froze in place as smoke covered the entire room from the fire attack.

"That's enough," a voice called out. This voice was different from the two pokemon I was fighting though. The smoke continued to clear up until I made out two more pokemon. One of which was a middle aged flareon with a scar running horizontally across his face and travelled over his snout to the opposite side of his face, and a grovyle that looked quite a bit younger than him. It took me a second, but I knew this flareon and grovyle.

"Y-you," I stuttered in disbelief as I began to back away in fear.

"Yes Naomi, it's us," the flareon spoke, "Did you ever remember how we saved you, as you were slaughtering my friends?"

"No, you don't understand," I defended myself.

"Murder is murder, there is no way to look at it differently," the flareon spoke as he walked towards me.

"And what about my brother, he's going to die," I snapped at him as I looked back towards Dante.

"He was protecting a criminal, I can't overlook something like that."

"Maybe he didn't know," I responded.

"Perhaps, but something tells me he knew."

'I don't have time for this,' I mentally stated as I looked back at Dante. The leafeon was still barely conscious, but his condition was worsening with each passing second.

"To think that I saved a killer, you seemed like such a smart child back then, how did one such as yourself become who you are now?" the flareon questioned.

"Like it matters, none of you have listened up to this point," I spoke sharply.

"Fine then," the flareon spoke as he inhaled a deep breath. My eyes widened as a flamethrower came my way. I would have moved, but the size was too big to dodge.

Right as the flame neared me an ice cold wave collided with the flame and the two attacks negated each other in an intense explosion that made the cave rumble. The flareon and I both stood in shock as we looked to the side of the cave to see an absol and a little eevee.

"Ebony… Gray…" I whispered to myself.

"Nia!" Ebony shouted out towards me. "Where have you been, everyone thinks you're dead!" the eevee cried out to me as tears quickly began to stream down from her eyes.

"Sorry," I replied with a bit of guilt, but this guilt wasn't my top priority right now, I needed to save Dante at all cost, I could explain myself later.

"Enough, this stops here," the absol spoke powerfully as his vision panned around the room until his eyes set on the flareon and his eyes grew wide. "Z-Zack?" Gray said in surprise. I looked back towards the flareon to see that he was as shocked as the absol.

"Gray? You're alive?"

"A lot happened," Gray spoke quietly. "That doesn't matter now, what are you doing to this umbreon and leafeon?"

"This umbreon is a killer, she assisted Jack Jaegar's team in murdering WPA members," Zack venomously stated as he shot me an evil look.

The absol looked back at me in surprise, "Is that true?" he questioned me.

"I was forced to; Jack would have killed me if I didn't. I never wanted to have anything to do with this, why else do you think I was trying to hunt him and his pokemon down?" I tried to reason. "Listen, I don't care about what happens to me, I don't want my brother to die for trying to protect me, I'm the one at fault, not him," I tried to reason, ready to take full responsibility if it meant saving Dante.

"Zack, call off your friends, she's not a bad pokemon, she saved us a week back when Jack's pokemon came after us. Apparently my friends and I pissed off an organization and they hired Jack. When we were all barely getting by she came and helped," Gray spoke in my defense.

"I can't negate her crimes, she's killed, and for that she has to pay," Zack spoke back calmly, yet his words still contained bite.

"Ebony," Gray spoke to the eevee that was by his side. "Quickly run and get everyone, I doubt I'll be able to take them all on by myself," Gray said in a hushed voice.

"Right," Ebony said as she gave a strong nod. Ebony didn't waste a single second as she turned tail and dashed towards the direction they came from.

"I'll stop her," The dewott said as he began to run after Ebony.

"No, you're not going anywhere," Gray spoke in a low voice as he shot a hail storm towards the dewott. The dewott quickly covered his face with his arms, and the water type was sliced up by the razor sharp daggers of ice.

"Gray stand down. Despite my being glad to see you're okay, I can't let you protect a criminal, not someone like her," Zack spoke as his eyes narrowed in on Gray.

"Sorry, but that umbreon means something to my colleague, and I believe my colleagues and I owe her," Gray responded.

I stared at the absol in surprise. I couldn't believe he was going to help protect me, because of him I have a chance. I looked over towards the side to see Dante lying unconscious on the ground. The poison was doing its job; Dante was going to die soon if something wasn't done.

"Gray, thank you," I said to the absol that was risking a lot for me.

"We're not out of this yet, you can thank me after this is all over," he spoke back to me as he kept his eyes focused on the four pokemon.

"It's really too bad it had to be this way, we all mourned your supposed death, Gray. We only found half your team; we assumed the rest of you were dead as well. So tell me, is Aaron, Eclipse and Sarah still alive?"

Gray remained silent as he wore a bitter look on his face, yet he kept his eyes on Zack.

"I see," Zack said as he shook his head in disappointment, "I'm sorry for your-"

"Let's just do this. If you have no intentions on being reasonable then I have nothing to say," Gray spoke in a low tone. "I always thought WPA was something more than that, full of pokemon that would be rational and listen to both sides of the story, not just kill and ask questions later."

Zack exhaled a long sigh as he broke eye contact with Gray, "WPA was nearly wiped out by pokemon like this umbreon. We can't help the world if we're constantly being hunted down. So, at the moment WPA is hunting those who killed our members, not only for revenge, but so our organization will have a chance of a future. Hardly any of us remain now, the world mostly thinks we're gone, but here we are," Zack spoke with a bitter attitude.

"Again, there's nothing to talk about unless you let her go, I believe she is a victim in all of this. I met the pokemon that forced her to work for them, she's not like them. All of them are monsters, the Raichu, the white umbreon, and that demon riolu," Gray spoke.

'Wait, how does he know about Stark, he's been dead for a while now,' I questioned in my head.

"Perhaps there is nothing to discuss, I'm sorry Grayson," Zack said as he looked back towards Gray.

"You two stay back," Zack spoke as he looked at the dewott and the croagunk, but then looked towards us again, "Isaac, let's go," Zack spoke to the grovyle.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It took a while, but we beat the shit out of that mime freak. We all took a small breather from the tough fight. The mime was actually pretty strong for a creep.

"Guy's, where's Ebony and Gray?" Kana questioned as she began frantically looking around.

"Wait… I haven't noticed they were gone!" Flare exclaimed as he began looking in every direction as well.

"When did they leave," Kana asked in panic.

"Ebony is one of those pokemon you never notice… she's kinda forgettable and hard to notice, so this doesn't surprise me…" Hesh stated as he shook his head, "But, I'm surprised we lost our biggest friend, excluding Alex of course."

"Still, we can't just let her wander off, she's a kid for Arceus's sake!" Kana yelled in panic.

"Help!" A voice shouted from the way we came from.

"That's Ebony!" Flare commented as he and Kana took off in that direction, while all of us followed behind them. It didn't take more than a few seconds of running for us to be reunited with Ebony. The eevee panted in exhaustion as she tried to catch her breath.

"Gray, he's in trouble," Ebony managed to say in between her breaths. "He needs help, these pokemon are trying to kill Ni-" Ebony began to say before she stopped herself, "Just follow me." Ebony took off running without giving us a chance to reply. But of course it wasn't debatable, we all followed the eevee as Alex tried his hardest to keep up with our group, I guess he too could tell something was very wrong.

Ebony led us down a couple different tunnels until we all heard a rumble. We all came to a dead stop for a moment as we prayed the cave wouldn't collapse.

"We're close," Flare stated.

We all continued running towards Gray. At the end of this tunnel we saw multiple bright flashes of light. A thick smoke covered the entire room and only gave me a small field of vision as it was clearing out. The first thing I made out in this room was Nia and Gray both in defensive positions next to each other. This was going to be interesting, reintroducing Nia that is.

"Nice of you all to show up," Gray commented as he looked at us out of the corner of his eye. "There is four of them, a dewott, a croagunk, a grovyle, and a flareon," Gray informed us.

The smoke began to clear up as four figures began to take shape from within the smoke cloud. All of the pokemon became visible after a moment, Gray was correct on all of their species. Luckily we outnumbered them.

"I'll take the-" I began to say before I froze up at the sight of a familiar pokemon that I haven't seen since I was a child… someone who left me and everyone long ago.

"Ryder?" the flareon spoke as his eyes grew wide and he began to walk towards me. "You've grown so much, you even evolved," the flareon spoke to me.

"Dad…" I whispered to myself as the flareon approached me.

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**


	90. Father and Son

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 90: Father and Son**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"Dad?" I said in shock as I stared at the flareon before me. Over the years he hasn't really changed drastically, other than aging a bit, but it didn't make him unrecognizable in my eyes.

"Black, what did you just say?" Kana spoke in surprise.

I looked over towards the side to see Gray and Nia both in a roughed up conditions, and even further off into the distance was Nia's brother, Dante. The leafeon lied unconscious on the ground. The leaf's on his body were withering away as he inhaled and exhaled in a way that made him look like he was in pain or struggling to cling to life.

"Dad," I said with seriousness as I looked the flareon in the eyes, "What are you doing to them?" My father's eyes grew wide in surprise from my question. He took a moment to look back at the three, before looking back at me.

"That umbreon's name isn't nia, her name is Naomi, and she's a criminal," my father responded.

"You," I muttered below my breath as I stomped my way towards him, "You asshole!" I yelled as I swung my right paw into his jaw. The flareon fell back onto the ground, but he didn't show a single sign of pain.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! Not only do you walk out on your family, you're now trying to kill my fucking friends, you piece of shit!" I cried as I began charging up a shadow ball, "Get the Hell away from me!" I added before I shot the shadow ball. A green blur quickly intersected with my father before the shadow ball exploded against the ground. Debris rose into the air and masked the last spot my father was in.

"Thanks, Isaac," my father spoke from another location. My head snapped to the left to see my father standing unscathed next to a grovyle.

"Black, calm down!" Kana shouted at me as I began to dash towards that bastard.

"Black?" My father said in confusion as he looked at me strangely. "Ryder, hear me out for a moment, I know you're prob-" was all my father managed to speak before I barreled at him. Both the grovyle and my father evaded out of the way.

"Hear what out?" I snapped at him, "You walked out on your family, and now look what happened, everyone is dead! Mom, Kaz and Cassie. Vincent also turned into some deranged psychopath, and everything that could go wrong for me went wrong! Isn't a father supposed to protect his family, so where the fuck have you been this whole time!" I screamed at him with everything I had, and by the time I finished I was trying to catch my breath.

"There is a lot of things I didn't tell you to protect everybody," My father responded to me.

"Bullshit!" I snapped back. "Regardless, that doesn't explain what you and these goons are doing to my friends."

"I told you, Naomi is a criminal, Grayson came to help her, and that leafeon tried protecting her as well," My father responded.

Right when my father finished his explanation, Alex finally managed to catch up to us. Alex's face lit up with surprise as he saw everybody in the room that wasn't familiar.

"Great, a trainer," the dewott remarked as he got into a defensive position.

"What's going on in here?" Alex questioned as he panted in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Knock the human out, I don't want him starting anything," the grovyle spoke to the other goons. Kana and Flare both got into defensive positions by Alex as Ebony got into her defensive position behind the two of them.

"You got it," the croagunk spoke as he began to crack his knuckles.

"You touch him and I'll rip your throat out, all of you," I spoke as dark matter particles began to form around my right paw, but didn't quite take its full shape. "You're not touching anyone," I spoke as I showed my fangs.

"Ryder, do you know this human?" my father questioned me.

"I do, he's my trainer. He's been there for me a lot more than you," I spat out as I got ready to move in an instant.

"James, Tyson, hold on a moment," the flareon ordered his two teammates.

"Ryder, I can let all but one leave, that umbreon will not get off free, she's committed a lot of crimes," my Dad stated.

"You're not doing anything to her, I owe her a lot, I wouldn't be alive if she didn't come into my life," I retorted.

"She saved you?" My father said as his left brow rose.

"Twice. She saved me from some mercenaries that are after me twice. If you want to kill her, then you'll have to kill everyone here, including me, because I'm not sitting back while someone close to me dies."

"She's a killer though, don't you know that?" my father questioned.

"I know a lot about her. Yes, I know she was forced to do horrible things against her will, but I know Nia is haunted every day by what she was forced to do. You may as well kill me with her, because I've done bad things as well," I responded to my father.

"Zack," Gray called out to my dad. "Don't do this, you're making a mistake, she's not an enemy, she's a victim of this world's madness. Let's just all take this down a notch and hear each other out," Gray reasoned.

My father remained silent for a moment as he looked back and forth between Gray, Nia and I. "Fine," my father stubbornly said before he looked at Gray, "But don't think this changes my view point. Only because of my son and you Gray."

'Wait, they know each other, but how?' I questioned within my head as the flareon gave a nod to his friends and they all backed away and gave us some room.

"Does Alex have anything for Dante!" Naomi desperately questioned as she ran to her brother. Everyone looked towards the half dead leafeon in surprise. "Please, someone help, he's going to die if this goes on any longer!" Naomi pleaded as she looked at Alex with tears forming in her eyes. Alex got the memo and quickly ran towards the leafeon as he unslung his backpack and placed it on the ground, next to the leafeon. Alex observed the leafeon's status for a moment, and gave a nod, indicating he knew what he was looking at. Alex frantically dug through his bag as he discarded a few items.

"Come on, it's in here somewhere," Alex spoke in frustration as he dug through his bag," got it!" Alex said as he pulled out a syringe. "This'll only slow it down, he needs a pokecenter fast, his condition is too far advanced for me to stop it completely," Alex said as he injected the syringe into the leafeon's back leg. Right after, Alex reached into his bag and wrapped a bandage around the spot that was injected. Alex put everything back into his bag and slung it onto his back.

"I'm going to need to get him to a pokecenter, is that okay with you?" Alex questioned Nia. Nia gave a quick nod, and Alex quickly detached a spare pokeball from his belt. "This'll only be temporary, I promise," Alex said as he tapped the pokeball against the leafeon, and a red light sucked the leafeon into the pokeball.

"Thank you," Nia said as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Thank you so much," Nia repeated.

"It's going to be alright, I'm going to save your friend," Alex replied as he patted Nia on the head and stood up with the leafeon's pokeball in his right hand.

"Human," my father spoke up, and caught everyone's attention. "Follow me; I know the fastest way out of here," my father spoke as he gestured with his head in the direction he wanted Alex to go.

"You want me to follow you?" Alex said in confusion. My father gave Alex a nod. "Alright, but please take me to the nearest exit," Alex replied.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We finally made it to shalour, but more importantly, a pokecenter. I waited outside with almost everyone else. Excluding Black and his father. This was all bringing me a lot of anxiety; it's too much to handle for me. Why is WPA here, why did it have to be Black who was related to a member. Why did it have to be that croagunk again. Then again, I can't say I wasn't looking for him and that absol from six years ago.

All of the WPA members went their separate ways after we reached the pokecenter, all that mattered right now was tracking down that croagunk and getting answers. I want, no I need answers on what happened to Annie. It has been six years, six years that I have been separated from my sister. I'm not even sure if she's alive.

That croagunk is going to give me answers; that I can promise, even if I have to burn every inch of skin off his body. But if I confronted him that also brings up another problem, what if he tells everyone who I really am… Surely he had to recognize me, or perhaps he forgot about me? Was the answer really worth the risk of exposing the truth, Annie has been dead to me for years.

"No-no-no, I need to know the truth, I need to see Annie again," I told myself as I shook my head frantically.

"Maybe… Maybe I need to think this through a bit… I need to think everything through, a lot is at stake here," I told myself.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"Was it really necessary to bring me all the way out here?" I questioned my father as I stood on a vacant, sandy beach.

"Well, I thought this would be a nice quiet spot to talk some things out, after all, it has been about twelve years," my father replied as he sat down on the beach and gave a quick glance out towards the waves of the ocean that repeatedly went back and forth between the shore and the ocean.

"It doesn't change a damn thing. You left us, end of story," I sharply stated.

"Well, I can tell by your resentment that your mother kept things a secret from you, like we both agreed."

"Secrets, about what?" I said with interest as I looked towards me father.

"Are you familiar with an organization called World Peace Association?" my father asked.

"I've heard the name. Isn't WPA a group of hippies or something that preach world peace?"

My father chuckled at my response, "No-no, unlike hippies, WPA members actually do stuff about the world problems, and we don't sit around smoking all day," my dad said.

"Wait, you're with this organization?" I said in surprise.

"I'm not just a part of it, I'm one of the founders," my father said as he held his head up high.

"Bullshit," I snapped back.

"I'm not lying," my father said with seriousness. "Choose to believe it if you want, but I left home for reasons, and your mother and I both agreed to keep this a secret. Kaz was the only one who knew."

"And what reason was so great that you abandoned your family?" I snidely asked.

The flareon let out a sigh as he looked towards the ground, "When your mother became pregnant with Vincent, I decided to take a long hiatus from WPA so I could help raise our family. Before that I was always on trips and I'd visit your mother whenever I had a chance. During my hiatus I left my grovyle friend, Isaac, in charge. Soon our family expanded and I was even considering staying forever," My father told me.

"Then what changed?" I asked him with curiosity.

"Well, I left to protect everyone. Around twelve years ago WPA members were being hunted down by mercenaries. It was too dangerous for me to stay with you guys, if I stayed I would have been targeted, and you all would have been in danger," my father spoke with a hollow voice that only held remorse and sadness in it.

"I never wanted to leave, I wanted to stay so bad. But things just kept getting worse and worse, it was never safe for me to come home, WPA needed me, and the only way for me to return home was to win this war between us and those who hunted us, my father continued to tell me. "Years passed by, and when I finally felt I had a chance to visit I came…" my father stopped speaking for a moment as he looked back towards the ground, "When I came home I couldn't find anyone. I had to ask around to get answers, all I heard was stories of a grisly murder. All the stories were different; no one knew exactly what happened, except for the outcome. Some say it was Vincent, some say there were multiple pokemon in on it, some even said you did it," my father said as he looked up towards me.

"That's… that's a lie!" I yelled back in absolute anger towards me dad, "I know exactly who did it, this organization of psychopaths! There's a quilava, a houndour and Vincent is a part of it to! I had no-" I frantically yelled at him in an attempt to defend myself before I was cut off.

"Ryder, I never once said I thought you did it," My father interrupted, "But what did happen that night, I need to know… What happened to everyone, why were they killed?" My father questioned me as he clenched his eyes shut, "I need to know why everyone is gone, I thought you and Vincent were dead as well, I thought I lost you all." A tear fell from the crevice between my Dad's clamped shut eyes. After he finished up, he reopened his eyes and looked at me for an answer.

"Honestly, I don't understand that night to well, everything happened so fast…" I said with honesty as I felt a brick forming in my throat, "I just remember everything going normal that night until this organization showed up. Vincent… Vincent was with them as well. Vincent killed everyone, that's all I know. I don't know why, but these pokemon are still after me too," I said as I felt my eyes growing heavier with each word I spoke.

"Who are these pokemon, what do you know of them. Vincent really couldn't have done what he did willingly, he's a good-"

"No he's not!" I yelled back at him, "That fucking monster killed everyone and he's now trying to abduct me with a group of psychopath pokemon!"

"That… that can't be true, why would Vincent…"

"I don't know, I've been asking myself that for almost two years now," I replied back. "these pokemon though. I believe they call themselves The Crimson Dawn," I informed my father as I tried to fight back my emotions.

"I've never heard of an organization by that name," my father replied.

"Well, that's not it though…" I said as I looked my father in the eyes, "Are you familiar with Genesis?"

"Yes, but what do they have to do with anything?"

"After this Crimson team attacked me, Team Genesis came after me to… I don't know why, but everyone around me is in danger, and I don't know what to do," I said as I looked at my father for a solution.

"Why does Genesis want you?"

"I don't know, they just do," I lied. Truthfully I knew why everyone was after me, because I'm different from other umbreons, but, I couldn't let my father or anyone know that.

"This is bad, Genesis is a powerful group, if you're on their shit list then you're in trouble. For a matter of fact, you need to get out of public right now," my father ordered me as he began shoving me with his paw.

"Hey, I've survived this long," I argued.

"You're lucky a sniper hasn't taken off your head, Arceus, how are you alive!"

"Well, thank my friend you just tried killing for that!" I rubbed into his face.

* * *

**Third person point of view**

"My-my, the weather is just splendid today," a zorua spoke as he stared at Shalour city from a cliff that gave a perfect view of the whole city.

"Sir, we didn't come here for the weather," a servine replied back.

"Uh huh, just hush up and enjoy life for a moment," the zorua enthusiastically replied back as he took in the view of the city.

"Perhaps I could relax if I wasn't carrying around a bag full of stuff all day," the servine snapped back as she unslung her backpack from her back. The servine unzipped the top of the bag to reveal pokeballs that stuffed every nook and cranny of the backpack.

"Well, we're almost there, we're so close to fixing this whole ordeal," the zorua spoke as he lied down on his stomach and continued to look towards the distance. The servine looked at the left side of the zorua's face, or more specifically, the side of his face that had a giant deformation on it. The fur on that part of his face was scarce, and it looked as if he lost a lot of skin in that area.

"Anyhoo, we should be ready for our operation soon, I look forward to it."

"You do realize what this will do, right?" the servine wryly spoke.

"Of course, but it's worth it if it means preserving the world, it's not every day you get to be a hero ya know?" the zorua stated with a grin.

"For someone ranking so high in Genesis, you're pretty weird… you know that right?" the servine stated.

"I think normal is boring, lighten up a bit."

"Rhys, We should get moving," the servine stated as she slung the backpack onto her back. The zorua let out a sigh as he stood up on all fours and stretched out his body.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," the zorua responded.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

Gray, Hesh, Ebony and I all stood on a sidewalk outside of the pokecenter that was in Shalour city. Alex was inside the pokecenter waiting for a status report on Nia's… or Naomi's brother. Alex had no idea that that umbreon was the same umbreon that committed suicide a week ago, and now she's magically alive again, that was something I didn't see coming from a mile away.

"So, any idea on how she's alive?" Hesh asked out loud as he kept his arms crossed in a way that showed he wasn't in a good mood.

"Not a clue," Gray responded, "I just found her being attacked in that cave, I didn't expect her to be there."

"I don't like this at all, she's up to something, I don't trust her, I never have," Hesh spitefully told us..

"I don't think she's bad," Ebony mumbled from a short distance from the circle we had formed. Everyone including myself looked at Ebony with a bit of surprise.

"And why's that?" I questioned Ebony.

The child eevee kept her eyes away from mine as she looked towards the ground in a shy manner, "I just never really felt like she was a bad person at any point, I mean she did help us too," Ebony spoke quietly.

"She's a kid, she wouldn't understand this stuff," Hesh spat out.

"She's also been through a lot of things most adults haven't been through," I said in Ebony's defence.

"So what, you're on her side?"

"Well, I think I want to hear Nia- er Naomi's side of the story first."

"She's a stuck up umbreon with a drug problem, I don't think she's someone we want to be around. Plus, think of all the pain Black went through! What kinda bitch does that to someone? Black was practically silent for a whole week," Hesh said with a point.

"All I'm saying is give Naomi a chance to explain, maybe it has something to do with that leafeon?" I added in.

Gray cleared his throat before Hesh could respond, "I do agree with Kana, I'm interested to hear more from this umbreon, she seems like she has an interesting story to tell, but we do owe her for saving us that one night."

"Weren't you the one who despised umbreons?" Hesh said with a bit of surprise, or perhaps he was looking to use Gray's hatred to his advantage, I honestly couldn't quite tell.

"It's something I'm working on," Gray answered as he looked away.

"Well fine, if you all want to trust her go for it, but don't expect me to be jumping for joy. She and I never got along…" Hesh said.

"Don't get me wrong Hesh, I'm not exactly okay with any of this either, but we at least owe her a chance to explain," I told Hesh.

"Whatever you say, Kana," Hesh responded.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Almost every member of Crimson Dawn was now on the move. We were now commencing our next mission, which was also the next step in Mandus's plan to change the world forever. Mandus left before most of us, leaving Scarlett, Vincent, Merrick, Kane, and myself to travel together. Most of us remained silent during the walk, every now and then Vincent would talk between Merrick and me. Our team was now travelling alongside a mountain that would lead us to our destination, Shalour City.

Everyday Mandus's plan came closer to a reality, but our next step was to capture Ryder. I knew at some point I'd end up having to fight Ryder again; it'd be interesting a rematch with Ryder and his friends. I wonder if he's grown since our last fight was interrupted. Although, fighting didn't really interest me at the moment, what interested me was trying to postpone my unstoppable doom.

At least when I am gone, I can look forward to seeing Naomi again, if an afterlife even exists. After all of this is over, we'd only have two have two more Legendaries to apprehend, and then Mandus's plan will go into effect, the world can be changed, if what he says is true. I'm not sure if I believe it completely, but he proved me wrong on the existence of Legendaries, so would it really be anymore unbelievable to believe his plan has a chance at working?

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well, hopefully this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. I am aware there are a few things that I haven't gone over yet, just give me a a bit to get all the info and stuff out on the table with WPA coming back in the picture, there is a lot of content to cover now, and it's a bit tricky to work with all of it. Eh, I'll make it work somehow...

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed and supported this story in any way so far. It means a lot to me.

Thanks to Genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.


	91. Two Days

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 91: Two days**

* * *

"My time's running low, it's only matter of time until Mew catches on," A voice spoke in the silence of the night. A jolteon wandered around aimlessly as he pondered many thoughts.

"I'll only have one chance at making this work, plus Crimson will be on the move, it's now or never," the false jolteon spoke to himself as he continued to aimlessly wander through the forest.

"There is around eight pokemon to worry about, it's nearly impossible to get him alone," the imposter continued to speak.

"I could kill a few if necessary, but I'll still need to get him in a secluded area, I can only imagine how long this will actually take. Tfff, and if Crimson gets in the way, things will be all the better. I'll have to wait for my chance, it looks like the time has come much sooner than I have planned, things are just getting too rowdy, I just hope it's not too early."

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

It has been quite a while since we arrived in Shalour. Everyone was at a hotel room Alex had gotten, except for Black and me. I guess Black was with his father, and I was out on my own mission, finding that croagunk. I've swept through a lot of the city on my own, but still no sign of any of the WPA members, despite me being a changed pokemon, they all still seemed to make my blood boil. There's a reason why most of their members got killed off, they pissed everyone off.

I continued through the streets where many humans roamed about. This city had a rather upbeat feeling to it. I got the feeling that this was the kinda city where there is always something to do. I could also feel that this was where all the douchy college kids come for spring break, but that wasn't what mattered at the moment for me.

It wasn't until much later that I finally found my target. The croagunk lazily sat on a bench as he looked across the street. I couldn't quite fathom what the Hell he was doing here, I could honestly not care less though, he was my enemy after all.

"Hey you," I called out to the croagunk sitting on the bench. The croagunk looked towards me with surprise.

"Hey, you're that fennekin that was with the boss's son, right?" the croagunk questioned me.

"You have no idea who I am, do you…"

"No, should I?"

"Seven years ago, think back," I responded with agitation as I gritted my teeth.

"Nope," the croagunk simply replied back.

"You took my sister from me and you have the nerve to not remember my face?" I snapped at him as I felt anger eating away at my proper judgement. I wanted to kill this guy so badly, I wanted to burn him beyond recognition for this, I missed my sister and because of him and that absol, I lost so many years with my sister, if she was even alive.

"You," the croagunk said with seriousness as he hopped off the bench, "You're that fennekin that Dawn chose to save all those years back."

"Good you do remember my face. Now tell me, did you kill my sister?" I sternly asked him as I looked him dead in his yellow eyes.

"Hmmm." the croagunk began to process the question as he placed a finger on his chin, "Truthfully kid, I didn't stick around to see that braixen's fate, it didn't interest me and that was Dawn's problem."

"Then where is Dawn?"

"I don't know, that absol is always running around Kalos, she's a busy person, her skills are always being put to use," the croagunk said dismissively.

"I want you to figure this out, I need to speak with her, now," I demanded.

"Heh, don't go bossing me around kid, don't think that I have to deal with your attitude just because Dawn chose to let you live," the croagunk snorted.

"Listen, do you know what it is like to be ripped from your family for so long without a clue to what happened? I just want to know if my sister is alive or not, I can't keep pretending she never existed," I protested.

The croagunk just shook his head at what I said, "Fennekin, I remember that day now. I recall that zoroark choosing to take full responsibility in exchange for your life. So with some honesty, your sister was probably executed."

"Well I need to know the precise truth, not just your theory," I retorted.

"Listen, your sis was one of Team Flare's dogs, we didn't bother keeping many of them alive, so she probably got what she had coming. She chose her path, now stop harassing me," the croagunk said.

"You bastard," I growled.

"I'd watch your tone mister," the croagunk said as he pointed his finger at me, "Technically you aren't supposed to be alive. You're an ex-criminal, don't think for a second that I don't have the right to detain you."

"Don't talk to me like that then," I snapped back.

"Hmmmf, I guess you're still the same fennekin from all those years ago. I'd imagine Dawn did what she did because she still viewed you as innocent, but I guess you were a lost cause," the croagunk spoke.

"You're just looking to start trouble, aren't you?"

"No, no my friend, you are trouble. Team Flare has always been trouble. Nothing but a bunch of assholes who wanted to make the world a better place for themselves," the croagunk responded.

"Screw you," I snapped back at him.

"Heh, see you're just like a Team Flare member. Sure, you may hide it from yourself, but I bet if I got you really riled up you'd be just as cocky and arrogant as any other Team Flare member."

"Just help me find Dawn, I'm not interested in your BS."

"And let's say I do find Dawn for ya, what then? What if she tells you your sister is dead, are you just going to snap on her as well?" the croagunk questioned.

That questioned caught me a bit off guard, I actually didn't know how I'd respond, "I… I don't know, we'll just have to see when the time comes," I answered truthfully.

"Ahh, well we will have to see, now won't we?" the croagunk responded.

"So… So you'll help me?" I said with hope.

"I'll ask Zack what he knows, but no promises."

"Tha-Thank you so much," I responded in surprise.

"Also, I wasn't looking for trouble. I was just seeing how you responded, I wouldn't have been interested in helping a hot head, I would have probably turned you in if you seemed dangerous," The croagunk warned me. "I can tell that you have a vicious side to you, but it seems you kept that under control, as long as you act civil, I'll be happy to keep your background with Team Flare a secret," the croagunk replied. "But, out of curiosity, do any of your friends know who you are?"

"No, I've always kept it to myself. That's a train wreck I don't want to experience."

"I see, I don't really like secrets, but that's your choice, but that secret of yours will unravel sooner or later, I just hope you're ready."

"Well, I'ma try and keep things how they are," I responded.

"And what if your sis is alive, do you plan on leaving your friends?" the croagunk asked me.

"Leave them?" I repeated out loud to give myself a chance to think, "I don't know... I don't know if Annie could stay with us, and if she's alive I just want to be with her… But I also have my own family with Alex's team… I don't know what I'll do. I'll have to think on that if she's alive," I responded with honesty.

"I see, well I'll ask around when I get a chance, till then just wait patiently," the croagunk told me.

"Right, I'll do that."

Afterwards me and the croagunk parted ways. I made my way back to the hotel we were staying in. I could only imagine how worried everyone was about me. I mean, I did disappear in a big city for the majority of the day, but with any luck, everyone had their hands tied with Naomi coming back from the dead.

I made my way to the second floor of our hotel and made my way down a hall that would lead me to our room. Towards the end of the hall I came up to a door and knocked on it. It took a few moments, but the door finally opened up.

"Flare, where the heck have you been!" Alex yelled with concern as he lifted me off the ground and carried me in the hotel. "You know, I was this close to calling the police," Alex said as he made a gesture with his hand on how close he was, while holding me with the other.

"Sorry Alex, I just had some things to do, didn't mean to worry you," I sincerely responded.

"I'm just going to hope that was an apology, please, for the love of God, don't run off like that for so long, this isn't Lumiose," Alex told me as he held me below my forearms and held me at his eye level. "Jeez, usually it's Black who runs off… which wait, he did that earlier as well!" Alex said as I felt his hand tense up from the stress.

"I'm… sorry," I said without a clue on how to respond.

"Just don't disappear, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll try," I responded with a nod.

"Alright, thanks buddy," Alex said with a smile as he placed me on the ground.

I made my way towards the opposite side of the hotel room, which is where everyone would usually be chillaxing, except everyone was now in some circle talking. I approached silently as I tried to catch what they were talking about.

"So, you're telling me your father was alive this whole time?!" Kana exclaimed in astonishment.

"Yes Kana, my Dad is alive," Black said stressfully.

"I… I didn't even know your family was…" Hesh spoke lowly in a way that made him seem disgusted in himself, "Man… no wonder you didn't like my yo mama jokes… and the remark about-"

"Okay!" Black snapped at Hesh, "Will everyone back the fuck off, you all wonder why I don't talk to anyone about this stuff," Black sharply spoke and everyone fell silent for a moment.

"Hey," I blurted out from the sideline, "Umm, what'd I miss?"

"Well... " Hesh began to say as he tried to think of the proper wording, "We're talking about how Black's daddy is still alive… oh and about Naomi coming back like Arceus's son," Hesh answered me.

"Oh yeah, a lot happened today," Kana added in.

"You know… I thought the agreement on you knowing about my family was to keep quiet, not blurt it out loud," Black bitterly said to Kana as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up, but it was kinda hard not to when your dad appeared out of nowhere," Kana defended.

"Whatever," Black muttered.

"Hey, I said I was-"

"I don't want to talk about this," Black interrupted, "I got a lot on my mind right now."

"Yeah, I bet you'll have some catching up to do with Naomi as well," Hesh spoke, "Especially since you got a thing for h-"

"You're on thin ice, you are on very thin ice," Black growled.

"It's a joke, I actually thought you'd be more excited to see her, you know… cause she just came back mysteriously like that. You don't really seem all that excited."

"Yeah, there's a story behind that," Black spoke.

"A… story…" Kana said with confusion.

"Yeah, I'll explain it later though, I'm not in the mood for this tonight."

"I guess there is a lot to go over, this is a lot of info to take in…" Kana commented.

"I'd say," I added in.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

A constant beep rang throughout the silent pokecenter room. I sat on a chair that allowed me to look over Dante's withered body. It hurt so much to see him like this. The doctor said he'd pull through, but he'd need a long time to recover since he's a grass type and the poison did so much damage. Best case scenario, he'll be moving about within four days. If it wasn't for Alex, Dante would be long gone by now. I owed that human a lot, I owed Black a lot too, if it wasn't for him, Dante would be dead and I'd be all alone again.

In the corner of the room by the door stood that one grovyle. Apparently Zack tasked him with keeping an eye on me, until we could talk more. I didn't like him breathing over my shoulder like this, it made me feel uneasy. I don't know what he was expecting me to do though, I wasn't exactly much of a fighter, I'd probably lose in a straight up fight against the grovyle. The grovyle pretty much just leaned against the walls with his eyes closed, but I still couldn't help but feeling that he was still watching my every movement.

Instead of focusing on the grovyle, I directed my attention back to Dante. It was hard to look at him in this shape, he looked so withered, he looked like a plant that was left out during a drought in the middle of july. When he recovers, I hope things can go back to normal as soon as possible, then we can both return home, or maybe even find a new one. Yes, that sounded perfect, a fresh start, maybe a new region where no one will know what I've done, somewhere where I can have a fresh start… but is that what Dante would want? He loves it here in Kalos, and I honestly do as well, but I don't know what to do with all this guilt and resentment towards myself.

"Naomi," the grovyle called out to me, "Zack told me to bring you to him later tonight, so it's time. Your brother will be here in the morning. Do not worry though, we don't plan on doing anything to you, so far we plan on listening to your story," the grovyle spoke to me in his usual monotone voice.

"Sure," I replied as I gave one last glance at my brother and I then jumped off the chair I was on.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Four of us now roamed through Shalour city, Vince, Scarlet, and Merrick, and of course, myself. Luckily it was late at night, or we'd attract a lot of attention. A white espeon and umbreon are unheard of, so trainers would be attacking us left and right, not my idea of a good time. Although, I did like the change in scenery. I was very sick of being stuck out in the woods all day and night, it was nice to finally move around for a change, and try and forget that I have limited time left.

"We just have one order of business to take care of tomorrow, other than that, we should have a lot of free time, excluding a few hours a day to prep for our operation," Vincent told me.

"We need to meet with that charmander again, don't we?" I asked Vincent.

"Correct, Aiden the big mouthed charmander that's kinda funny in my opinion," Vincent said as we all continued to walk down the dark streets.

"Funny, how much time did you spend with that charmander?" Merrick butted in.

"I hardly conversed with him, I've been through most of his past, I had to know if he was the one to help us. Sadly for him, he fitted our needs better than I could have asked for. But he'll be free to live his own life soon, he just has to fulfill his primary objective, helping us apprehend Ryder."

"And don't you worry about him running to the police after he gets his trainer back?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I don't think that'll be a problem, I doubt he'll be around much longer after this is all over. He's the one I needed for a reason."

"Let's not talk of this tonight," Scarlet interrupted us, "Things will be intense once we start. I scouted the area, their is WPA members lurking around this city, one of them is Zack," Scarlet spoke, and Vincent quickly turned his attention towards the greninja.

"Zack?" I asked, knowing that that named held some significance.

Vincent turned back towards me, "Zack is the leader of the WPA, also… my father," Vincent spoke to me, and I felt this intel crawling under my skin within seconds.

"Your father, is the head of the WPA?" I questioned Vince.

"He's one of the leaders, and one of the two founders," Vincent answered.

"Then how does one with a father like yours end up where you are?"

"Hmmm, it's a long story. Started as a proposal I turned down many times, but after some life events, I came to some revelations, and I accepted the invitation to join Crimson Dawn, even though I knew what would come," Vincent answered.

"Why go along with it if you knew your family would die?" I questioned.

"That's a long story, perhaps another night," Vincent simply answered.

"You're always dodging around that question," I remarked.

"Anyways, as Scarlet suggested earlier, let's talk about something else, we'll have time to do this later, let's just enjoy the peace while it lasts."

* * *

**Point of View Gray, the following morning**

"I'm happy that the two of us can finally talk, things have been kinda hectic lately," my former leader spoke to me, as the two of us wandered around the streets of Shalour. "But, I do need to ask, how exactly did you end up where you are, no one even knows you're alive," Zack told me, as he watched for my response.

"It's a long story," I warned Zack, "And it's not exactly a happy one either."

"Well, I think it'd be good for you to tell me, after all, a lot of people will need to know of your survival," Zack responded.

"Alright," I said with a sigh, "I'll tell you everything then." For the next thirty minutes or so, I told Zack a detailed version of everything that has happened, similar to the way I told Flare my story. After I filled Zack in on my past struggles, the flareon looked at me with a melancholic look.

"I'm so sorry, it's really depressing knowing that good pokemon go through Hell's like that, it's disgusting knowing that it happens every day," Zack spoke.

"I'm alive though, and I don't intend on dying anytime soon," I responded to Zack.

"Well then, how exactly did you meet my son though?" Zack changed the topic, and looked at me with a curious look in his eyes, instead of the gloomy look from a moment ago.

"Ughhh, Alex my trainer, I believe he caught him one day. I wasn't actually around for it," I told Zack.

"Ah, I don't like the idea of my son being a humans pet, but if he's happy, I'll accept it. But, how do you and my son get along?" Zack questioned me, and the world around me grew dark as my mind went into a panicked state where every memory of me tormenting Black flashed through my head.

'No-no-no, why did you have to ask that! I'm going to have to have a long talk with Black about this,' I screamed within my mind as I tried to remain calm, "Black and I… umm we're mostly just… acquaintances, we've only had a few conversation," I told Zack as another thought ran through my mind, 'Oh Arceus, I am so screwed.'

"Heh, well that's good," Zack said with relief, "But why does everyone keep calling him Black, I don't understand what is up with that, I wanted to say something, but I never got a chance?"

"That's the name that Alex gave Ryder when he was caught, Black hated the name at first from what I could tell, but I guess it grew on him or something," I answered.

"Well it's kinda dumb, why would you name him the color of his fur?"

"Not a clue."

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

Life is complete shit sometimes… Some days you wake up and get thrown in rings to fight giant pokemon three times your size, just to win a human a cheap little ribbon I could have order off the internet for a dollar. Then, you're forced to go through a freaky ass cave full of freak mimes and rabid pokemon. Well, if it means anything, we did finally make our way to Shalour city. Not that it means much to me, other than being closer to my next meal.

Everyone was lying around slothishly in the hotel room. Erika didn't know the definition of rest, because she's going to throw us in another gym battle in two days… of course after we go through some intense training. To bad we can't do it like they did in the movies, you know, with an epic training montage.

Erika was getting some of her equipment ready before we went out and had a nice sweaty day of training, while she sits on her skinny ass and blurts commands at us. Well, I shouldn't be surprised, this was the world we lived in after all. David was one of the few humans I've seen that actually treated me as an equal, I mean I had my own bedroom, and a flat screen. Now, how many pokemon do you know with a flat screen, most humans don't even have one, why do I get one? Because David was awesome, and now I can't even eat out… Erika refuses to buy fattening food. She makes me eat healthy, and that includes veggies.

After a while, right around when Erika had her stuff ready, she decided to jump in the shower really quick before we headed out. Heh, the lady doesn't realize that I'm taking my first opportunity to get out of here and ditch training. I mean, she saw how bad ass I was at the last gym battle, the little tyrunt didn't stand a chance against my badassery. Now, I just need to distract my two fellow pokemon.

"Hey Juda?" I called out to the balbasaur in a feeble tone. The balbasaur looked over towards me, and saw me weakly grasping my stomach.

"What's up, are you alright?" the gullible fool asked me.

"Dude, my stomach is killing me, like soooo bad," I said as I placed a hand on him for support, "Be a bro and find me something to help out, I think Erika has something in her bag."

"Umm, sure," Juda said as he made his way towards Erika's bag.

"Too easy," I whispered as I quickly made my way towards the door. As I walked past the mienfoo that was meditating on the floor, she gave me a quick glance that was like a dagger. I cringed a bit, but I mostly ignored her. I knew she wouldn't make a big fuss out of things. She was pretty quiet, except when she was being a smart ass.

As Juda continued to look for the medicine, I quietly opened up the door and closed it behind me as I made my great escape. Afterwards, began the gauntlet down the hall where I ran like Hell before anyone noticed. Probably doesn't come off as a surprise that I made it outside just fine. Once in the clear, I began to carelessly walk down the streets of Shalour whistling a song I liked.

It wasn't until I made it halfway down the street that I felt an arm wrap around me. I let out a loud scream as I was lifted up and I was carried away at a ninja like speed. I was quickly dragged behind some buildings, before I was thrown against a dumpster that was behind the building.

"Ah, what the fu-" I began to say, before I looked up at the grenninja with a sword strapped on its back. "Who the Hell are you?" I questioned the greninja before me.

"Don't talk," she replied in a monotone voice.

"Lady, I don't know where you get off kidnapping me, but you're in for a-" I began to speak before the greninja withdrew her sword in a flash, and touched the tip of the metallic blade against my nose, and I let out a fearful meep in response.

"You do talk a lot, just as Vincent told me," the greninja spoke as she sheathed her blade.

'Like I told Black… horrible things happen when I talk to people… now people are kidnapping me off the streets in broad daylight. 'the Hell has this world come to?"

"Do you remember your mission, Aiden?" The grenija asked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the brick wall behind her.

"Ummm," I was all I managed to say as my heart raced, "Something about getting intel on Ryder," I answered.

"And how's that going?"

"Greaaa-bad…" I responded nervously. The greninja let out a sigh as she reached for her sword and looked towards me, "W-Wait!" I pleaded in fear, "I tried, but Ryder keeps shutting me out, the guy just doesn't like me at all," I answered truthfully.

"Then talk, tell me everything you know about him, likes, dislikes, fear, crushes, anything, I don't care, just tell me we didn't completely waste our time on you," the greninja spoke sharply…

"Well, ughhhh…" My train of thought began to shut down as the life or death questioned came up, "Hold on… I-" was all I managed to say, before the greninja planted her foot in my gut. Spit flew out of my mouth as I felt all the air leave my body, and I fell to the ground gasping to get some air.

"I don't have time for your stupidity, get on with it, before I frag you to Vincent and he extracts the info from your head."

"Okay," I groaned as I remained on my knees, " Ryder, the dude has a few friends he sticks around all the time. The fennekin Flare, ummm, I think the absol's name was Gray, he mostly used ice based attacks. A pikachu, I can't remember his name, but I don't think that's important. An eevee that is near useless, the kids like a ghost. There is also… Kana, a sweet jolteon that is really nice, kinda cute also. Then there is an umbreon, her name's Nia, she's also kinda cute-"

"I don't care about your crushes, unless you want to be neutered, I suggest you tell me something useful," the greninja threatened.

"Arceus please no," I begged as I got up and backed away from her, "Okay, I'll tell you what I know, but understand that I don't know everything."

"Then talk," the greninja ordered.

For the next thirty minutes or so, I told this ninja lady everything. I told her about everyones attacks, weaknesses, some things that annoyed Black and etcetera.

"Okay, that's everything I know, are we cool now," I asked the ninja.

"You provided good intel, for a moron," the water type insulted.

"Okay… thanks," I said nervously as I contemplated a serious question, "Hey, can I… ask you something?" I spoke nervously.

"Huh?" The ninja replied as if she didn't really seem interested.

"Well… Can I… Hold your sword, it's so badass, I've always wanted one, but David wouldn't let me, he said I'd kill someone or take my eye out," I said nervously. The greninja's left brow rose as she looked at me with a very bizarre look. Without a word, the greninja unsheathed her sword, and held it out towards me.

"Seriously?" I said in surprise.

"Just don't poke your eye out, it's not a toy," The greninja said.

"Wow, I thought you were one cold bi- ur I knew you were cool," I said with a nervous laugh as I grabbed the sword. I quickly felt the weight of the blade as I struggled to hold it up, but I felt so damn awesome holding this thing. I wonder what I could all cut in half with this thing?

I gave a few practice swings, and after a moment, I handed the blade back. "You know, you're not as smart as I thought," I pointed out to the ninja.

"And what makes you say that?" the greninja asked as she sheathed the blade.

"I could have just killed you, but luckily for you, I'm not that kinda guy," I answered.

"I don't need my sword to fight, it is merely a tool I can discard at any time. It'd be foolish just to rely on one tool, especially when I have my water attacks, along with my body. So no, you don't pose the slightest threat, even when armed," the greninja said in her usual dull voice that lacked any real emotion.

"Ouch," I replied to her automatically assuming I was weak, "You know, I managed to conquer the second gym, practically on my own too. There is a reason my whole team looks up to me," I told a white lie.

"The second gym?" The greninja said as her head cocked to the side.

"Yep," I said with a toothy grin that showed how proud I was.

"I've faced off against members that have fought the elite four. Your confidence is rather humorous though, Vincent was right, you are… amusing."

"ummm... Thanks…"

"But, there is one last thing we need from you, after this you can have your trainer back," the greninja spoke, and my eyes were instantly glued on her.

"What do you need?" I quickly asked.

"In two days, it will be the first night of the next full moon. This will be the night we test Ryder, we will see if he's ready for his true purpose," the greninja said as she looked at me with a serious look, "Your job will be to lure Ryder to us, we don't care how, but get him in a secluded area, and after that, you can be with your trainer again," the greninja told me.

"Wait, what's going to happen to Ryder then, you aren't going to hurt him, are you?"

"Ryder will soon face his destiny, if he's ready, perhaps all the pain will come to an end, but only if he's willing to accept fate."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Author Note: Well, things seem to be progressing towards something, but what? I'd like to thank genericgamer207 for editing this chapter. And I'd like to give another thank you to The Pokemon Melody, since she is being nice and helping me work on the older chapters so they can be as nice as the newer ones. We're actually getting close to having the first arc done (Chapters 1-16). Also, sorry if the story is bouncing between a lot of characters, their is just a lot of content to get out on the table, hopefully it isn't annoying anyone.

** Question: **Do you think Aiden will go through with helping Crimson?

**News regarding my other story that I said was being revamped: **As some of you may know, I wrote the story Last Guardian and decided I wanted to start it fresh, I am currently in the writing stage, so I'm putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard... I'm not one to usually say this, but if you got any ideas or stuff you'd like to say regarding the story, shoot me a PM, or leave it in a review. Anyhoo, I'm not sure when I will choose to release the first chapter, but it's getting close. Thanks.


	92. It's going to happen again

Hey guyz and galz. Hopefully everyone is enjoying everything so far, but before we get to this chapter I'd like to say something I forgot to say last chapter. Well, I'm sure a lot of you noticed the new movie that came to theaters known as 50 shades of Grey... Well, it has just come to my attention that one of the characters in that movie is Mr Grey... I'd like to state that I have no relation to that movie in any way. I'm 1Mr Gray not Mr Grey... So, I'm not related to that p**no movie XD. Just had to clear that up, sorry. Anyhoo, enjoy the chapter!

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 92: It's going to happen again**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was now pretty early in the morning. I had to force myself out of bed pretty early to take care of something important this morning. Today was the day that I was going to start my dark matter training with Nia. The sun was just now barely breaking the horizon, and my eyes were barely even able to stay open. You have no idea how much I missed being nocturnal. I silently followed behind Nia as she guided me through the forest that was near Shalour city. Not much was said between the two of us. Honestly, things were really awkward at the moment, you know, because she came back from the dead and stuff, but I was trying to get past that. Don't get me wrong though, I was happy she was alive, but this was still a lot even for me. I had to figure something out though to break this awkward silence, and I think I had just the perfect conversation starter.

"So, how's your brother?" I nervously asked.

Nia didn't bother looking back at me, but her ears rose up a bit from the question, "Dante is doing fine. The doctor said he'll have a bit to go for recovery though, due to the poison doing a lot of damage," she answered.

"I see, well I hope he gets well," I added as I picked up my pace until I was walking alongside her. "So, onto a different conversation. Do you think it is smart to be helping this Skull Face creep, I don't trust him one bit."

For the first time this morning, Nia looked at me, "No, I don't trust him at all either," Nia admitted, "But, I made a deal with him, and I can't see how this would backfire on either of us, so for now I'm going to go with this," Nia told me, before she took her eyes away from mine, and focused on the path ahead.

"Nia, I get that this Jack person destroyed your life, but is it really worth putting yourself through all of this just to get even, maybe it'd be-"

"Just mind your own business Black," Nia spoke sharply, "You have your own Vendetta as well, you should know how it feels to have your life taken from you."

I was about to reply, but she was right. I hated Vincent, I hated all those Crimson bastards, I'd give anything to see them pay for what they did to me. Nia was no different, this Jack person took her life, and she wanted to take his to get even. But I couldn't help but feel this Skull Face freak was messing with her, I highly doubt he'd give a crap about Nia's feelings, so why would he care about her revenge?

"Anyways, this looks like a good spot," Nia said, breaking my train of thought.

"Do you think so?" I asked as I looked at the small opening we found.

"Yeah, this'll be a good spot to start training, so let's not delay this any further."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

This whole mission so far was very anti climatic. I was expecting us to jump straight into apprehending Ryder, but apparently we have plenty of time to kill. So, here I am now, on a beach spending the day with trained killers like myself… The beach we found was pretty rocky, it wasn't the type of spot humans would go to hangout. The area was fairly vacant, but there was the occasional human or two that walked by, luckily none of which were trainers. I lied in the shade next to a tilted rock, this was the only spot that I didn't feel too exposed. The beach was like umbreon Hell in my opinion, especially the public beaches with all the humans and pokemon. I couldn't stand all the children that screamed and shouted either, it made me want to rip off my ears and scream till my vocal cords gave out. Perhaps I'm just a killjoy, but it infuriated me when I saw all those people acting so idiotic on a beach, like there isn't a care in the world.

Scarlet seemed to be the only pokemon that was brave enough to go into the water, the greninja lied on her back as she floated along the water. Vincent sat atop of the rock I was hiding under, while Merrick walked around the shore kicking up sand out of boredom. This was kind of a weird scene: a beach full of killers just lying around being lazy for a day. It kinda made me wonder what I didn't know about everyone I pass by: were they a thief, killer, drug dealer, rapist, or maybe just a normal person in society? You'd never really know, and it was kind of scary, unless you were a confident killer like me.

Hours passed by as we wasted away our day on the beach. Scarlet eventually returned to shore, and Merrick napped on the ground away from us. Scarlet decided to take a seat next to me, but she remained silent as she hummed a song to herself, one that was rather soothing, the greninja was a bit dull and monotonous most of the time, but she did have a nice voice when she did decide to use it.

"What're you humming?" I asked the frog.

Scarlet stopped humming as she glanced at me, "It's an old song my old mate and I used to like," Scarlet answered.

"Mate?" I questioned her, "I believe you actually mentioned that once, after we were attacked by that thing."

"I recall," Scarlet answered quietly.

"So, what exactly happened to this mate of yours, I don't recall you ever mentioning him before or after that," I cautiously asked, since this could be a dangerous question.

Scarlet let out a sigh as she stared off towards the ocean, "Despite your background Stark, I have nothing against you, but I don't want to tell you about that. It doesn't really concern you," Scarlet responded with a bit of agitation, but she was polite about it at the same time.

"Yeah, sorry," I replied to the greninja.

"It's fine, you're far from the first to do this, it's only natural that you're curious," Scarlet responded.

After the small little chat between Scarlet and me, I began to notice the fact that Vincent was really quiet. I couldn't quite see him too well, since he was on top of the rock that I was hiding under, but I could see his shadow overcasting on the sand in front of me.

"Hey Vince, you're a bit quiet today," I pointed out.

The espeon remained silent for a moment, "And you're a bit talkative today," the albino espeon spoke back. Seeing as we were on the beach, and I had a question that was relevant, I decided I was going to ask it.

"So, if you're albino, how can you stand being in the sun, especially on a beach?"

"Remember, Genesis helped me, they modified my pigmentation and skin so I could stand to be out in the sun, if not I'd be killing myself by being here right now," Vince answered.

"I see," I replied, while growing a bit bored of everyones inactivity.

"So… What about your brother, are you going to be okay confronting him?" I asked out of boredom and with a bit of interest.

"Who knows," Vincent spoke, "I probably won't be going against him head on, we won't be discussing tactics until the night before."

A bit of time passed until I got bored again, and I decided to go for a walk around the city. Vincent decided to stay behind with the others, he just warned me to be careful, and out of all things not to run into Ryder or his friends. I highly doubted something like that was likely. Shalour was such a big city, and it had numbers of people and pokemon to go with it. I honestly hated populated areas, but I was bored enough to roam around.

I walked through the streets full of humans and pokemon. All the humans seemed to move around me, each and every one of them had to stop to look at me, since my fur color was so unique. I heard a few comments about my fur whispered amongst the humans and pokemon watching me, but I paid no attention to them.

This walk through the city kinda took me back a bit, Naomi and I used to do things like this, but usually it was so late in the night no one was awake. For a matter of fact, we both walked through Shalour before, perhaps I was doing this for the nostalgia? After a bit of walking through the streets, I decided to go down some back streets into a shady area, the reasoning behind this was so I could get a bit of quiet in this city. Everything was much less noisy here, which was to my liking. I quietly walked along, until I heard arguing. I continued to walk down the street until I saw an alley between two buildings, inside was an old zorua and a servine that were surrounded by three pokemon: A pancham, an axew, and lastly, a pidgeotto.

"I said give us the bag, don't be a snot about it!" The pancham commanded with irritation.

"I said piss off!" the female servine snapped at the pokemon as she wore a backpack.

"Now now, why don't you all just walk along," the zorua said in a tranquil voice that sounded like he was in a very good mood.

"We're not asking again, give up the freaking bag!" the axew demanded.

"ughh, why can't all you thugs just get jobs or something," the zorua said as he shook his head, "How disappointing."

I continued to spectate the scene from down the alley, but I didn't have any intentions on getting involved, I couldn't care less about them two getting robbed.

"Lucy, do take care of them," the zorua said dismissively as he began to scratch his head with his paw.

"Alright," the servine chimed with a smirk, "So, which one of you wants to be hospitalized first?" the servine known as Lucy asked.

"Sean, Eric, take them down," the pidgeotto ordered as if he was the boss of this operation.

The zorua then glanced down the alley and noticed me spectating the scene, which caused me to cringe a bit.

"Hey you, why don't you stop standing there and help an old zorua and his friend?" the fox ordered me.

"Dammit, this is what I get for not minding my own business," I muttered as I made my way down the alley. "Can you three assholes just go your own way, I'm really not in the mood for this today," I spoke lazily at the three thugs.

"Da fuck, you don't just show up on a scene like this and act like you don't care!" the axew exclaimed in irritation.

"Just be quiet, you're taking up my time right now, so I suggest you run before I paint the walls with your blood," I spoke in a cold blooded voice as dark matter began to surround my body, only for scare factor though, I didn't really plan on killing them.

"Drop him boys!" the pideotto commanded, but I had other plans. I quickly dashed past the axew and the pancham, and I ran straight for the pidgeotto, the bird tried to take flight, but I slammed my skull into the birds gut. The bird let out a loud cry as all the air left his body and he hit the ground. I looked back just in time to see the two other pokemon getting strangled by the servine's vines.

"Tfff, all talk, no bite," the servine scoffed as she threw the two pokemon on the ground. The axew and pacham raced to their feet and ran towards their injured boss who was writhing in pain on the ground.

"I'll be taking my leave now," I spoke as I began walking back from where I came. I gave a quick glance back and I saw that the three thugs were now escaping.

"Hold on a minute," the old zorua called from behind me.

I looked back at him, but I didn't bother wasting my words on someone who was going to die from old age soon.

"A white umbreon, your kind isn't very common," spoke the zorua with amusement.

"I'm leaving," I spat out as I tried to ignore the old fox.

"I suggest you listen to Rhys, you don't want to make an enemy out of him," Lucy called out to me.

I turned around and shot her a death glare, "And why do I care?"

"Oh Lucy, leave the poor thing alone, I may be old, but he'll be gone long before me," the zorua said behind my back.

"What did you just say?" I snapped as my glare shot towards the zorua.

"Ahh, so you are the infamous Stark," the zorua chimed with a smirk.

"Who the Hell are you?"

"My name is Rhys, and I'm a member of Genesis, just like you," spoke the zorua, "The Servine behind me is Lucy, she's also a member, and my assistant."

"And what makes you so special that you deserve a body guard?"

"I'm getting old, and I'm also a very, very special pokemon," the zorua spoke as he got closer to my face.

"Yeah…" I said as I pushed his face away from mine with my paw, "Keep telling yourself that."

"No need to be so snide, we're both a part of the same organization, so we can help each other," the zorua said.

"First off, I hate Genesis with a passion, they're merely using me as a tool," I snapped at the zorua, "But what kind of help?"

The zorua gave me a smug smile, "I'm looking for a group of pokemon, they all need to be silenced, and I also need to capture a pesky umbreon."

"Ryder?"

"Bingo," the zorua said as his smirk widened.

"Why do you want him, isn't he Crimson's deal?"

"That umbreon is worth a lot of money, someone like him would sell for millions, or a huge profit could be made off him if we study him. Plus it's best that Crimson doesn't get him, it'd be the end of us all," the zorua told me.

"So you know of Crimson's plan?" I said with surprise.

"I do," the zorua said with a nod, "I'm an old friend of Mandus, or was at one point."

"You actually know that lucario?" I said with even more surprise.

"I do, Mandus and I go long ways back, we used to be very fond of each other."

"So wait, what's his deal then, why is he the way he is, that lucario has crazy power, it's not normal?"

Before I got a response the zorua let out a chuckle, "Mandus lived a life of tragedy, he is who he is now due to having no heart left in him, he's just a shell of a lucario wanting revenge against the world for taking from him," the zorua told me.

"What exactly happened to him?" I asked as I grew more interested.

"That's a story for another day, I'm sure you have places to be as well, don't you?"

"Not quite at the moment, but I guess I'll be going then, just one thing though, how did you know me?"

"We know each other, you just don't remember me in this form," the zorua spoke cryptically as his face became more serious.

"But, I do wish to know where Ryder is?"

"I have no idea, I'll be confronting him on the first night of the full moon," I replied.

"I see, well I'll find him on my own then, take care, white umbreon," the zorua said as his smile returned and he waved his paw at me.

"Yeah-sure," I said as I turned tail and departed from the two.

'Mandus wants revenge against the world, that's interesting,' I thought to myself as I left the alley.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I panted hard from exhaustion as the dark matter around my paw faded. My training has been going on for some time now, and I was pretty exhausted at this point.

"Alright, that should conclude today, good job," Nia said with approval, "You've still got a long way to go though, but you're improving."

"Thanks," I said in between my pants, "I-I need a moment," I said as I fell over on my side from exhaustion.

At the moment I was so tired that the dirty ground felt like a bed to me. Nia just giggled silently as she walked to me and stood over me as I lied on the dirt.

"You going to be alright, I know this stuff can be tiring to learn?" Nia asked with concern.

"Yeah, I just need a break before I go train with Alex later today," I spoke as I finally caught my breath.

"You're going to train even more today?" Nia said in surprise.

"Yeah, we got to beat the third gym after all," I said with a toothy grin.

"Ugh, the little journey you're on sounds so annoying, I'd hate to be a part of it," Nia grimaced.

"Actually, I hated it so much at first, but it's actually fun at times," I told her.

"I see," Nia said with very little interest on the topic.

"So, what are you going to do once all of this is over?"

Nia looked at me with surprise, "Hmmm, I don't know, I kinda want to try pursuing my dream again," Nia said with a glint in her eyes.

"Which is?" I asked with amusement.

"Research. after I had my procedure, I was offered a job at this one place, but I had to postpone it so I could deal with this," Nia said with a bit of excitement in her voice.

"That's cool, I think that'd suit you well."

"Really? Well, I am a very book smart after all," Nia said with a confident smirk, "What about you, what will you do once this all ends?"

"My journey, or the Skull Face thing?"

"Well, both I guess."

I had to actually take a moment to ponder this question, since I've hardly thought of it before, "Hmm, I don't know, maybe Alex will keep me around, maybe he'll set me free again, but no matter what I do, I want to find somewhere I can be happy and live without conflict," I answered truthfully. Yes, living a carefree life would make me so happy, it just seems like too much to ask for.

"That sounds so simple," Nia said as she looked down at me, "But don't you ever want to do more in life, don't you just hate standing still?"

"What could I possibly do in life? I'm just an umbreon with a load of problems."

"Well for one you don't limit yourself by thinking you can't do anything," Nia began to say, "That's what I always hated about where I grew up, all the pokemon in the forest I lived in never wanted to grow, it always confused me why the pokemon society never grew like humans did, we never culturally evolved or modernized our society in any way."

"I never noticed that," I replied.

"Typical wild pokemon," Naomi teased as she sat down next to me, which I was still lying down in exhaustion.

"Nia, you're wild right now," I protested I tried to get up, but Nia held me down with her paw.

"Yeah, and I also have more intelligence than the average human," Nia retorted with a smug smirk, "And would you mind stop calling me that, my real name is Naomi."

"Then maybe you should have told me that from the start," I said, "Anyways, I need to get going, I have somewhere to be," I told Nia-Naomi as I pried myself off the ground.

"Oh, that's too bad," Naomi said with a bit of disappointment.

"Oh, well I can probably see you later if you want, maybe after my training," I offered.

"Hmmm, sure, that'll probably give me plenty of time to visit my brother," Naomi said.

"Well, I'll meet you outside my hotel around when the sun is going down, is that cool?"

"Sure," Naomi said with a nod, "See ya then."

Afterwards I departed from Naomi and I headed back to the hotel to meet Alex and everyone for our training session. The training was rather boring, we did a trainer battle with some random fat kid and we demolished his pokemon. After a bit of training with Alex, we called it a day. Then, Flare, Kana and myself went to do our own personal training session. Kana mostly watched as Flare and I sparred against each other, sadly I was still losing these fights… Afterwards, the three of us headed back towards the hotel, which soon it would be sundown.

"Ahh man I'm so freaking tired," I whined as I lied collapsed on a couch in the hotel room, which Gray happened not to be occupying at the time.

"Well, that's what you get for doing two training sessions in a row," Hesh opened his mouth, "But I'm sure it'll all be worth it one day you overachiever."

"Three actually," I corrected him.

"Three? When?" Hesh questioned me.

"I did some training early this morning with Naomi, she's helping me to-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're still hanging around her?" Hesh said with annoyance as he crossed his arms and looked at me with irritation.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Oh nothing really, other than the fact that she's a dangerous pokemon to be around," Hesh stated.

"Yeah well, I don't care," I replied back, not really caring about his opinion.

"Listen Blacky, a lot of us are really on edge about this chick, she's dangerous," Hesh continued on.

"Yeah-yeah, that's nice," I said as I jumped off the couch and looked at the window, it looked about time to get going.

"Hey, where are you going now?" Hesh said with irritation.

"Out," I replied as I managed to get the door open.

"What are you doing?" Kana questioned me before I exited the hotel.

"Out to hang with Naomi," I said as I ignored Hesh, which I hoped this pissed him off.

"Booo, booo Naomi!" Hesh said as he gave me a thumbs down.

"Well, have fun," Kana said as she waved me off.

"See ya Kana, and go jump out a window Hesh."

**Point of View Naomi**

I waited patiently outside the hotel Black was staying at, the sun was now setting, so he should have been out here by now. But then, as if on cue, Black walked out of the door.

"Hey!" Black said as he made his way towards me.

"You ready?" I asked the shiny umbreon.

"Uh huh," he said with a nod.

The two of us began walking in a random direction as we began to talk about what happened while we were apart. I told Black about how my brother was doing at the moment, while he told me about his day of extreme training, which seemed like a lot to me. Soon the sun was down, and a blanket of darkness covered the sky. The only beacon of light in the sky was the moon that was nearing completion. Black and I walked down the streets, the rings on our bodies were glowing with energy, the darkness around us was illuminated with gold and blue colors that mixed together. The two of us felt very lively, like nothing could stop us, we were full of so much energy.

"So, what's there to do around this city?" Black asked me.

"Mmmm, I don't know, there is the beach, umm dinner, or just do whatever," I told him, unsure on which would be best.

"Dinner sounds great, I haven't eaten practically all day," Black said with a smirk.

"Sure, I know a great place," I said with a destination in mind.

"Hey Naomi," Black said to get my attention, "I have a question."

"What's that?" I asked with curiosity.

"Well, I think all of my friends are unsure about you right now, and I think it'd be best if you get as many people on your side as possible, since my Dad is still unsure about you," Black began to tell me as he looked a bit nervous, which was kinda cute in a way, "Well, tomorrow I was going to ask everyone to do something fun or something like that, maybe you'd like to come with us?"

"What's so special about tomorrow?" I questioned him.

"Well," I Black said quietly as if he was a bit sad, "Tomorrow is my Birthday actually, usually I'd be spending it with my family, but now my friends are my family, so I figured we could all do something. I haven't told anyone though, since it seems kinda awkward to ask something like that," Black said as he wore a pained look, obviously a special event like that would remind him of his family.

"How old will you be?" I asked him.

"The big Eighteen," Black responded with a forced smile.

"Ahh lame," I teased, "I'm nineteen, so I don't want to hang with someone like you," I teased as I jokingly looked away in a smug fashion.

"Oh shut up," Black said jokingly.

"But seriously though, I'd be interested in doing something tomorrow," I said with a smirk as I jokingly punched Black in the shoulder.

"You think they'd let me come?" A separate voice said. Black and I both turned to see a servine and a zorua watching us. The zorua appeared to be entering the older stage of his life, since his fur appeared to be graying, and his voice didn't exactly sound that young either. The servine looked pretty young compared to the old zorua, she she was around our age, if not a few years ahead of us.

**Point of View Black**

"Who are you?" Naomi questioned the weird zorua. Although, something about this zorua was very familiar, but I couldn't quite remember him.

"Wait a minute!" I said with astonishment as I walked towards the zorua in a hurry, "I… I remember you."

"You do?" Naomi said in confusion as she looked at me with an odd look.

"You're that zorua that saved me from freezing to death in a blizzard," I said.

"Ahh, so you do remember me," The zorua said with a smile.

"I never did get a chance to thank you for that day."

"Yeah, well I have my regrets as well," the zorua said as his smile turned to a frown, "I didn't realize who I was saving."

"Wait, what's that supposed to-" I began to say, before a vine lashed out at me. The vine slashed against my skin and left a stinging pain.

"What the Hell?!" I snapped as I ran back to a safe distance.

"Lucy, I told you I would take care of him," the zorua spoke to his comrade.

"Sir, I'm supposed-"

"No," the zorua's voice boomed, "This is my mistake."

"What the Hell do you want from me!?" I yelled at the two as I felt blood dripping down my side, which also managed to set my fur on edge from my phobia.

"Don't resist, child," the zorua spoke as he jumped into the air, with a crimson energy pulsing around his paw. The fox slammed his paw against the ground, which the paw then released the energy in a shockwave that blasted Naomi and me back. A strong drowsiness consumed me as everything began to go dark.

I began to climb back up to my feet, only to meet eyes with the zorua. "If you were anything other than a ghost or dark type, you would have been in a deep slumber by now," spoke the zorua.

"What the Hell is wrong with you!" I snapped as I shook off the grogginess.

"I'm doing this to protect this world from Mandus," the told me.

"Mandus," I said as I remembered that name that was mentioned by the psychotic quilava, "Who the Hell is this Mandus person, why is he after me!"

"You're not normal child, you know that, Mandus knows this," the zorua spoke.

"I knew it," I whispered to myself.

"Black," Naomi grunted as she began to pull herself up, "What is he talking about?"

"I see you keep everyone in the dark, Black," the zorua said as he shook his head. "Now, come with me peacefully and I will keep you from being captured, but if you resist, then your death can't be helped, I think a few samples would do anyways," the zorua said with a smile.

"Sir, perhaps I can help?" the servine asked.

"Sit down and relax Lucy, it's not everyday you get to see me fight." The servine let out a scowl as she moved back a bit.

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Yeah-Yeah, I heard ya," the zorua grimaced, before he turned towards us again, "Now, let's do this," the zorua said with a sneer.

"No, that's far enough," A voice boomed from above. All of our glances shifted upward atop of a shop to see a croagunk, the same one that attacked Naomi earlier.

"Who are you?" the zorua said as his head cocked to the side, and he watched the croagunk fall to the ground. The croagunk gave a gesture with his hand and even more pokemon emerged from the darkness of the night. About three pokemon in all joined the scene as they surrounded the zorua and servine. I saw a vulpix, a bayleef and a dewott move in, as the croagunk came to my side.

"You alright kid?" the croagunk questioned.

"Excuse me, I asked you a question," the zorua piped up as the three pokemon kept a close eye on him.

"I don't need to give you my name, so back off," the croagunk said with annoyance.

"Heh, how annoying, you don't realize who you're messing with," the zorua said with his smile, "Let me show you that I'm not just some old fox."

A crimson aura surrounded the fox's paws again. The three pokemon that surrounded him got ready to attack, but the zorua slammed his paws into the ground faster, and the crimson energy blew them all back. The croagunk's eyes widened as he saw all of his team mates fall into a deep slumber.

"Eww, it got quiet all of a sudden," the fox spoke as he walked over the unconscious bodies.

"Black, take Naomi and get out of here," the croagunk instructed me.

"You can't be serious?"

"I am, now get going," the croagunk yelled.

"Black, come on," Naomi said as she bit down on my ear and began to pull me.

"Lucy, get them, I'll deal with the croagunk, just give me a minute," Rhys said as he sneered.

"Got it," Lucy said as she began to dash towards us. Naomi gave me a stronger tug before she let go and I followed behind her.

Naomi and I both ran quickly, we turned around every corner possible. There wasn't one human or pokemon in sight to help either. My heart pounded in my chest as I felt my exhaustion catching up to me, the one day I decide to be an overachiever was the worse.

I continued to run until I felt something wrap around my back hind leg, and I got pulled to the ground as something pulled me back. Naomi looked back just in time to see me resisting.

"Naomi, help!" I yelled fearfully as I felt the servine's other vine wrap around me and restricted all of my limbs from moving freely.

"I don't think so!" the servine said as she shot a razor leaf at Naomi. Naomi closed her eyes as the leafs sliced her up.

"Hold tight Black," Naomi said as she dashed at the servine. I felt the vine around my leg slither off. The vine then shot for Naomi as it wrapped around her neck. I could hear the vine constricting around Naomi's neck as she vine threw Naomi around. Naomi's eyes grew wide as her eyes filled up with terror.

"I wonder if I can break your neck," The servine said in a bored voice. "What do you think Black, should I try?"

"Let her go!" I screamed at the servine as I tried to break free, but the vines constricted around me, which brought me pain. "Stop!" I managed to scream out as I felt my bones getting crushed.

"I'll let her go once I finish up," the servine responded as she sat down and yawned. "You really should have stayed away from her if you like her, you knew Genesis was after you, yet you continued to pretend it wasn't happening. You may be cute for an umbreon, but you're selfish, a very unattractive trait I don't like in men," the servine said wryly.

"Shut up, you can't just kill her like this!" I screamed at the top of my voice as a dark energy exploded from my body, which ate the vines right off of me.

"Fuck!" the servine screamed as what was left of her vine retracted. Her vine also released Naomi who dropped unconscious.

"You're going to pay for this," I said venomously as dark matter pulsed around my body. I quickly leaped towards the servine, her vine shot upward and grabbed onto the side of a building and pulled herself up.

"You're starting to piss me off. I knew you were going to be a pain," spoke the servine as she used her damaged vine to grip the building, while her other vine went for me a wavy pattern. I tried to use dark matter, but I couldn't quite get the attack to work like before, so instead I dodged the vine.

"Stand still!" the servine yelled in anger as she continued to try and get me, but I eluded the attacks. I then responded with a shadow ball. The servine leapt off the wall and used her damaged vine to pull her towards the top of a lamp post. The good vine then managed to catch me off guard. I felt the vine coil around my neck a few time, until it tightened enough to crush my neck.

"You're dead," the servine said as she jumped off the lamp post, but she had her vine travelling over the lamp, so she then used it to pull me upwards. I tried to let out a scream, but nothing would escape my mouth.

"Should have just cooperated, I don't find joy in killing others, ya know," the servine talked to me as I felt myself blacking out. Then suddenly a blue blur flashed above me, and the vine was sliced.

I hit the concrete ground with a loud thud, and I instantly began breathing in sweet air. I looked up to see a greninja walking towards the servine, a greninja with a sword mounted on her back.

"I'm getting tired of all these-" the servine began to speak, before the greninja threw a water shuriken. The water shuriken slashed the servine's leg and she fell to the ground as she whipped her good vine at the ninja.

In a flash I saw the vine get hacked off by the greninja's sword. The servine let out a loud scream as the ninja walked towards her.

"Wait, you don't have to do this," The servine pleaded as tears began to stream down her eyes while she trembled. The greninja held her sword against the servine's cheek, slightly cutting her flesh.

"You'd just come after him again," the female greninja spoke as she rose her blade and swung it downward. The servine let out a scream before the greninja's blade stopped near her throat. The servine just sat there trembling uncontrollably as she sobbed.

"Ryder," the greninja spoke to me. I quickly jumped up to my feet as I realized she knew my real name.

"Who are you?" I asked as my legs shaked. If this greninja came after me I was dead.

"Get out of here," she spoke, before she pushed a pressure point on the servines neck and the grass type passed out within a second.

"You're not going anywhere!" the zorua from before shouted out at the greninja as he ran towards her in a flash. The ninja quickly withdrew her sword just in time to swing it at the zorua, but the fox managed to maneuver around the attack in mid air.

"Put her down," The fox growled.

"I don't think so," the greninja spoke as she jumped back and ran up the wall of a building until she was in a safe spot.

"You're asking for me to kill every last one of you Crimson Dawn bastards," the zorua spoke sharply as he growled.

"Mandus will be happy to know you're around, Rhys," the greninja spoke as she sheathed her sword again.

"Don't you think for a moment I don't have the power to kill every last one of you, I didn't come here alone either, I have enough manpower to kill all of you ten times over," the zorua threatened.

"Your threats don't intimidate me," the ninja spoke as she held out the servine to taunt the zorua, "Why don't you try and claim her back," the greninja said.

"You better run fast greninja," the zorua spoke before a pink light flashed and his form shape shifted into an identical greninja. The imposter then ran up the wall after the real greninja.

"You wait Black, I'll be back for you soon," The zorua spoke as he chased after the other until he was out of sight.

After the two left, I was left with silence, which was very unsettling to me. After I took a moment to get ahold of myself, I turned to Naomi and ran towards her. I quickly lowered down and placed my ear against her chest, luckily I could hear a beat, so she wasn't strangled to death.

"Thank Arceus," I said as I quickly got her onto my back by burying my head below her and rolling her onto my back. I didn't waste a single second on retreating back to the hotel. I ran as fast as I could. I wasn't even concerned with what happened to the croagunk, right now I only cared about us.

I rushed my way through the hotel until I finally made my way up to the room our team was staying in. Once in front of the door I bashed my skull into the door, and then began scratching at the door. It took a moment, but Alex finally opened the door.

"Jeez, Black calm dow-" Alex began to say before he stopped mid sentence, "Oh what now?!" he exclaimed as he saw Naomi's unconscious body. Alex quickly picked her up off of me and took her inside. I followed in behind and pushed the door shut with my head.

"Black, what happened?" Flare questioned me as he ran up to me along with Kana.

"It's happening again," I said anxiously as I walked past the two of them, "I need to leave, I can't stay here anymore," I said in a panic.

"Wait, who attacked you?" Gray then butted in as he jumped off the couch.

"It was Crimson Dawn and Genesis, they're both here now," I said as I continued to panic, "The only reason we got away was because they started fighting each other, but they're going to come for us, I know it."

"Calm down Black," Gray told me.

"How the Hell can I calm down when I have two groups trying to kill all of us, we need to leave, now."

"You're forgetting about WPA, I know them all personally, and your father is the leader, they will help you, I have no doubt," Gray reasoned with me.

"Do you really think they could help us?" Kana asked Gray.

"Of course, they're a force that shouldn't be trifled with," Gray said with confidence.

Hesh then finally decided to put his input in, "Great, I knew something bad like this would happen eventually. But Gray is right, I think these WPA guys could be of help."

"Then we should seek them out when the sun comes up," Gray said.

"Agreed," Flare added, "I don't think running will solve any of our problems."

Despite everyone being optimistic, I couldn't help but get a bad premonition, I couldn't just put my faith on luck anymore, our luck has to run out sooner or later, but for now I'd trust my friends judgement.

"Alright," I said with a weak nod.

"Okay, when dawn comes I'll set out to find your father," Gray told me, "I also suggest that we take shifts keeping watch, or I can do the whole night," Gray offered.

"I can help to, but I want WPA to take Ebony somewhere safe," Kana said as she glanced at the eevee that was still silent.

"Wait, why?" Ebony said in confusion.

"Cuz, this is a dangerous thing, and I don't want you to get hurt, you're just a child."

"But-"

"No buts," Kana interrupted, "I'm sure they'll be able to work something out for all of us, but you take top priority in my opinion."

After about an hour long discussion, Naomi finally decided to wake up. Alex wasn't really able to do much for her, other than put an ice pack on her neck to reduce some swelling that formed. I also got a very long lecture about getting into trouble, which was about as fun as you'd imagine. Naomi winced in pain as she came back to reality, while I smiled because I was so happy to see she was doing okay.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I whispered to Naomi so I wouldn't startle her.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hotel I'm staying at, don't worry, you're safe here," I reassured her.

"What happened to that zorua and servine?"

"A greninja kidnapped the servine and managed to lure the zorua away," I answered.

"Uhhh, I missed a lot, didn't I?" Naomi said as she got up on all fours.

"Yeah, sadly I think they'll be back for more."

"Oh look at the time Black," Naomi said excitedly. I looked up at a clock that was on the microwave to see that the time was 12:04 AM. "Happy birthday," Naomi said with a smile.

"No, not a happy birthday," I said with a frown.

"Wait it's your birthday?!" Hesh said in surprise, which caught everyone's attention.

"Yeah…" I replied with annoyance, since I was no longer in the mood to do anything to celebrate.

"Wow, well I wish you a happy birthday on this wonderfully shitty night."

"Thanks…" I muttered.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** So, this is a chapter I had to plan carefully for, since in the chapter it isn't just Black's B-day, it's also The Black Dawn's birthday today. That's right my story is one year's old now... Bring presents, preferably cash... Just kidding, unless you want to be cool, I won't stop ya ^.^ Anyhoo, if some of you remember me asking about theories on pokemon aging, this was why, so yet a third thank you to all those people I contacted about that (You know who you are).

And oh no, my headphones stopped working with my computer D: (I used Turtle beach x32) I need my headphones for writing XD Oh well... I needed to stop listening to this one song anyways, from a TV show I love and I ever since it got released I have been listening to it non stop while writing lol Some of you may know the feeling.

Special thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter under short notice, it took him a bit of work to get this done on time for the Black Dawn one year anniversary.


	93. If things get bad I'll have your back

**Guest review response**

**Guest:** Thank you. And actually, Black Dawn isn't that close to over. It'll probably be around half way after this arc, but my chapter have been getting longer as well. So, I really can't say how long it'll take until this story is over. But, I'm proud that I came this far.

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 93: if things get bad I'll have your back**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

Silence filled the inside of the hotel room I was stuck in for the night. Moonlight peaked through the windows of the room, allowing the rings on Black's and my bodies to faintly glow. I let out a groggy yawn from the floor as I sat up, I have been in and out of sleeping all night. I felt a bit uneasy with what was going on. I looked around the room as I saw everyone in a deep sleep, eventually my eyes found a clock on the night-stand, which read the time as 3:24 AM. I let out another yawn as I felt my eyes growing heavy, I began to lie back down, until I glanced at Black and noticed that his eyes were open. I silently stood up again as I walked towards the shiny umbreon.

"Black, you're still awake?" I whispered silently to the umbreon. He remained silent for a moment as if he was still asleep, but I could see his crimson eyes, so I knew he was awake. "Hey?" I whispered gently as I gave him a small nudge on the arm.

Black inhaled a sudden breath as he flinched back onto his side. His eyes were wide with fear for a moment, until they transitioned into a hollow look that made him look sad.

"Hey, are you alright, you don't look so good?" I asked him as I sat down next to him. Black sat up as well, but he stared blankly at the wall, which really made him look like a depressed wreck.

"Yeah," Black mumbled out after a bit of time.

"You sure? You look really down," I pointed out as I scooted closer to him so he could hear me better, since I had to be quiet.

"I just can't sleep knowing that they're after us again," Black replied as his ears lowered a bit along with his head.

"We'll be fine. When morning comes we'll get help from WPA," I reassured him.

"You don't know that. I doubt they can protect us from Genesis. They're a lot stronger than WPA, and then there is Crimson on top of that."

"Hey, we'll get by one way or another. Besides, if things get bad, I'll have your back, I promise," I told Black, which he then rose his head a bit as he looked at me.

"I don't want you to get hurt for me though," Black told me.

"It's fine. I may not be the best fighter, but no one can outsmart me, not Genesis nor Crimson. They may both have more numbers this time, but so do we, and this time we know they are coming," I said as a confident smirk formed on my face.

"You really think that?"

"No," I said as I nodded my head once, "I know that."

Black just sat there staring at me for a moment, "Thanks," Black said in a voice that wasn't as weighed down by depression.

"Alright, you need to get some sleep, today is going to be long, so you'll need energy," I told Black as I placed my paw on his back and guided him towards the ground, so he could rest. Black now lied on his side as he began to drift off into a sleep, I could tell he was a lot more relaxed now. "Just remember, if you ever need someone, I'm here for you," I gently whispered to Black as I lied down next to his and rested my head on him as a pillow.

* * *

**Third person point of View**

It has been hours since Scarlet escaped the zorua. In the grasp of her hand was the servine, who was still unconscious. Scarlet made her way through a cave that was located on the mountains near Shalour. Small holes on the roof of the cave allowed moonlight to enter, which gave the ninja just enough light to navigate. After a few minutes of walking, Scarlet came into a more opened up corridor that was illuminated by a lantern. Sitting on a rock in the darkness was a lucario with a cloak.

"Scarlet, I presume you didn't come here just to visit?" Mandus asked the greninja.

"Genesis is making a move for Ryder as we speak. I alerted the others to stay close to him."

"I see, who's that in your hand though?" the lucario asked.

"A friend of Rhys," Scarlet bluntly said.

The lucario's eyes widened before he jumped off the rock he was on, "Rhys is in Shalour?" the lucario asked in a tense manner.

"He is, I could have fought him, but I needed to lure him away from Ryder. I managed to abduct this Servine in the process who Rhys seems to care for, although I don't understand the relationship," Scarlet told Mandus as she threw the servine on the rocky ground. The servine let out a groan of pain, but she didn't awaken.

"She's yours to do with as you please," Scarlet said as she began to exit the cave, before she stopped, "You will be coming out to hunt with us later tonight, won't you?"

"I'll be heading out alone, everyone else can pursue Ryder, I'll keep our WPA friends some company," Mandus replied as he looked down at the servine, "Just give me a day with this servine, she'll be begging me to talk by the time I'm done with her," Mandus said as he stared at the servine with a cold glare.

"Do what you have to do, Mandus," Scarlet spoke as she departed from Mandus's presence.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

My eyes slowly opened up as a beam of sunlight quickly caused my eyes to snap shut again. Right now I felt so comfy, I didn't want to get up, I just needed an hour more at least. Something warm was resting against me as well, but in no way did I feel bothered. My ears picked up the sound of whispering around me, I tried to ignore it, but I soon found myself unable to sleep because of it. My eyes opened up to see the blurry outline of Hesh snickering and Kana looking down at me with Ebony by her side. The blurry vision faded as I tried to get up, but something was on me. I turned my head to see Naomi's head resting on my side as she gently breathed in a steady rhythm.

"So, I thought there wasn't something between the two of you?" Hesh said with a small chuckle.

"Oh shut it you filthy, oversized rodent!" I snapped as I carefully got up, so Naomi's head wouldn't smack against the ground.

"Hesh, you don't need to be so immature about it," Kana criticized the rat.

"And what about you, you were staring at them with me?" Hesh defended as he pointed at the jolteon.

"Well sorry, I just thought they looked cute like that," Kana said, which just flat out sounded weird to hear.

"Wait Kana, it's not like that," I said defensively.

"Then what is it?" Hesh asked with a mischievous smirk growing on his face.

A dissatisfied grunt came from Naomi's direction. "Do I really have to wake up to this?!" Naomi scowled with anger as she rose up off the ground like she was about to slaughter us.

"Whoa," Hesh said nervously as he stepped back behind Kana for a shield. "Did you see that! She like turned into that creepy lady from the exorcism for a moment," Hesh said as he pretended to be scared.

"How am I anything like the lady from the exorcism?" Naomi responded with an irritated look.

"Well, your voice got all scary and stuff, and you look like her to," Hesh said, thinking he was funny.

"That's it I'm going to kill you, and then make Kana zap you back to life just so I can kill you again!" Naomi yelled as she jumped towards the rat that was hiding behind Kana. Kana moved out of the way in a flash before Naomi tackled the pikachu to the ground.

"Uncle, uncle!" Hesh yelled as he banged his hand against the ground while Naomi repeatedly smacked him across the face. Suddenly Alex walked out of the bathroom with wet hair and quickly grabbed Naomi off of Hesh. Alex repositioned the umbreon so she was looking him in the eyes.

"Hey! I don't mind if you stay here, but you're not going to start a brawl. I seriously can not take getting banned from another place," Alex warned Naomi. "Are we clear?"

"Nope," Naomi replied jokingly.

"Alright, good," Alex said, not realizing what she really said. Alex sat Naomi back down on the floor, right in front of Hesh. "Now, I think you two can apologize for whatever reason you were fighting. Hesh and Naomi both looked at each other with a strange look.

"We're going to hate each other either way, right?" Naomi asked Hesh.

"Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way," Hesh said dramatically as he hugged Naomi, and Naomi returned the hug. All of us just stared at the two in confusion as they almost looked like friends for a second.

"Good, glad this worked out," Alex said as he turned his back to do something else.

"Alright, his back is turned, let's do this," Hesh spoke as the two tried throwing each other to the ground in a vicious fight.

**After Five minutes of fighting and Alex tearing the two apart…**

"We'll settle this another day," Hesh spoke as he covered his bleeding nose with a tissue.

"Just you try again. I dare you!" Naomi snapped as she stood there, unscathed by the fight, excluding a few minor scratches.

"Guys," Gray interrupted the two, "I think it's time we depart, we need to seek out the WPA before nightfall. I doubt we will be attacked during the day as long as we stay out of shady areas," Gray told us.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that during our little brawl," Hesh said as he continued to plug his nose.

"Wait, I'm going to go check my brother in the pokecenter. I need to make sure he is okay," Naomi told everyone.

"That's fine," Gray said, "How about we all meet at the pokecenter that Naomi's brother is at around five PM," Gray said.

"Wait, are you implying we split up?" Flare asked.

"Yes," Gray said with a nod, "WPA doesn't exactly have a designated base, so we'll have to split up to find a member. Hesh you'll come with me. I'd prefer if Ebony goes with Naomi along with Flare who will provide backup if anything happens, since Kana did speak about keeping Ebony safe. Lastly, Kana and Black, you two stick together and look for WPA on your own. Just remember to meet at the pokecenter at five PM," Gray told all of us.

"And why do you call the shots?" Hesh questioned.

"Because I'm not the one starting fights with women over stupid things," Gray answered.

"Ouch," Hesh replied with a frown.

* * *

**Third Person Point of View**

Mandus patiently watched the servine that he had tied up against a rock. The servine's eyes rolled back and forth until her red eyes shot open. The grass type began to breath anxiously as she looked around in every direction as she tried to break free.

"So, you're finally awake," Mandus spoke as he knelt down to the servine's eye level. The servine let out a cry as she tried to use her vines, but all she felt was a raw pain where her vines would usually be.

"Your vines were clipped down to nothing, there is no escaping me," Mandus spoke as his eyes were deadpanned on the defenceless grass type.

"Please, I was just doing what I was-"

"Silence," Mandus snapped, before he punched the servine in the gut, forcing all the air out of her body. The servine gasped for air as she fought off the urge to cry.

"Look at me," Mandus spoke sharply, but the servine continued to look downward as she gasped for air. "Look at me when I'm talking to you," Mandus's voice boomed as he grabbed the servine by the head and forced her to look into his eyes. The servine's red eyes were dilated, and it was more than obvious she was on the brink of breaking into tears.

"Tell me, do you see a sign of sympathy in these eyes, mercy, forgiveness, remorse, anything besides my hatred towards Rhys and anyone who is associated with him?"

"I… I don't… kno-" the servine began to say, before she began to sob, but mandus punched her in the gut again while forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"I need you to understand something, servine," Mandus began to speak, "I've been on both ends of your situation, I've watched friends get beaten to death just for pleasure in the world I grew up in. These hands of mine were forced to torture those I cherished with methods that keep me up at night. I've been forced to go through Hell and put my friends through Hell. Now think about this, I never wanted to hurt my friends, but I had to. But, they were my friends, you are my enemy right now," Mandus spoke coldly.

"Listen, I-" Lucy tried to speak, before Mandus placed his hand around her maw and forced her to be silent.

"I don't care about why you're affiliated with Rhys, why you did what you did, all I care about is my answers. I never had a chance of freedom when I was younger, but you have a chance to walk away."

"Now, here's how things go." Mandus said as he released her mouth and began to walk towards a tray full of equipment he had set out. "I ask a question, you answer. If you stutter or choose not to remember, then I'm going to pull out a tooth," Mandus said as he grabbed a pair of pliers off the tray. "Of course, I know other methods. I like the idea of working up to the worse stuff the more you resist. For example: fire, a grass types worse fear," Mandus said as he looked at a blowtorch. "But, that's only a small fraction of my tools. I have no boundaries when it comes to getting what I want. So servine, are you in the mood to talk?" Mandus asked as he walked towards the servine with the plyers in his hand.

"Now, where is Rhys hiding?" Mandus asked the servine as he leaned in closer to her, until he was within inches of her face.

"Arceus, please help me," the servine whimpered as she began to sob.

"There is no Arceus here to help you," Mandus spoke, before he grabbed the servine by the jaw and forced her mouth open. Mandus slid the pliers into her mouth until he found a tooth of choice and gripped the metal tool against the tooth. The servine tried to say something, but Mandus showed no sign of giving her a second chance.

"Scream as loud as you want if it helps, but no one is coming," Mandus said as he tightened the tool even more and began to twist it. Screams that had no end could be heard from outside of the cave, but not one set of ears were near to hear the cries.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

"So, last night I heard someone say today was your birthday?" I nervously asked Black as we walked around Shalour city.

"Yeah," Black bluntly answered in the most unexcited way possible.

"Oh, how old are you now?" I asked.

"Eighteen," Black answered simply.

"Eighteen? I thought you would have been more excited to finally be an adult," I said with surprise.

"Yeah well, today isn't exactly a good day to be celebrating," Black responded.

"Well, we should all do something once things calm down again. Maybe go to a club, or maybe just have a fun day at the beach and grill out with Alex," I suggested.

"A day at the beach?" Black said with interest, "That actually does sound nice. You know, I may actually consider that once things cool off a bit."

"Sweet, leave the organizing to me, we'll throw you an awesome party. With cake!" I exclaimed jokingly in an attempt to lighten the depressing mood.

"Alright, impress me then," Black said with a cheerful smile.

For hours, the two of us talked about stuff. The conversation went from the planned party to random gym battle stuff, along with a few what if questions in some ridiculous scenarios. During our conversations I had one question I wanted to ask that was stuck in my head, I guess now was the best chance to ask him.

"Alright Black, I got a question," I asked the umbreon. Black just waited for me to ask away. "Okay, so what is the deal between you and Naomi, you say there is nothing, but I find that hard to believe."

Black responded with a startled look, "Why does everyone have to keep asking that?" Black responded.

"You know I won't tell anyone if you're embarrassed or something like that?" I reassured him, "So, do you like Naomi?"

"Well… uhhhh-"

"Arceus, you do like her!" I said excitedly as I almost jumped.

"Okay!" Black snapped at me, which made me become quiet in an instant. "Fine, are you happy? I like Naomi," Black admitted.

"It's okay Black, we all kind of knew that for a long time," I told him.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, I mean, it was very noticeable. Like how you snuck out with her, you defended her a lot, you went into a depression when we thought she was gone, then we were like, one-hundred percent sure when you decided to go out with her the other night."

"Oh, you can all go to Hell for stalking me!"

"Heh, sorry, we're just immature like that," I admitted.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"It'll be easy, just find the kid and knock him out or something like that," I repeated to myself as I searched for the umbreon. It was just recently that the same ninja lady contacted me and told me to get a move on. She provided me with a location and everything to find him, all that was left was to do the deed.

The time was now around 4:00 PM. As I walked through the streets, I eventually saw him walking with that jolteon. I let out a sigh as I realized that things were going to be more complicated than I thought. This whole thing was just depressing me, I didn't want to do this, but I had to.

"It's okay Aiden, you can do this," I told myself as I sped up my walking pace to catch up to the two from behind.

"Hey, Black, Kana!" I called out to the two unsuspecting pokemon. The two turned back to see me, Kana gave me a smile while Black frowned at the sight of me.

"Hey Aiden, what're you doing here?" Kana asked me as she walked towards me with Black following behind.

"Not much, just going to grab a quick bite to eat, what about you two," I lied to the two, but the thought didn't sound too bad.

"We're just out on a walk," Black answered. The umbreon no longer had his hostility towards me, but we weren't exactly buddy buddy.

"Oh, I guess it's a nice day for that," I said with a forced smile, "You two wanna grab a bite with me, my treat?" I asked the two.

"Ummm, Black?" Kana asked the umbreon.

"Don't we have to be somewhere soon," Black told the jolteon.

"Oh, it'll only take a minute," I told the two.

"Black I don't think sparing twenty minutes would kill, plus I think we should fill Aiden in on what's going on," Kana told the dark type.

The umbreon let out a sigh, "Fine, but where the Hell is a charmander like you getting the money for this?"

"Oh, I have my ways," I said with a sneer.

**Meanwhile back at Erika's hotel**

"Aiden where the fuck is my money?!" Erika screamed as she looked at her empty wallet that lacked any funds.

**Back to Aiden**

"Anyways, follow me, I know a shortcut to this nice unova food place," I told the two as I began leading the way.

"I don't know Aiden, that stuff gives me gutaches," Kana told me as she followed behind me with Black.

"Don't worry, this is the good stuff, not that cheap crap," I told the two as I cut through an alley.

The two swapped glances at each other as they followed me through the alley. I began walked walking slower until I was walking side by side with the two eeveelutions. About a quarter down the alley I picked a heavy rock off the ground and tossed it up and down repeatedly.

'I can do this, I have to,' I said in my head as I gripped the rock tightly, 'It's for David, he'd do the same in my position.'

Without warning I turned towards the umbreon as I rose the rock up. Black flinched back in surprise, but he couldn't respond by the time I smashed the rock against his skull. The umbreon hit the ground with a thud as he twitched half conscious.

"Aiden, what are you-" the jolteon began to scream, before I turned and punched her in the face. She fell over on her side. I quickly jumped on Black and smashed the rock over his skull again and again, until I was sure he was out. Blood dripped off the rock as I dropped it. The jolteon was now pulling herself off the ground while I stared down at the umbreon with disgust in myself. I was becoming a monster just to help David, this felt so wrong.

Suddenly the jolteon tackled into me, sending a jolt of electricity through me. I managed to shake off the feeling, but the jolteon was on top of me with an attack charging. The jolteon hesitated, and I responded with an ember. I blew the attack against her front side as she closed her eyes to protect them. I then shoved the jolteon off of me and grabbed the same rock, I proceeded to bashing her skull just like I did to the umbreon. I only managed to strike her twice before I threw the rock across the alley.

"Why am I doing this?!" I yelled in complete disgust as I fell onto my butt in complete shock.

"You did good Aiden," a voice spoke from above me. I looked up towards the top of the building to see the greninja lady staring down at me. This time she had a harness on her torso with throwing knives and other things a ninja would have. She looked as if she was about to fight a war.

"Are you happy now," I asked bitterly as I stared at the two unconscious eeveelutions. "Just don't hurt them, okay," I asked as I placed my hands over my face to cover myself.

"Aiden, Vincent will be ready to see you at the end of the night, meet him here," the ninja said as she threw a paper shuriken at me. The paper star bounced off me, but I didn't waste a second on grabbing it. I carefully unfolded the shuriken and a map was revealed. The map showed all of Shalour, along with the terrain around it. On the mountains near Shalour was a X on the map, which appeared to be Vincent's location.

"Go to the spot marked on the map tomorrow night, Vincent will have a talk with you them," the ninja said as she jumped off the building.

"What are you doing with him?" I asked the greninja.

"Your part is over Aiden, no further questions will be answered about Ryder," she responded as she picked the umbreon up and got ready to run up the wall as an escape.

"Wait!" I called to her before she disappeared. The greninja stopped and looked at me with a blank stare. "I… I don't know how I'm going to face David with this on my back," I said as tears began to fall from my eyes. I didn't even care at this point, I knew crying was pathetic, but how could I be viewed as anything but pathetic.

"That's for you to decide," the ninja said, before she ran up the wall in a flash and disappeared with Ryder.

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

"Where are they?" I tensely spoke as I paced around the lobby of the pokecenter. It is now seven and Kana and Black are nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know, but our men are out on the look," The grovyle Isaac told me.

"The two of them could be dead right now, and we're just sitting around!" I yelled at the grovyle who appeared to be unphased by the situation.

"Calm down, this is Zack's son we're talking about. Zack won't let a thing happen that is within his control, right now he has his best men on the case," Isaac responded.

"No, I agree with Gray," Flare said as he joined in the conversation, "Black and Kana are our friends, you can't just expect us to sit around while they're missing," Flare stated with determination.

"Zack entrusted me with the responsibility of watching all of you," Isaac responded.

"We're all adults here, we can leave when we want," Naomi added to the conversation. "I made a promise to Black earlier and I'm not breaking it."

"A promise?" Isaac said with curiosity.

"I promised I would have his back when things get bad. I doubt he'd sit around happily following orders if it was one of us in trouble, what would you do if someone you cared for was in danger and you were told to sit still?"

"Very well, I'll allow you to go out and look, but only if you follow my lead," Isaac said.

"Fair enough," Gray said, "Let's go."

"Right," Flare said with a nod.

* * *

**Third person Point of View**

Silence filled the corridors of a dimly lit cave. The lantern that provided light had died long ago, and the only source of light was from the holes in the ceiling that leaked the light of the moon. The servine was now hyperventilating from all the physical and mental trauma she endured. Blood covered her entire jaw, and throughout her body were multiple burns that would leave scars.

"You have proved useful so far, Servine," Mandus spoke to the grass type as he threw the pliers on the ground.

"Sadly our session must end for now. I'll be back to play when the night is over. Until then, repose yourself or you can give in and tell me where Genesis' base is," Mandus said as he grabbed a canteen of water and began to wash the blood off his hands. After he was cleaned up he threw on his cloak and headed towards the exit.

"Mandus," Lucy called out in a weak voice, but the lucario only bothered to stop, not to look at her. "Rhys will kill you and all of your friends, I swear it," the servine said with the little strength she had left.

"Hmmf, how intimidating," Mandus spoke before he departed.

* * *

**Another Third person perspective**

Out in the middle of the wood, Rhys had an entire line of pokeballs lined up. At least twenty pokeballs faced the zorua as he stared at a switch that was laid in front of him. The zorua placed his paw on the button, and with one press, all of the pokeballs released there blinding lights. Rhys clenched his eyes shut as all the confined pokemon took shape.

After a moment Rhys was able to face the army of pokemon. The zorua let out a sneer, but it quickly faded and was replaced with a gloomy look. "I'll find you Lucy," Rhys whispered to himself before he looked up towards his army.

All of the pokemon varied: a few eeveelutions were mixed in, a sneasel, but the most noticeable of all was a dragonite that was much bigger than most. The dragon towered over the other pokemon, yet it waited patiently like the others.

"Welcome my fellow pokemon, to the city of Shalour," the zorua spoke as he forced a smile on his face. "I've brought you all here tonight for a hunt, all is free game as long as they are Crimson Dawn or WPA, or, in other words, anyone who resists you. One request though, bring me a Crimson member alive. I do wish to interrogate one. Now, go out and take care of those who are our enemies!"

All of the pokemon gave a quick nod to Rhys, before they took off running or flying towards Shalour city. Rhys on the other hand waited patiently for them to leave before he proceeded.

"I'll make you all pay, every last one of you," Rhys growled to himself.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Hmmm, things don't look to good for Black and his friends. Really fun chapter to write, I'm pretty excited to do this arc. A lot of the arcs from here on out are the ones I have been truly excited to go to. Thanks for the read, and thank you to everyone that stuck with me for a year and put up with my poor grammar.

**News Regarding my other story: **Alright, this will be the last time I mention my other story on Black Dawn, but I'd like to say something to a few of my followers that read Last Guardian before I cancelled it. The new version of Last Guardian is out, except this time around it is named 'Shattered Soul' Feel free to check it out and tell me how I did on it. I really feel that this time around I really will create a masterpiece. Also, criticism on that story is appreciated, because I'm trying to get that story perfect. Thanks!

Thank you genericgamer207 for... for... I don't even remember anymore... Oh YEAH! Thanks for editing.


	94. I'll do anything

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 94: I'll do anything!**

* * *

The top of my skull felt as if it was fractured. My eyes slowly opened as I rolled over onto my belly. My vision was blurred for a second, until it stabilized and I saw the dank alley I had passed out in. The only illumination came from the street lamps outside the alley, and from the full moon that was just now ascending past the buildings.

'How did I...?' I began to ask, before I remembered what happened. I forced myself up as I grunted in pain from my throbbing head. My eyes scanned the alley. My vision was now seeing doubles as I tried to keep a grip on myself. Looking about halfway down the alley, I saw an orange lizard sitting against the wall with his face buried in his hands. My teeth gnashed together as I struggled to walked towards him. Blood trickled down my forehead, eventually making its was off my head and staining the concrete ground.

"Aiden…" I growled lowly as electricity built up in my body. The charmander jolted his head upward as he looked at me. The charmander looked at me with a wry look, his eyes were a bit pink with a puffy look. Aiden wiped his eyes to hide any evidence of his pitiful state.

"Where is Black?."

"I don't know… I'm sorry, I'm sorr-"

"Don't even bother," I snapped at him, "I trusted you, I actually thought you were a decent person. You're… You're nothing but a backstabber." I turned my back on Aiden as I began to leave the alley so I could search for Black.

"I know…" Aiden whispered, but I didn't feel bad for him in the slightest.

"Stay away from me and my friends. I don't want to ever see you again!" I growled as I continued to walk away. The charmander just remained silent as he sobbed.

Once out on the streets of Shalour, I began dashing as fast as I could. The streets were vacant right now, which must have meant I was out for a while. That was good for me, I didn't need obstacles if I was going to find Black. I slid to a stop at a corner as I changed directions.

"Black, I don't know where you are, but I swear I'll help you," I said out loud with hope.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"Wait, why do I have to stay here?" Ebony complained.

"I told you, this is dangerous. There are WPA members here who will protect you, just don't go out of their sight. We'll be back for you later, but you need to be a good girl and stay here," I responded.

"I can help though, if Black and Kana are in danger, then I really do want to help!" Ebony begged.

"Ebony..." I said with a broken heart, "I really wish you could come, but it's too dangerous. Black nor Kana would want you risking yourself either. They'd want you to stay safe."

"But…" Ebony stammered as she began to tear up. "I don't want to sit around while everyone is in danger. Just because I'm a child doesn't mean I'm useless," she retorted..

"No, it's not like that," I said while my heart fell deeper. "It's that fact that you can get severely hurt, and you have your whole life ahead of you. I know you would be of help, but I can't guarantee your safety is the problem."

"It's fine though, another set of eyes would be useful," Ebony reasoned.

"I'm sorry Ebony, you need to stay," I spoke more sternly. "I promise we'll bring Black back, now please stay here."

Ebony was about to say something but words wouldn't come out. She bit down on her lip as she tried to come up with a way to persuade me, until she exhaled a sigh. "Fine," Ebony said with defeat.

"Ebony… I'm sorry, but we'll be back as soon as we can."

"Just promise me," Ebony began.

"Promise what?"

"Promise that you'll all come back safe with Black and Kana."

A small smile managed to form on my face, "We'll all see you soon Ebony, and I'm sure Black will be happy to see you to."

"Just be careful, please," Ebony begged as she ran up to me and tackled me into a hug. I nearly fell over from the force, but I managed to stay standing. I returned the hug as I pulled her in tightly.

"No one is going to get hurt Ebony, I promise."

Ebony and I separated after a moment, and I departed. Honestly, she gave me all the motivation I needed to find Black and keep everyone safe. I walked towards the door where everyone was waiting for me.

"We all set now?" Hesh asked me.

"Yeah, let's bring Black and Kana home," I said with a confident nod.

* * *

**Point of View Zack**

My men and I searched every nook and cranny of Shalour that we could find. About twenty or so of my subordinates were in Shalour helping me find my son. I know to an extent it was selfish for me to ask them to put themselves in danger for me, but what else was I supposed to do? I refused to let my son fall prey to these bastards, for once in my life I was going to protect him like I should have.

"Sir," the voice of a familiar dewott spoke from behind me. I turned to face James as I gave him my attention. "We thoroughly checked around the east side of the city, but nothing."

"What about the other teams?"

"Nothing's turned up for them either," James responded.

"I see," I said as I hid my disappointment. "I'm going to keep searching, keep your eyes open. Our foes could be anywhere," I warned him.

"You do the same, sir," the dewott replied. The two of us departed and I was left to investigate alone again.

I aimlessly ran through the streets of Shalour. I zigzagged around the few humans that were out. I knew Genesis wasn't going to take him somewhere we would find him. If Genesis had my son, then only a miracle would save him. But I couldn't be so sure about this Crimson group. Then again, it wasn't even guaranteed that he was captured. These were all wild assumptions that we were going off of.

I continued to run down the streets when a bright flare coming my way blinded me. I squinted my eyes to see a ball of fire heading my way. I evaded to the left as the ball of fire seared past me. I glared towards the direction of the attacker. Standing on four legs and growling at me viciously was an arcanine. This one was different from the others I've seen, it had unnaturally blue eyes. The creature began running at me as a fire burned in her mouth.

"Imbecile," I muttered as I did a front flip and smashed my tail down on the arcanines head. The canine let out a whine as her head smacked into the ground. I followed that attack up by jumping back into the air while inhaling a deep breath. I exhaled a spiraling flame towards the arcanine. The mutt was ensnared in a fiery hell storm that circled around it. The fire type wasn't even bothered by the attack the circled her, but that wasn't my true intention.

While the creature was blinded from my attack, I charged at her. I jumped in the air as I bashed the arcanine in the jaw with my shoulder. Pain shot through my shoulder as our bones collided, but a smirk formed on my face from the sound of a satisfying cry of pain. The arcanine fell to the ground. Despite the pain, the arcanine didn't waste a second pulling herself off the ground..

"Stay down," I ordered as I lashed at her with my claws, slashing the side of her maw, leaving three blood streaks. I then quickly turned and slammed my steel tail into the side of her head. The arcanine fell onto the ground. Of course steel tail wasn't going to be as effective on her, but it still did a number on her.

The canine tried once more to get up, but I jumped on her back and began mauling the back of her head and back. Blood flew into the air as I tore layer after layer of flesh from the back of her skull. The canine let out agonized screams that echoed through the night. After blood was covering her entire backside, she stayed down and submitted.

"Alright, start talking, who're you working for. Don't think for a second I won't kill you if you elude my questions," I snapped at her. The canine remained silent as she let out pained whimpers. "Maybe you didn't hear me?!" I yelled as I slammed my claws into the back of the raw flesh on her neck. I dug my claws into the flesh as I raked off another layer. She let out another cry as she began to flail around. I took my other claw and dug it into her flesh for grip.

"This'll all end the moment you give me a damn answer, now who are you working for, where is my son, Ryder?!"

"Get off of me before I kill you!" the mutt yelled as she forced herself up. I remained on her back as I dug my claws into her flesh.

"On your knees you mutt!" I snarled before I bit down on the back of her neck. My teeth punctured into the back of her neck, but I avoided the spinal cord. The canine fell onto her front side as she let out pained howl.

"I'll ask again, who are you working with?"

"Get off m-" she began, before I dug my claws into her again. "Genesis!" she whimpered out.

"Good," I smiled, "Now, what did you do with Ryder?"

"We haven't done anything to anyone yet, we just got here!"

"Hmm, you said we, so who're your friends?"

"Stop trying to act tough."

"Shut up and answer!" I yelled. I was about to began mauling at her again, but I noticed a few figured coming from the shadows. I looked up as I saw four newcomers circling around me, as to how long they were there, I had no idea. A marshtomp, a mightyena, a vigoroth, and an altaria that hovered in the air surrounded. All of these pokemon shared the same blue eyes that the arcanine had.

"Oh shit," I muttered as I jumped off the arcanine and got into a defensive position. I could usually handle myself against bad odds, but these Genesis goons had me outnumbered.

'Think Zack, how am I going to win this?' I demanded from my brain.

"Don't let this one get away," the mightyena told his comrades. "This one is the leader, Rhys will be sure to bump us up the ladder if we bring him alive."

"Keep dreaming," I scoffed.

"Don't move, this'll be quick!" the vigoroth shouted as he jumped at me with his claws raising upward. I jumped back as his muscular arm smashed into the ground, leaving a small crater. I retaliated with an ember before he could move another muscle. His arms quickly moved to cover his face. My fur stood on edge as I felt someone approaching from behind. I jumped up in the air just in time to avoid getting chewed on by the mightyena. As I came back down I spun in a vertical circle and smashed my steel tail into the back of the mightyena's skull. The canine smacked down onto the ground as he laid barely conscious. I had to dive to the side just as I landed to avoid a dragon breath from the altaria. The fiery gust from the altaria sliced through the cement ground like it was nothing.

After dodging that attack, I had to stop a moment to catch my breath, but I only managed to inhale one breath before I was blasted by a high powered hose from the marshtomp. I slammed into the side of a building as I felt the water cut into me. My body became ice cold from the water as tremors ran through my body. The marshtomp stopped just as I felt like I was going to pass out.

I was now drenched in water and panting in exhaustion. I tried to pull myself up, but a strong gust of wind sent me back into the building side. Everything became a blur as I fell on the ground. The mightyena was now recovering from my attack, and he joined his comrades as they all circled around me.

"Get up," I commanded myself, but my body refused to move. "I said get up!" I yelled to myself again as I forced myself up.

"This is pointless flareon, your already finished," the marshtomp spoke.

"Not yet, not until I find him," I replied. "I'm going to find him, I refuse to lose till then."

"Just take him down, he's delusional."

"Not at all," I spoke back. "It's just if I die anytime soon, I'll have Hell to pay from my late mate. She'll probably send me right back," I said with a weak chuckle.

"Very funny," the vigoroth snorted.

I stood backed against a wall as the four approached me. The first to move towards me was the vigoroth. He ran at me with his arms at his side. The mightyena and altari both used different tactics from any of the other openings.

"I tried, Ceri," I whispered as I closed my eyes.

An explosion boomed through the air as my eyes snapped back open, but a blinding light quickly forced them shut again. The explosion died down after a moment and I opened my eyes to see one of my team members shielding me. A gardevoir held both of her hands out as she created a forcefield around us. Everything outside of the force field was covered in a thick smoke.

"Ada, how did you-"

"I'm always watching you Zack. As soon as I saw you were in danger, I brought help. And it looks like my timing couldn't have been more dramatic if I tried," the gardevoir answered.

"Yeah no kidding, but I owe you."

After a moment the smoke cleared up, revealing more pokemon on the scene. The vigoroth was laying against the barrier with burnt flesh on his back that was smoking. His eyes were wide as he trembled. A grunt escaped him as he slid down the shiny glasslike barrier. HIs back had severe burns, burns that were fatal. The other three genesis pokemon were now battling my subordinates in a fierce battle. Thankfully on my side we had about four pokemon, plus Ada and myself.

"We should help," I said as I started to stand, but Ada quickly turned and held me down..

"Let me heal you first, you won't be any help like this."

"We don't have time."

"They'll be fine, now stay put." Ada clapped her hands together as she closed her eyes and began to pulse with a pink light. The light soon turned into a wave and transferred to me. The gashes on my body began to heal until they were only minor cuts, and my fatigue soon turned to vigor.

"You should hold up for a bit now," Ada told me as her barrier disappeared and I was back in action.

"Thanks." I quickly jumped up to my feet and dashed to my teammates . Our team consisted of james the dewott, a ripped machamp that went by Brock, a quick scizor that moved at a blurring speed known as Mark, and a fraxure named Salem.

I first began to assist the machamp at fighting the altari. The machamp slammed his fist into the ground, cracking the surface of the cement. The machamp then grabbed a piece of rubble and threw it at the altaria. The dragon responded with a dragon rage and blew the chunk of cement into rubble.

"Hey," I whispered to Brock. The machamp glanced at me for a moment before he returned his gaze back to the altaria. "I got an idea," I spoke quietly as a grin formed.

"I'm listening?" Brock replied, before a gust of wind came our way. The two of us jumped away as the gust of wind sliced into the ground.

"It's simple," I began as I told him my plan. Brock nodded as he too grinned from the idea.

"Sounds good," he said with a nod.

"Alright, do it," I ordered. The machamp quickly grabbed onto me and threw me at the altaria like a foot ball. The altaria's eyes grew wide as I prayed an ember towards it. As I neared the creature, I turned and smashed an iron tail into the altaria's neck. The dragon type let out a high pitched whine as it fell to the ground. Before I hit the ground, something caught me in a blurring motion. I was quickly set down on the ground by Mark, the scizor.

"Thanks," I nodded.

"Don't thank me yet, we still have a few to go," he responded.

The marshtomp and the mightyena were now both back to back as we circled around them. This fight was as good as over. We outnumbered them six to two, and I knew we were far beyond their level.

"This isn't good," the marshtomp commented.

"You think?" The mightyena snorted. "Guess we'll have to call in for back up." The mightyena rose his maw into the air as he let out a loud howl that made all of us fall silent as it echoed loudly.

"Stop him, he's calling for help!" I yelled.

The scizor gave a nod before he flashed in front of the mightyena. He uppercutted the canine with his left pincer. The dark type flew into the air, only for the scizor to flash above him and smack him back down onto the ground. The canine laid unconscious on the ground with his mouth agape.

"Now only one left," the fraxure pointed out.

"Nope," the marshtomp denied as he slowly shook his head. "Our backup is already here."

All of us turned out heads to see seven new pokemon joining the scene. The seven pokemon all had blue eyes, just like the others we fought. A weavillel, a blastoise, and a kadabra came down from one end of the street. And from the other end of the street came a dragonair, a xatu, a glaceon, and a raichu.

"Wonderful," James complained.

"I wonder if there is an end to these schmucks," Brock asked as he began cracking his fingers. "Either way, we'll keep bashing in their skulls."

"Well said," the fraxure agreed..

Every one of us were ready to duke it out on this street, but then out of nowhere all of the Genesis members started turning towards something down the street. After a moment, none of them seemed to be paying attention to us. It didn't take long for me to turn towards the spotlight of attention.

Walking down the street with a black cloak that went down to its legs was some kind of bipedal pokemon. It wore its hood up and a shadow covered its face. As the creature got closer it stepped below a lamp post that illuminated its face and stopped in the light.

Red eyes peered at me from a lucario. Time slowed down as I recognized that face. "Mandus…" I spoke quietly in disbelief. The lucario glanced at all of us with a cold glare.

"Mandus?" I spoke up. All of the Genesis pokemon around me made an opening so Mandus could see me. It was obvious they knew who he was as well.

"Its been a while, Zack," Mandus responded with his deep monotone voice that was unnerving to hear after all these long years.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"He's awakening," A female voice spoke calmly.

"Great," another snorted.

My eyes slowly opened to make out two figures in front of me. One was quadruped with a burning fire on his back, the other seemed to be a bipedal froglike creature. My head rang with an intense pain that messed with my perception. I focused a moment longer on the two figures to realize it was a quilava and a greninja.

For a moment, how I got here made no sense. Until a memory of being lured in an alley by that charmander flashed in my head. The only clear image I remember was the one of him bashing my skull in.

I shook off my grogginess. "I'll kill you," I muttered as I stood up. The two didn't seem to mind me moving around. We weren't outside, instead we were in a cave. The room was dimly lit, the only lights came from the quilava that acted as a torch, and some holes in the ceiling that let moonlight light shine down. For a matter of fact, I was laying in a spotlight of lunar rays, which caused my rings to light up. My body was filled with energy, which also acted as a drug that kept my throbbing head pains under control. I looked towards the back of the room to notice a servine tied up to a rock spire. When my eyes focused on her I saw all the blood that covered her mouth, all the gashes in her flesh, and the burns that marked her. The creature stared with a terrified look while she trembled in fear. Nausea began to take over as the sight of all the blood on the servine disgusted me. While fighting off my nausea, I realized that this was the same servine that attacked me the previous night.

"What do you want from me?" I questioned the two Crimson members. The two just stared at me in silence. My teeth gnashed together as I felt a flare of anger consuming me. "I asked you two a questi-" I started to say as I began to walk forward, but I felt something on my left forearm restricting me. I looked down towards the ground to see a cuff wrapped tightly around my arm. A chain was attached to the cuff and wrapped around a rock pillar. I tugged as hard as I could on the chain, but I couldn't break free. I opened my mouth in an attempt to shoot a shadow ball, but I found that nothing would come out.

"Wha-what the Hell?" I asked myself in confusion. A moment of silence passed by before a syringe tube was thrown in front of me, but appeared to be empty.

"It's a syringe Genesis gave to us a while back," the greninja told me. My head turned towards her. "When used, it can disable a certain ability from a pokemon, but in your case, dark matter. The effect will last till dawn, which'll be more than enough time for us to relocate you."

"You're not taking me anywhere," I snapped at her.

"Fat chance," the quilava snorted.

"Wait…" I said as I looked closely at the quilava and realized that he was the one who attacked me with Vincent. "You know Vincent. Where is he?" I demanded.

The quilava chuckled, "He's in Shalour tonight, but he's doing something that requires his full attention, I'm afraid he won't have much time for you tonight."

"Take me to him!"

"It's pointless Merrick," the greninja said. "He's blinded in complete rage, so there is no point in talking to him."

"True," the quilava said with a nod.

"Anyways, Ryder," the greninja started, "We have a battle to fight, so we'll be back before dawn."

"Wait, what about my friends?"

"Your friends are on Genesis kill list. According to a report, Genesis sent over twenty pokemon in Shalour to kill you and all of your friends, along with us and WPA. I can't say I expect your friends to make it past the night. These aren't ordinary pokemon, they're genetically modified. Their attacks are stronger, their reflexes exceed average pokemon as well."

"Then let me go! I need to help them! Please, this can't happen!"

"I'm sorry Ryder, but this is the decision you made when you chose to be in their lives," the greninja said as she began to leave the cave.

"No, wait! Please!" I begged, but neither of the two looked looked back.

Afterwards, I was left alone with the servine. I desperately tried to tug my arm free from the chain, but I could get myself to slip through. I tried using dark matter, but nothing would come out.

"It's no use," the servine stated. I froze before I looked at her. "Those chains are a lot stronger than you'd think. And that cuff is made to restrain pokemon like you."

"Bullshit, I'm not giving up," I responded as I went back to trying to break free.

A few minutes passed by before anything else was said. "Say, why does Crimson and Genesis want you so bad. Rhys never exactly told me why," the servine questioned.

I stopped fighting and I looked at the bloody servine, "You're just blindly following Genesis? You don't even know why you tried to kill me the other night?" I growled at her.

"Sorry," she murmured, " I trust Rhys a lot, if he says something, then I don't see a reason to distrust him."

"Yeah well I trusted him for a moment too. I mean, he saved me. You were there too, I remember you."

"Rhys saved me as well," the servine told me.

"Tff, did he try to kill you later?"

"No, it's not like that," she defended. "I was just a young child back then. My home forest was burned to the ground, I lost everything that day. Family, friends, my home. I had nothing left, and I was too weak to survive on my own. Rhys found me one day after the incident, I was half dead and starved by that point. Rhys didn't even think twice about taking me in, and after that I followed him. In a way, he's kind of like a second father to me," the servine said with nostalgia.

"Yeah, well he's quick to turn on others," I responded.

"Rhys isn't like that, but he does what needs to be done."

"Yeah, well that involved killing me and my friends."

The servine just sighed in response. "Well it doesn't matter either way. I have no doubt that Rhys won't be able to find me in due time. He's smart like that."

"I don't have time for that though. Your Rhys friend is going to kill everyone I know," I said as I began to tug on my chain again, "Then he's just going to kill me when he gets here." The servine remained silent as I continued to fight my restraints.

A bit of time passed by before I heard another word from her. "You know, if you're so desperate, you could always just chew off your arm."

"That's not even remotely funny," I said, dismissing the idea right away.

"Heh, you think it's a joke, yet any survivalist would sever their arm to save their friends."

"Shut up, I'm not doing that!"

"You said you wanted to save your friends, right?" she questioned me. "Your chain isn't giving away, and you're right, when Rhys gets here, he will kill you. But let's say Rhys doesn't find us in time. Then Mandus will come back. I'd honestly rather die than be tortured by that monster for another moment."

"I do want to save my friends!" I shouted with determination as I resorted to chewing the chain off me. I bit down as hard as I could as I tried to pull the chain to pieces.

"Keep trying, you'll break every tooth in your mouth before you even scratch those chains," the servine informed me.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I yelled with the chain in between my teeth. My grip on the chain tightened as I bit down with everything I had. I let out a loud grunt as my jaws tightened. My teeth felt as if they were about to shatter, and I reached my limit and stopped before I really did shatter my teeth. I breathed heavily as I tried to come up with a plan.

"I have another question," the servine called to me. I gave her a glare as I tried to catch my breath. "Genesis and Crimson have both been after you for a while now. You knew full well that they were coming as well. If you want to protect these friends so badly, why would you forsake them by hiding behind them like a coward?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about," I argued. "They're like family to me, they also chose to help me. I didn't want any of this to happen in the first place."

"You consider them like family, yet you chose to forsake them? Why would you do that to them?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

"Actually, I think I know the true answer to that. You stayed with them because you're afraid of Crimson and Genesis. But, not only that, you're afraid of being alone after what happened to your family. I know what happened that night, down to every last detail. You're still scared from all of it, of course being forced to-"

"Just stop!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "I don't need to be reminded of what happened to my family."

"It's only natural that you feel this way Ryder. The truth about your friends is that you're trying to replace your family with them. And sadly enough, just like your real family: you're to blame for all of it."

"What are you trying to get from me, what does this accomplish for you?!"

"I just find you interesting, that's all," the servine answered. "I guess it won't matter that your friends were used to replace your empty life. Soon they won't-"

"I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up," I snarled in absolute fury. "None of my friends are going to die. I'll do anything to keep them safe, even if I have to hurt others, even if I have to kill again," I said with pure determination.

"Even if that means hurting yourself?" the servine asked with a smile forming.

"I said no matter what the cost is."

"Then what are you waiting for hero, save your friends, they need you. I can promise that their entrails will be all over the city by morning without intervention."

I took my eyes off her as my view slowly panned down towards the cuff that was just above my paw. My heartbeat began to pick up along with my breathing. 'I'm not really listening to her, am I? I can't do this… I can't… But everyone will die if I don't do something.'

I lied down on my stomach before I inhaled a deep breath. My mouth slowly opened as I pressed my teeth up against the area just above the cuff. 'There has to be another way... How do I get out of here?' For the next five minutes I sat in place with my teeth clamping down on my forearm. I continued to think non stop of a way to escape, but no other way seemed possible.

I inhaled a deep breath before I bit down as hard as I could. My teeth punctured my flesh as blood oozed out of the small holes I created in my forearm. My eyes clamped shut as I let out a muffled scream of pain. The metallic taste of blood entered my mouth and my stomach began to turn upside down. Every nerve in my body screamed for me to stop what I was doing, but I clamped my teeth down harder as I began to rip my flesh off. I felt the flesh rip off and I let out a loud scream at the top of my lungs as tears fell from my eyes.

"I-I can't do this!" I yelled in agonizing pain as blood fell from my arm, creating a small pool.

"You already started, now finish it, just bite down and crush the bone. The rest will be as easy as tugging away strands of flesh," The servine instructed me.

I dug my other paws claws into the ground as I lowered my maw towards my arm again. The worst part was going back to do it again, especially now that I know how it felt. I let out a yell before I bit down on my arm again. My teeth ripped into even more flesh, this time I felt my teeth scrape up against my bone. Everything began to turn into a dark blur before I retracted my teeth. I yelled as loud as I could throughout the cavern as blood fell from my injured arm.

"I can't!" I screamed as tears blinded my vision. Light headedness began to come into play as the pain began to consume me. After a moment I fell onto my side with tears falling from my eyes, mixing with my blood. What I just attempted wasn't possible for someone like me, I couldn't go through with severing my arm no matter what.

"I don't know why you stopped, you're so close to getting us out of here," the servine complained.

Even with the full moons light shining on me, I still couldn't recover from the pain. The bleeding on my arm continued as well, creating a bloody mess all around me. A small puddle formed around my arm. Then an idea came to my mind. I pulled myself off the floor and look at the puddle that matched my eyes.

'It's a full moon tonight. I can use any element an eeveelution can use if I come into contact with it. Would my own blood qualify as water?'

I placed my injured paw in the small pool of my own blood. I began to concentrate the power I rarely used. The bloody substance began to rise off the ground. My eyes widened as a plan formed in my head. The blood around my all came together in the air and took the shape of a sharp blade. The blood began to harden into a solid as it froze.

"What are you…" the servine began to speak in disbelief.

With everything I had, I sent the frozen piece of ice down onto the chain. A loud clang echoed through the air. I looked down to see that the chain was severed. For the first time in a while, I moved freely.

"And you almost had me chew off my arm," I spoke coldly towards the servine as I headed for the exit on my three good legs.

"Wait, you can't just leave me like this!" The servine pleaded.

"Don't worry, Rhys will be here to bail you out sooner or later. Besides, you just tried to get me to chew off my arm to benefit yourself."

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to survive!"

"If I let you go, how do I know you won't turn on me?" I asked her as I turned to look her dead in the eyes.

"You don't, but I can help you if you do."

"And how will you help me?"

"I can convince Rhys to call off his men, I can possibly save your friends if you give me a chance."

"Is that a fact, can you really convince him?"

"Yes, just give me a chance," The servine pleaded.

I took a moment to stare her down, I found it difficult to actually read what she was plotting, but I couldn't leave her here either. "Fine, but don't do anything to go against me," I spoke sternly as I walked up to her. Blood covered the servine, and some of the substance even managed to get on the floor, but it wasn't enough to free her with my method. I bit down on my injured paw again and started the bleeding back up. My skin crawled from the disgusting sight, I really wanted to vomit from the moment I began to naw off my paw.

Once a small puddle was formed, I concentrated and created another bloody ice blade. Like the first time, I sliced the chains with my attack. The chains fell to the ground and the servine stood up.

"Thank you," the servine said with a smile.

"But I have to ask, what in the Hell are you? I've never seen something like this before."

"Honestly, I don't really know myself. Everything I think I know is just a theory. But we don't have time to talk about this, I need to get to my friends now," I spoke eagerly.

"Alright, then we should go now," the servine agreed.

The two of us began to run out of our prison. I had to run on my three good legs since it hurt to put even the slightest bit of pressure on it. We followed a long tunnel until we made it outside. The two of us quickly inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. It turns out that we were on top of the giant mountain that was near Shalour. From here I got a really good view of the city, but it also looked like a bit of a climb to get down.

"Just hang in there guys. I promise, I'll be there soon."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, hopefully this was a good start to the battle that is going on. I'm curious if anyone actually thought Black was going to chew off his arm. I was actually considering going with it, because something like that could work in this story. But, I thought it'd be wiser to do what I did, because it's more clever than gnawing off an arm.

Thanks genericgamer207 for editing up this chapter.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who has been reading this far. Another thank you to all those who fav, follow and review this story, it really does mean a lot to me.

**Fun Fact: **I realized this yesterday, but it took me a year to write a little over a month of time in this story. Heh, kinda sad in a way. I'm sure all of the other writers know the feeling of writing a lot and it feels like a lot of time passed in the story, but really it wasn't much time at all.


	95. The Battle Commences

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 95: The battle commences.**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

The sketchy servine and I climbed our way down the mountain. It was a long climb down, and the base of this rocky terrain was so close, I just had to manage not to fall and die by then. I carefully limped down the steep incline, making a small jump from time to time. All of this was made difficult due to my self inflicted injury. The bleeding had almost stopped, but a raw stinging pain constantly reminded me of what I just attempted. The moon acted as painkillers for me, my body took in the lunar rays like a grass type in the sun. Luckily, the full moon kept me strong enough to keep going, I easily felt three times stronger than usual.

With one final jump off a ledge, my three good legs met with the soft grassy ground. I let out a breath of relief before I continued to make my way towards Shalour. I just had to cross through a small tree line and I'd be within the urban setting. Lucy followed behind me. The servine also appeared weak, but this could have something to do with the lack of sun. Her tail sagged against the ground, and she lacked the vigor that those smug grass types always had.

"So," Lucy spoke up, "Are you going to tell me about your super powers?"

"Super powers?" I asked as I quickly walked through the wooded area.

"No eeveelution can do that, not even the top tier pokemon that we have altered to be a lethal killing machine."

"I don't know how I ended up like this honestly. I always guessed it was some kind of mutation from when I evolved," I answered shyly. With some honesty, Lucy was the first person I ever talked about this with, mostly because she was the first who saw me use my special gift.

"Hmm, perhaps it is a mutation, but why didn't you just kill me with it the other night? You could have had me at a complete disadvantage," the servine questioned.

I hesitated for a moment, I wasn't too sure if it was wise to talk to Lucy about this, but at the moment she was my ally. "Its not really that simple."

"Oh, tell me then, this intrigues me."

"Well, for one: I can't just spew out any element I want, I need to have that element near me. Second: I can only use this power on nights that the moon is whole. Yesterday night wasn't full, and even if I could use it, I wouldn't have done it in front of others. I only use it when it's an absolute emergency."

"You really are a pitiful umbreon, you know that right?"

"Excuse me?" I spoke sharply.

"You're lying to your friends. You did this to them and now they're paying for you being a whatever the hell you are."

"I've heard enough of this shit, I told you, I'm going to make this right."

"It's pretty cute seeing someone so dimwitted making the silly choices," Lucy giggled.

"And what's so foolish about my choice? Should I remind you who saved your ass?" I said with irritation.

"Let's put it this way. Mandus is in the city, and I've heard plenty of stories about this Mandus fella. You won't stop Mandus, only Rhys can. Second, Rhys is in the city with plenty of backup. I doubt you would get far against Rhys army… Even if you did beat what he brought so far, he would just have an even bigger, badder army sent within an hour."

"Then I'll stop Rhys: no Rhys, then no army."

"Wrong," the servine said as she laughed hysterically.

"What now?!" I scowled in annoyance.

"Rhys is at the top tier of Genesis. His body has been modified to make him practically unkillable. Only a small handful of pokemon actually come close to Rhys, he could kill you seven times over before you even suspected him of coming at you."

"Well, you promised to talk to him for me, so you're going to hold up your end of the deal as well."

"I'll do what I can," the servine said with a nod.

The denseness of the forest went down and soon I was out in the open. The only thing separating me now from from the city was a wire fence.

"Why don't you get it Blacky, I wanna see more of this phenomenon you use,  
Lucy asked.

"Fine," I frowned as I walked to the fence. As I neared the fence, I looked down towards the grass, I searched for a moment until I found a border of leaves that followed the fence. I placed my good arm against the leaves and two leaves began to slide up my arm. One went behind my forearm while the other went to the end of my tail, kinda like a leafeon.

"I don't use grass a lot, so we'll see how this goes," I warned Lucy. I took a step back as I inhaled a breath. I took a moment to take in some more energy from the moon. The leaves began to emit a greenish light as the grew in size and solidified with razor sharp edged that could match a knife. I quickly spun horizontally and slashed the fence with my tail. I then finished the job by slashing an opening with the other leaf on my arm. For a moment the fence stood perfectly fine.

"Wow, that did absolutely nothi-" Lucy began to tease, before the hole I cut fell apart, revealing an opening for us. "Errr, I knew you had this Blacky."

"Why don't you stop calling me that," I told her as I squeezed my way through the opening. Lucy followed behind with no problem fitting through. "Now, I need to find my friends or this Rhys person. I have to stop this."

"Then let's go Blacky, I mean, your friends can only die if we sit here."

"Shut the fuck up before I make you! I do not understand how you can joke around about that!"

The servine flinched back in response, before a smile crept onto her face. "Jeez, touchy touchy, alright, I'll be quiet about that."

"Let's just go," I muttered as I got a move on. I didn't bother looking back at the servine, but I guessed she was following me. I moved as fast as I could on my three legs as I headed towards the hotel we were staying at.

* * *

**Third person Point of View**

For both WPA and the Genesis pokemon, the world stood still. Both teams remained petrified at the sight of the mighty lucario. Most pokemon in Genesis and WPA were trained to stay calm in bad situations, but both teams appeared tense as they watched Mandus. The lucario stared down the opposing army with a serious glare, causing a few of the Genesis pokemon to move back a bit.

"Mandus, why are you here? I don't understand, you don't appear to be with Genesis," Zack called out to the lone lucario.

"I'd never have anything to do with that freak show Genesis," Mandus answered calmly.

"Then why are you here? All of us who were around at the time haven't forgotten your betrayal."

"Betrayal? You truly are ignorant towards how I feel if you view it like that."

"Call it what you want, but I demand a reason as to why you're here."

"I don't have to answer to anybody, and I have enough reason to do what I did."

"Enough reason my ass," Zack muttered.

"But I don't see how talking changes the outcome of this night, I have nothing more to say to you Zack. Your world peace lie ends here," Mandus spoke as a blue aura flared up around his body, engulfing him with power.

"Don't take Mandus lightly," Zack warned the teammates next to him.

"Noted," the machamp said with a nod.

Mandus held his hand up into the air as all the aura around his body ran to the tip of his palm to form a ball of lucario threw the ball of energy and it flew towards the bunched up group of pokemon. The aura tore through the ground that was near it as all the pokemon dodged out of its path. About halfway down the street, the ball of aura detonated. A blinding light flashed as a powerful shockwave caused the ground to tremble, and sending a strong gust of wind full of debris. Everyone clenched their eyes shut for protection.

Once the shockwave cleared, everyone looked at the lucario's last known location to see him missing. Everyone looked around.

"Up ther-" the Genesis dragonair shouted, before a lucario smashed down onto him with a force palm. a loud boom echoed through the air as an invisible force splattered the dragonair's blood everywhere. The ground below the serpent was reduced to rubble and the middle of the dragonair was almost ripped into two, only attached by a strand of flesh. Zack responded in an instant with a flame thrower. He targeted the lucario even though two Genesis pokemon were in the way. A raichu dodged out of the way, while a xatu received minor burns in an attempt of escape. Mandus weaved around the attack and moved towards Zack with speed that made him a blur. A few different elemental attacks came towards Mandus, but he eluded every one of them fluently. Zack froze up as Mandus threw his fist at him. Brock quickly moved in front of Zack as he caught the lucario's punch using all four of his hands. The machamp was pushed back by the force as Mandus continued to push him back with his fist. Soon he fell to his knees as Mandus continued to overpower him.

"You think you're tough just because you come at us alone?" Brock managed to grunt as he held the lucario at bay. Mandus let out a sigh before he stopped pushing and grabbed the machamp by his left wrist. In a twisting motion, Mandus bent his wrist, causing him to move at his will. Mandus used his other arm to throw the machamp on his front side, while holding his arm up behind his back.

"I don't think I'm strong... I know I am," Mandus muttered before he kneed the machamp's elbow, causing the bones to snap like twigs. The machamp yelled in agony as Zack came to his aid. Mandus dodged a torrent of flames that passed over Brock.

A hose of water from a blastoise came from behind Mandus. The lucario turned his head just in time to get hosed down as his skin was sliced up from the pressure of the water. Mandus quickly jumped to safety as he got some room between him and the group of opponents.

"Don't give him a moment to breathe!" A glaceon shouted, before he sent a storm of hail towards the lucario.

Mandus dodged to the side as he formed an aura sphere and chucked it. This one moved faster than the last, and it collided with the glaceon. A bright light blinded everyone as blood splattered in every direction from the explosion of energy that created a torrent.

"What's the matter Mandus, why'd you back away?" Zack taunted as all the other pokemon and him enclosed the gap between them and Mandus.

"It is ten on one," Mandus replied.

"Tfff, this is just a testament of your might, ten pokemon shouldn't even pose a threat to the great Mandus," Zack spitefully responded.

"None of you pose a threat, this is child's play," Mandus responded as his fists tightened.

"I think the odds are more than fair," Mark commented as he rose his pincers.

All of the pokemon closed in on Mandus. All of them charged up their own attacks as they moved in to finish the battle.

"Don't get cocky," Mandus spoke as he put his palms together as if he was meditating. A series of elements went towards Mandus as his body emitted a bright light that covered his form. All of the attacks collided with their target as debris filled the air. Everyone squinted their eyes at the lucario as they tried to see what happened.

"Did we get him?" a xatu asked.

The debris began to clear, and within the debris was a standing figure. Everyone became startled at the sight of the mega evolved lucario. A flare of aura circled the lucario and blew away the remaining debris. The small army of pokemon could feel the energy from the lucario pushing them back. Mandus stared down the enemy for a moment before moving in a flash. The lucario teleported in front of a fraxure as he sent punches at the dragon faster than the average eye could see. The fraxure flew back as he spat out blood, while his rib cage was in pieces. Before the fraxure even hit the ground, Mandus moved onto his next target. Mandus flashed in front of a raichu with a kick, landing a solid blow in the rodents face. A loud crack echoed as the rat flew through the air, and collided with the side of a building. Mandus stood in place as everyone remained quiet for a moment. Everyone who opposed Mandus began to back away, even Zack and his WPA members. A kadabra from the Genesis team began to run away from the scene, fearing for his life. Mandus chuckled to himself as he saw everyone cowering from him.

"What's so funny?" Zack questioned the lucario.

"It was just a moment ago you asked me why I backed away. I'll ask you all the same question. Why did you back away just now?" Zack gritted his teeth together as Mandus began to move towards everyone. "Don't blink, you may miss this."

* * *

From the top of a tall building, Rhys was looking down at the whole scene with a birds eye view. From the very beginning of the fight he watched as both WPA and his own team struggled to thwart Mandus. The zorua sighed as he backed away from the ledge of the building.

"This is Rhys," the zorua spoke into nanotechnology that was built into his body. "Send in another tier, Mandus is stronger than I anticipated." from the other side of the conversation someone spoke to Rhys.

"Just send in our A ranked pokemon, maybe a few S ranked as well. I anticipate the police coming into play soon. Someone has to call them, there is a war going on out here."

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

We weren't even an hour into our search and we were being confronted by enemies. Our whole team stood our ground on the sixth floor of a building that was being constructed. No windows were added to this building yet, this floor only had a floor and steel beams that supported the floor above us. A marowak, a bayleef, a combusken, and a floatzel stood in the way of our search party. All of these pokemon were rather chilling, especially since they all shared the same light blue eyes. This wasn't going to stop me though, if they have a hand in Kana or Black's disappearance, I'd burn every last one of them to ash.

"Ready yourselves," Isaac spoke to us. "These pokemon won't hesitate to kill you, I'd suggest you all do the same."

The marowak stepped forward as he gripped his club with two hands, "Take them down, these pokemon are associated with that shiny umbreon."

"So you did come here for Black, tell me then, where is he?" Gray questioned the marowak.

"Even if we did know, none of us would talk," the marowak spat out as he charged at the group with his club in both hands.

Gray responded first. He opened his mouth wide with an energy charging and released a storm of hail towards the combusken jumped in front of his teammate as he blew a flamethrower. Both attacks canceled each other out, while creating a thick mist in the process. A series of razor leaves came through the mist. All of us jumped to the side. A leaf gashed my side, leaving a long cut that travelled towards the back end of my body.

Seeing it was my turn to move, I charged towards the pokemon while my body burst into flames. The mist in the room cleared just in time for me to see more razor leaves. I ran into every leaf I could to protect my team from them, burning each in the process. After I ran towards the bayleef.

"Flare!" Naomi and Gray yelled at me as the floatzel hit me with an aqua tail. The tail slashed another gash into my side, creating an X. I tousled to the ground, drenched and freezing. Shivers ran through my body as I tried to pull myself up.

"Finish him!" The marowak commanded. Water spawned out of nowhere as the floatzel charged at me like a tsunami. I pulled myself up just in time to get blasted away by a wave. I collided with a steel beam that was right by the edge of the building. If it hadn't been there, I would have fallen off the building and splattered on the cement below.

The ice cold water that drenched me caused me to shiver, but I kept myself under control. In the background I made out the rest of my team fighting the other pokemon. Everyone shot attacks back and forth and used everything they had, but neither team could get the edge on each other.

With a grunt, I pulled myself off the ground. The floatzel kept a safe distance from me as his chest puffed up and he used a hydro pump. I jumped to the side as I responded with an ember. The small flares of flames went towards the buizel, but he countered them with an aqua tail.

"Damn…" I muttered. The floatzel charged at me with a speed I didn't even think a floatzel had. The water type came in close as he swiped another aqua tail at me. I jumped back from the attack, only to have one of my back paws slip off the building. I managed to catch myself before I completely fell off. The water type then inhaled a deep breath before he exhaled a whirlpool of water that forced me back. I dug my claws into the ground to resist, but it hardly even slowed me down. I was pushed off the side of the building, but I managed to barely cling onto the ledge with my forepaws. The whirlpool went on for another ten seconds as I used every muscle in my forepaws to hold on for dear life. The attack ceased after a moment, and I was left panting on the ledge of the building.

"You're a tough guy to kill," the floatzel commented as he stood a meter from me. My glance made its way down to see the long fall. My eyes then snapped back on the floatzel. He walked towards me and placed his foot over my paw and stepped on it as he pushed it back. I tried to resist, but he pushed one of my paws back. I was now dangling from the side of the building with one paw.

"I don't want to die like this," I said out loud as I felt the floatzel target my remaining paw. "I haven't even found Annie."

"Get your fucking stubby foot off him, bitch!" In an instant, the floatzel lit up with an electric attack as he flew over me and fell. I felt a quick jolt transfer through my body for a moment, and my paw slipped. I began to fall, before a furry yellow paw caught me. Looking up I saw Hesh gripping my arm.

"Hang on!" Hesh yelled as he heaved me up with a loud grunt. I came back onto the safety of the sixth floor as I panted in exhaustion alongside Hesh as I lied on the ground. I glanced outward towards my team to see that all of them managed to take care of their opponents, all of which were unconscious. I looked back at Hesh to see him leaning against a steel beam panting as he leaned his head back. The pikachu looked a bit sick as he panted like his lungs were giving out.

"Hesh, are you alright?" I questioned the pikachu.

He didn't even look at me as he leaned against the beam, "I… I never… I've never killed someone before…" The pikachu responded as he tried to calm himself. I glanced down towards the ground to see what was left of the floatzel. I cringed at the bloody mess.

"Hesh, you saved me though. It was him or me, and you did what you had to. If you didn't it'd be me down there," I reassured him as I sat down next to him.

"I know it had to be that way, it's just doesn't feel right either way…"

Isaac, Gray and Naomi joined the scene. All of them remained silent as they gave the pikachu a moment to cope with his actions.

After a minute of silence, Isaac spoke up, "If we want to make any progress tonight we need to go."

"What about them though?" Gray asked as he looked at the three unconscious pokemon.

"I'll take care of them in a moment," Isaac responded.

"What do you mean…" Naomi asked as she looked at the grovyle with a worried expression.

"I'm going to do what needs to be done. They'll only come after us if they live."

"No, killing can't be the answer. Can't we just restrain them and turn them into the police or something?" Naomi argued.

"Naomi, remember when you were caught by the police. They were going to kill you, these pokemon are no different. We're only watching our backs, and by doing so, we may even protect the lives of our friends."

"But…" Naomi began to say before she stopped herself. She tried to say something, but in the end she ended up biting her lip to control herself. "If you want to be a killer, then be one," Naomi spoke spitefully, before she made her way towards the stairwell.

"Stay or leave the room if you don't want to see this," Isaac suggested as he walked towards the unconscious pokemon. "The pokemon of Genesis have taken many friends from us. Sometimes the only way to preserve one's life it to end another. WPA learned this the hard way when most of us were killed off. You would all be wise to think that through."

* * *

**Point of View Black**

After a bit of a trip through the city, we were nearing the hotel that we were staying at. My left paw stung with a strong pain. At the end of the street I could see a hotel. I quickly limped towards the building while Lucy followed behind me. 'If I can just see that they are safe, everything will be fine,' I told myself.

"Blacky, hold up," Lucy called from behind me.

I stopped moving and sighed, but glanced back at the servine anyway, "What is it?"

"I want to talk about something before you see your friends again."

"Can't this wait? We don't have much time."

"Just hear me out, okay?" I sighed again in response as I waited for her to speak. "What would you do if your friends already died?" the sick twisted servine asked as she moved in close to me and invaded my personal space.

"What kind of question is that?" I snarled at her.

"I'm just curious, I mean, it isn't impossible. For all we know we could walk up there and find your friends all dead. That fennekin, the absol, that ignorant trainer of yours, the young little eevee, oh and that scrawny umbr-"

"Lucy!" I rose my voice. "I swear, if you don't stop with these demented questions I'm going to-"

"You're going to what?" Lucy asked as she extended her hand out and rubbed my chin. I froze up from her doing this. "I know everything about you Blacky. I could ruin you in a second. I knew you were special from the moment I saw you, I just wanted to play dumb. I know your secrets, I know what happened to your family, down to the exact detail of how they died. It's no wonder you're still traumatized."

"Just stop…" I begged as I tried to back away, but two vines wrapped around my neck and pulled me into a tight hug against the servine. Lucy leaned in until her mouth was practically against my ear, while I tried to pull away, but the vines kept me in place.

"Truthfully Blacky, I know everything. How you're able to use dark matter, your fear of blood, favorite foods, what type of pokemon you like, friends, enemies… I could easily just tell your friends everything… None of them would look at you the same, they'd all fear you, because you're a liar." One of Lucy's vines released my neck as it rubbed against my neck and then slowly made its way down to my chest. The vine continued down with its unnerving touch, until it followed along the snake like scar on my chest.

"This scar here is rather fitting. Did you know that in some cultures a snake is symbolized as a liar? kinda like the shape of this scar. But I'm also a snake, ya know?"

The vine that touched my scar slowly slithered below my body until it went around my stomach, slowly wrapping around my body multiple times. My eyes widened as both vines tightened around me, one around my gut, the other around my neck. I was quickly thrown back away from the servine as a bone crushing force strangled my body. I tried to scream, but nothing came out from me.

"It's cute how you actually trusted me enough to help you. You're just flat out desperate to help your friends, I'll do you a favor though. I'll take you from them, then if your friends live long enough, they can maybe live a bit longer." The servine used her vines to throw me to the ground, all while constricting my body, and slowly crushing me.

"Just think, if your friends never got burdened by you, they'd be on a normal adventure right now. None of them would have to die tonight."

I tried to fight the vines for a moment, but soon I felt too weak to resist. I lied limp on the ground, barely conscious. For some reason, the servine chose not to finish the job completely. Instead, she walked towards me and leaned close to me, so her red eyes were directly in front of mine. The sight of her snakelike eyes sent tremors of terror down my spine.

"You're powerless against me. You only survived because of your luck the other night. Now, do you want to be a good boy and obey me? Or do I have to wring you out like a wet rag?" Her grip around my neck loosened just enough for me to talk.

"Please do-" I tried to say, before her grip tightened again.

"I guess I'll have to break you a bit." The vine around my gut released me, and it spiraled around her, but didn't contact her skin. Pointy thorns emerged all around the servine's vine, making it even more deadly than before. "One perk of being with Genesis is that they can modify any pokemon. I am a S ranked pokemon in their ranking system. Do you know what that means? My body can regenerate faster, and I have received modifications to make me stronger. These thorns on my vine, they're actually poisonous. It's kinda like a croagunk, it shuts down your muscles and can even cause organ failure if enough exposure occurs."

Lucy looked at me with a victorious smile, she knew she had me at a disadvantage. The thorned vine slowly came towards me, specifically heading towards my injured paw.

"I know, I'll wring that paw of yours off, since you were too weak to do it yourself."

"Hey, freaky bitch with the thorny vines, let him go," a voice yelled from down the street. My eyes peered down the street to see a burning light in the darkness. A charmander had his eyes deadpanned on the psychotic servine as smoke puffed from his nose.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"The charmander that's going to roast your ass if you don't let him go!" Aiden stood his ground as the servine focused her attention on him.

"I'd like to see you try," Lucy giggled as she got into a defensive position. Aiden responded by getting into a defensive position, with smoke fuming from his mouth.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Alrighty, I got some good/bad news to announce. I have recently gotten a job, soooo, I'm not sure if I can do weekly updates anymore. While I'd love nothing more than to update once a week, idk if it'll be possible. The only time I will have this week to write the next chapter is during the weekend, and sometimes I just don't feel like writing during the weekend, I do most of my writing on randoms days. So, bare with me as I see how this goes. All week I'll only have about two hours to relax, all the rest will be school, work, and sleep. But this does not mean I'm dropping the story, just may slow down my writing routine.

Anyhoo, Thanks to genericgamer207 and The Pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.


	96. All I have left is a dream

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 96: All I have is a dream**

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

That freaky Servine beamed her red eyes directly at me as she kept Ryder ensnared in that nappy mess she calls vines. Both of my fists tightened as we stared at each other, neither of us moving a muscle. Black remained tangled up in the vines, he just looked at me with a bit of confusion, but that seemed masked by horror.

"Well, make a move already," the servine demanded.

"Eager for an ass whooping, eh?" I replied as I kept my eyes on her.

"Don't get cocky just because you have a type advantage, a weakling like you doesn't even intimidate me."

"Then you're in for a rude awakening, I'ma tie you into a knot with those ugly vines."

"Har har, I'ma drown you in in a public toilet while laughing!"

"Whoa…" I meeped as I froze up, "That's a little violent, don't you think…"

"Gah, just shut up, shut up, shut up, you're annoying the fuck out of me!" the psycho yelled as she released Black and dashed towards me.

"Oh shi-" I began to say before I shot a fire burst at her. A blast of fire went at the servine, but she quickly weaved around it as she came at me from the side. I leapt back, barely dodging a vine whip. In mid jump, I shot another burst of flames at her. She dodged to the left, she then twirled upward while releasing a razor leaf.

"Dammit, ouch!" I yelled as multiple leaves stuck out of my body, along with one that stuck right above my eye, but only managed to go about an inch deep. "You could have taken out my eye you psycho!" I winced as I pulled out the razor leaves stuck all over me.

"Oh I'm so sorry," the servine said as her two vines covered her mouth as if she was embarrassed. "Sorry I missed!" Both vines came straight at me as thorns came out of the other vine.

"Oh, Mew no!" I yelled as I ran away from her. The servine chased after me while I evaded those creepy vines. I felt something ensnare my leg, and I face planted into the concrete ground. Blood dripped from my nose as I felt my hard scaly skin ripped open on my face. I was about to pull myself up, but I felt myself get pulled backward. I looked back to see the psycho lady waiting for me with a leaf blade formed from her tail ready to slice me open.

"Bye-bye, charma-" she began to say, before Black jumped onto her, sinking his teeth into her shoulder. Her eyes widened as her legs gave out, and she fell with Black on top of her. The umbreon clenched his eyes shut as he ripped off a chunk of her shoulder, before he spat it out and began to gag a bit.

"You… you… you're going to die for that," the servine panted from beneath him.

"Black!" I yelled as one of her vines released me and went towards him. Black flinched back just in time to avoid the spiked vine. He then opened his mouth, but he just stood their with his mouth open like he forgot how to use shadow ball.

"Remember Blacky, you can't use shadow ball!" The servine yelled as her vine came back around. The tip of the vine slashed his shoulder and the rest of the vine followed, each thorn ripping off another layer of his flesh. Black fell to the ground as blood gushed out of his shoulder.

"Tff, now you can die like a worm, like the rest of your family," the servine panted as she pulled herself off the ground. I too got up off the ground in an attempt to stop her, the servine didn't seem to be paying me any attention. Black laid defenselessly on the ground as blood exited his shoulder, forming a pool around him.

"Look at you, you have the power to be one of the most powerful beings on the planet, yet you chose to piss it away on all these dumb little replacements for your family. You really are pitiful, so I'll end this here," one of her vines went towards Black's neck. The umbreon tried to move, but he appeared to weak. I ran at the servine, but I was to far away, she was going to kill him right here.

"Stay away from him!" I yelled before blood sprayed all over the ground.

* * *

**Point of View Ebony**

I paced back and forth in the pokecenter lobby. Minutes felt like hours while waiting for everyone to come back safely. It wasn't fair that they left me here, I may not be strong, but I couldn't bare to stand around while people I care for are hurt again. Every few seconds I would glance at the clock, only to be disappointed by how little time has gone by. I needed someone to at least tell me everyone was fine, waiting here all night is tearing my sanity to pieces.

To top things off, I was practically alone here. There was a nurse here, but she stepped away from the desk frequently for long breaks. What if they did find Black and Kana and they were injured, then no one would be here to help them.

More time passed as I waited alone in the lobby. My mind went through every bad scenario possible, until the front door opened and my ears perked up as my tail wagged excitedly. My ears quickly lowered and my tail sagged towards the ground as I noticed it was Alex. Not that I don't want to see him, I was just really hoping for someone to tell me things were alright. Alex smiled at me as he saw me, which forced a small smile onto me.

"Eb, I've been looking for everyone all day. Where is everybody? you all just disappeared all of the sudden." A frown formed on my face as I let out a depressed sigh. It didn't bring the slightest form of joy to my heart to discover that no one even checked in with him. I was hoping that maybe he had come to get me and to tell me that everything was going to be alright.

"Ebony…" Alex asked with concern as he kneeled down in front of me. "You don't look so good, did something happen?" Alex questioned me.

I nodded my head slowly, I may not have been able to tell him, but I didn't want him to be more in the dark than me.

"Are they here?" Alex then asked. I shook my head as I bit my lip to help hold in the tears that were forming.

"I'm sorry, I don't know where they are, and I'm worried," I told Alex as a tear trailed down my left cheek.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Alex told me as he picked me up and hugged me against his chest. My tear quickly absorbed into his red jacket. My sour mood calmed down as I just focused on the warmth of Alex's chest, it kinda reminded me of when I snuggled with my Dad when I was younger.

"Listen Ebony, I'm going to call the police, they'll help us find them," Alex said. Alex stood up with me in his arms as he walked to the front desk.

"Hello, is anybody here?" Alex called out as he went towards the front desk. "Hello? I need to use the phone, this is serious," he called out again, but no reply. "Seriously, we pay tax dollars for you people to work here, do your job," Alex muttered as he held me with one arm and reached over the desk to grab the phone. He grabbed the whole thing and plopped it right in front of him. He picked up the phone and held it to his ear. My ears flickered from the sound of an unsettling beeping from the phone.

"What? You've got to be kidding me," Alex said in surprise as he put the phone back down. Alex walked behind the desk as he headed into the next room. We both entered a hall full of patient rooms, but no one was in sight.

"Seriously, I need to use the phone, is there even anyone here?" Alex questioned as he slowly walked down the hall. He securely held me with two arms, and I practically could see from a human's point of view. "Sorry Ebony, my phone died while I was out looking for you guys all day," Alex informed me.

Once at the end of the hall Alex came upon a door. He knocked on the door repeatedly, "Hey, is anyone in here, this is the employee lounge, right?" Alex only received silence. He let out an annoyed sigh as he opened the door. He pushed it open and almost dropped me from what we saw.

A brown haired nurse lied on the ground. A red liquid stained her white uniform as it spread out on the floor. My legs began to tremble uncontrollably as everything stood still. Alex quickly snatched me off the ground as he turned around and dashed with me in his arms.

"We gotta get help!" Alex yelled as he ran. A shadowy figure came through the door at the end of the hall. Alex came to a quick stop, causing me to almost fly out of his arms. A doll-like pokemon moved down the hall towards us, almost as if it was skipping. Multiple pins stuck out of its body, while a rust worn down zipper formed a smile to go with the menacing blue eyes it had. The creature was none other than a terrifying Banette. The creature stopped about a quarter way down the hall, it yanked a needle out of its wrist and then impaled it in the side of its head. The creatures head fell to the side, almost as if no bone supported it neck. Both of its hands assisted the head back up as he stared at Alex and me.

"Al-Alex… Run…" I begged him as the creature began to trot its way towards us.

"Hey, stay back!" Alex demanded as he stood his ground. The creature stopped in place, only a few steps from Alex. Alex's hands tightened around me with a strong force as he lightly trembled. His trembling didn't compare to the amount I was shaking, but it was still obvious that he was scared.

The banette turned towards the wall, walked into it, and disappeared. An eerie quiet filled the empty hall as Alex and I waited to see what would happen. "I think it's gone," Alex said as I felt his muscles calm.

A loud screech pierced my ears, causing me to go deaf. Alex let go of me and I landed on the ground. My hearing began to recover, but then I felt something wet drip onto me. My head slowly rose upward to see Alex standing in place with a gash in the side of his neck. He grasped the wound to stop the bleeding. Alex looked at something down the hall, I turned around to see the banette licking blood off its claws.

"Alex…" I said fearfully as the creature eyed me. The zipper on its face formed a sneer before it quickly dashed towards me. Every muscle in my body stopped listening as the banette came at me. A hand quickly yanked me into the air and I soon found myself being carried away by Alex. He held me tightly against his chest as he shielded me with his arms.

"Somebody, help!" Alex shouted as he turned a corner. Blood dripped from Alex's neck down onto me. The wound wasn't fatal, but if it wasn't treated…

Alex dropped me as he fell to the ground. I quickly pulled myself off the ground to see a gash in his back leg. The banette just giggled in a demonic way as it moved to his front side.

"Ebony… Run!" Alex yelled to me. "Just go!"

The creature stood in front of Alex, laughing at him. Alex was willing to risk his life for me… why couldn't I? My teeth gnashed together as I fought my instinct to run away.

"Get away from him!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I charged towards the banette. The ghost type turned towards me as I leapt at it. It dodged to the side as I tried to bite him. As I went past him, the creature grabbed the back of my neck and threw me to the ground. It ran at me with a fast speed, which it then kicked me in the ribs, causing me to fly away from Alex and land on the ground. Pain and fear took over my body as tears streamed down my eyes. With my blurry vision I could see the Banatte skipping towards me, while Alex tried to get up to save me, but he was going to be too late.

"Someone… I don't want to die… not like this…" I sobbed to myself. The Banette grabbed me by the neck and forced me onto my back. It held its hands around my neck with its thumbs over my adams-apple as it repeatedly bashed my head against the ground. Everything went black, I couldn't even tell what was going on, I couldn't even feel the pain of having my head rammed into the ground repeatedly. This was going to be my end, I was going to die a timid little eevee who everyone viewed as a shy child hiding behind everyone… I never even got a chance to get over my sister's death, nor Mom and Dad.

For a moment, I accepted the idea of death, but I spark of hope went off and I remembered everyone around me who could use my help if I kept trying to grow stronger, 'No… it can't end here, I can't let it, my life can't end like this, I refuse to leave this world like this!'

My vision came back, but I was blinded by a bright light. The banette covered its eyes as it backed off of me. My eyes stung from the intensity of the unknown light. Some weird force came over my body, I felt a strong sensation changing who I was. The light grew stronger, only for me to realize that I was the source of light. For a moment, I felt like I was going to be torn apart, but I accepted this change. My body became numb for a moment as I felt overwhelmed, I could barely contain this feeling, but before it became too much, it ended. The light died down as I panted in exhaustion. My muscles ached for a moment, but I felt like I had so much energy.

The banette backed even further away from me as he saw my new form. I got myself up off of the ground. I looked down at my slender paws to see my new silky pink fur.

"I'm an espeon," I said with amazement. Alex looked at me from the ground, a small smirk formed on his face.

"It doesn't matter if you evolved child, I'm still going to rip you limb from limb," the banette replied.

"Do I have the power to protect Alex?" I questioned myself as I watched the banette carefully.

"You don't have to do it alone," A voice spoke from behind me. My head turned back to see a leafeon joining the scene with a bandaged up croagunk by his side.

"We heard screaming from the floor above, to think Genesis would attack a hospital, how low of them," the croagunk spoke as he shook his head.

"What do you say you step away from the human, and leave our newly evolved espeon alone," Dante spoke to the banette, "I owe that human for saving me, and I'm not about to let a kid die."

The banette stared at the two. he appeared to be unsure of what to do. The ghost type twiddled his fingers together for a moment, before he exhaled a sigh. "I guess it wouldn't be wise to go against three pokemon at once, but don't think I won't be back with reinforcements soon," the banette spoke before he walked through a wall and disappeared.

"Alex," I called out to my injured trainer who was lying on the ground. Alex managed to sit up as he used the wall for support. I jumped onto his lap as I nuzzled against him. "I thought I was going to lose you!" I cried as tears streamed down my eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay too, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you," Alex said as he hugged me tightly, while stroking my back.

* * *

**Point of View Dante**

"Let's give those two a moment," The croagunk whispered to me. The croagunk walked down the hall and into the lobby. I stood for a moment as I watched Ebony and that human return their affection towards each other. I didn't know a lot about that human, but if I was to have a trainer, he wouldn't be a bad pick. After a moment, I snapped out of my thoughts and followed the croagunk into the pokecenter lobby.

"So, how're you doing after that little incident?" the croagunk asked me as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Oh you know, I only almost died because of that, and the recovery was fun. I could hardly move for days, but, if I had to give a plus, I did enjoy the bed I slept on, it was pretty comfortable," I said as if the conversation was casual.

"You know, I only did that because we thought your sister was a danger to society."

"And you tried to kill her. For that, I have my eye on you… ummm… What were those letter thingies again?"

"W, like waffle, P, like pokemon, and A, as in you're A dumbass," the croagunk bitterly replied.

"Hey, what was that for? Couldn't you at least pretend to be nice?"

"Heh, sorry. I guess I'm a bit grouchy, I got banged up pretty bad the previous night."

"Oh, is that why you're bandaged up?"

"Mm Hmm. An old zorua took down my whole entire team like it was nothing. I was actually the only one who was injured, but for some reason he chose to spare me. He had me at a complete disadvantage, I couldn't even begin to defend myself against him… yet he spared me," the croagunk spoke as he got lost in this thoughts.

"Anyways, a nurse in this pokecenter is dead," I spoke with seriousness.

"I know," the croagunk responded.

"You said Genesis earlier, Naomi told me about them. Why would they be targeting a pokecenter?"

"Simple actually," the croagunk replied as he kept an eye down the hall to watch Ebony and Alex. "They're planning something big, we figured this out earlier. I presume they sent in that ghost type to kill the nurse because it can get in silently without anyone noticing. If they kill all the nurses here, then no one who is injured in battle can heal during the night. Not until someone checks in, calls for help, or the next set of nurses come in. But this could also be why the banette was sticking around, to kill anyone who could heal or expose what happened here," the croagunk said.

"That seems realistic, but the real question is, what now. What exactly does Genesis want?"

"They're after an umbreon, an umbreon who happens to be our boss's son."

"The shiny umbreon?"

"Yeah," the croagunk said with a nod.

"Naomi talked about him quite a bit actually, him and another umbreon she knew that died, but this one was supposedly white with black rings."

"White umbreon huh? I know of such a thing, we've encountered him many times, but for the longest time we never even knew what he went by. Your sister had a thing for this umbreon, you know that right?"

"I do," I said with a small nod.

"Hmmf, glad that monster is dead, he's killed so many of us. Not to offend you, but your sister may be a whore if she actually had a thing for h-"

"Another word and were done here," I snapped at him as I got into his face with a low growl. "You don't ever call my sister that again, ever." The croagunk remained silent for a moment as I snarled at him, barely managing to hold myself back from killing him.

"Think as you wish to about her, but I don't see how she could feel anything for a soulless monster like that."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Blood splattered onto the ground as the servine fell to the ground. Her vines fell limp. Had I been a moment later, it'd be Ryder who was dead. I glared down at the umbreon, blood oozed from the wound on his neck. He glared at me, hardly conscious, then his eyes closed.

"You…" the charmander down the street spoke as he slowly walked towards me. "You're one of those Crimson guys, I remember you."

"I am," I bluntly replied.

"You need him alive, you're not going to let him bleed out, are you?" the charmander asked me nervously.

"No," I answered, "I don't have supplies on me though, and neither do you."

"We can find some, can't we?" the charmander asked.

"Their is a pokecenter nearby if I remember correctly, I'll take him there. You do as you please, but if you do anything stupid, you'll join the servine on the ground, we clear?"

"Y-Yeah," he answered.

"Then help me get him on my back, unless you want to carry him?"

"I can't carry him," the charmander spoke as he ran to Ryder's side. I crouched low as the charmander helped get him onto my back. Ryder let out a grunt as he laid unconscious on my back.

"Let's go before he dies," I said as I began to walk.

"Wait!" the charmander called to me. I peered back at him, feeling annoyed by him hindering me.

"We can't just leave her here…" the charmander spoke quietly. "I mean… yeah, she did try to kill us, but that's not important, I can't let her die."

"She's probably already dead," I responded to him. "If you wish to save her, then you carry her, I will have no paw in this if she tries to kill you again though."

"Yeah," he replied as he lifted the servine up. He carried her behind me with her long vines dragging along the ground.

It was about a ten minute walk before we arrived at the pokecenter. During the walk the charmander introduced himself to me for some reason. I couldn't quite understand why he bothered to burden me with such useless info. I didn't bother giving him my name.

The two of us stood outside the front door of the pokecenter. "Well, we made it, hopefully we're not too late," Aiden said as he pushed the door open with his back. I entered in behind him. My eyes stung as I came into a bright atmosphere compared to the dark night. The lights inside were blinding, and to make things worse it reflected off the shiny white floor. To my surprise though, this place was vacant.

"Great," I muttered as I let the umbreon fall of my back.

"What're you doing?!" Aiden yelled as he ran to Ryder in a panic.

"He's dead weight to me right now, put down the servine and help me find a kit to heal Ryder with."

"But-"

"Now," I snapped at him.

"R-Right," Aiden responded as he set down the servine. The two of us made our way through the lobby until we entered an open door behind the front desk that led us to the patient wing. It wasn't until halfway down the hall that I found a blood splatter. I glanced at it for a moment, it covered part of the wall, and a few specs made it to the floor. I looked ahead to see that it later turned into a trail. I followed down the hall until I came to another open door. I peaked inside and froze with a bit of surprise.

"What?" Aiden asked as he approached from behind.

"Nothing," I answered as I walked into the room.

"Wait… No… What the fuck happened here?!" Aiden yelled as he frantically moved away from the bloody corpse that he saw in the room I was now in.

"Just go in another room if you're going to panic, it's just a dea-"

"She's dead!" Aiden yelled in a panic.

He continued to say things, but I just blocked him out as I moved through a blood puddle in the room. At the end of the room I saw a basic trainer med kit sitting on a chair. I moved through the room and retrieved the kit. I exited the room and began walking back towards Ryder. Aiden was still panicking from the dead body.

"Shut up and follow me," I ordered him, "Unless you want to go to sleep next to her?"

"You wouldn't do that…"

"I won't if you help me with Ryder's injuries.

"Fine," he spat out as he followed me. During the rest of the walk he continued to blabber about the dead body in a panic. Again, I just blocked him out… I kind of learned to do this back when I didn't care for Naomi, I use to view her as very annoying, but obviously that changed.

Once back in the lobby I threw the kit in front of Ryder's unconscious body. "Alright, you're the one with fingers here, so treat his wounds."

"You're kidding right?" Aiden with disbelief. "I don't have medical experience past bandages, that and surgeon simulator, but those are two completely different things!"

'Mew, why couldn't I get stuck with the pikachu, at least he knew this stuff, plus he wasn't as whiny and random,' I mentally asked myself. "Listen, just help him and I'll walk you through it. Do you want him to die?"

"No…"

"Then open that kit and get started," I instructed.

The charmander nervously looked at the first aid kit, "Alright, I'll try."

* * *

**Point of View third person**

The battlefield Mandus fought on was now nothing more than the ruins of what once use to be a thriving area in Shalour. Many of the lower parts of the buildings were destroyed, and some buildings were even close to collapsing. A thick cloud of dust covered the air. Off in the distance police sirens could be heard, meanwhile only two Genesis pokemon stood, and four WPA members remained conscious. Zack, Mark, Ada, and James were all that was left, along with a weavile and a xatu on Genesis's team.

"The police are almost here," James the dewott commented as he panted in exhaustion and gripped a deep gash in his side that was covered in a stream of his blood.

"Will they be here soon enough though?" Mandus questioned as he watched the remaining pokemon. "Soon the police will be arriving, and the casualty level of this battle will rise. This city will be a war zone soon. I know Genesis will be sending reinforcements soon: better, stronger pokemon that'll pose more of a challenge."

"Mandus, why are you doing this?!" Zack yelled at the lucario in between heavy breaths. Blood dripped down from multiple wounds, on top of those wounds, a broken hind leg, a few broken ribs, and a minor concussion. The flareon was just barely managing to cling onto consciousness.

"I'm doing this to bring salvation to this world. Many will die, but only by sacrificing many can we save even more," the lucario answered.

"And how does any of this solve shit?!" James snapped at Mandus. "You're strong, but how did killing so many of us bring this world any closer to this salvation bullshit!"

"Hmmf, I wouldn't expect any of you to understand yet. Before you will believe me, your eyes must be opened to many truths. First of which is religious. You must accept that Legendaries do exist. Secondly, turn your back on these Legendaries, they have forsaken us. Lastly, do whatever it takes to achieve our own control over this world. I wish to revert this world back to a more primal state, one where humans don't rule over pokemon."

"And let me guess, you're going to be the king of this new world?" Zack spitefully spoke.

"King, God, leader, I don't wish to be any of those. When I achieve my new world, I don't want any leaders that dictates everything, I want a world where everyone can choose their own futures for themselves. No big governments to control everything humans and pokemon do, just a world that is fair. A world where a pokemon won't be born into my life, born without a chance of happiness."

"You had a chance of happiness, Mandus," Zack snapped.

"You still have many things left for you Zack. You have felt loss, but you've always had something to cling onto, to keep yourself together. All I have is a dream, this is the only thing I have left in this world."

"You don't know a thing about loss! You're just delusional!" Zack retorted with fury.

"Think as you wish, Zackary, but their isn't a spot for pokemon like you in the new world. You too are one of those that I view as destroying this world."

"Destroying this world? That's complete bullshit!" Mark yelled out. "What about all the lives WPA has saved, all the bad humans and pokemon we stopped, explain this to me, tell me how my lifes dedication is destroying this world?!"

"Think about it? WPA is like the guardians of this world in a way. But, I know some truths about WPA no one else does, after all, I am a founding member. If you live past tonight, I will explain if we meet again."

The sirens in the background grew louder, and red and blue flashing lights from the distance could be seen. From another direction of the street an army of blue eyed pokemon approached. Many covered the tops of buildings, while some took the ground, a few even drilled their way up from below the ground, while others flew in and even dropped some pokemon off. At least a dozen police cars came onto the scene. Policemen got out of the car, some of which had pokemon, but mostly humans. About half of the humans were armed, while another half had pokeballs ready in their hands. Both of the two armies faced each other, leaving Mandus standing in the middle with tranquility. Many of the policemen released their pokemon, most of which were canine based pokemon, but it varied from all types. Genesis's side had more of the vicious looking pokemon, from dark to fire types that would pose a serious threat.

"To all of you I offer a glorious ending, but an end none the less," Mandus spoke out loud as both teams glared at the lone lucario. "Bare witness as I show you the power I have aquired, maybe then some of you will see the truth." Mandus reaching into his coat pocket and pulled out a radio and held it near his mouth. "VIncent, commence operation Red Dawn," Mandus spoke into the radio before he put it away.

A moment of silence passed by as everyone watched to see what would happen next. A small tremor was felt from the ground, before it felt as if an earthquake had come. Cracks formed by by Mandus's feet as everyone struggled to keep their footing. A bright lime green light shone through the cracks in the ground. The ground soon opened up and Mandus ascended into the air while standing atop of a mighty serpent.

"Behold, I have achieved the power of a god," Mandus's voice boomed among the armies as the serpent let out a powerful roar that shattered the windows of the buildings. The Legendary known as Zygarde emitted a green aura that lit the whole street. More cracks formed all over the ground in different spots and seconds after large spire like branches broke through the surface of the earth, creating a forest like setting. Many of the pokemon and human scurried out of the way, some were knocked over from the spirelike trees. After the trees fully sprouted, both armies remained petrified.

"You have all witnessed the Legendary known as Zygarde: The protector of the ecosystem of this world. Long ago Zygarde chose to neglect his responsibility to protect the homes of many pokemon, because of that, many have suffered," Mandus spoke as he gave his words a moment to settle in. "Now, unless you all wish to see the power of a God, then submit."

**To be Continued...**

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Hopefully things aren't too jumpy in this arc, but I think things are going fine so far, but please tell me if you disagree. Anyways, before people pull out the pitchforks I'd like to state why I had Ebony evolve into an espeon even though it is night. It is true that an eevee needs sunlight and affection or whatever to evolve, but I never really understood the sunlight part... I'd understand that for a leafeon, but I feel that an espeon has little to nothing to do with the sun. So, hopefully this doesn't bother anyone to bad, but in a world where tears bring your dead friends back, I guess this is something minor.

I would like to thank genericgamer207 for editing.


	97. The blue eyed umbreon

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 97: The blue eyed umbreon**

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

The quirky charmander finished treating Ryder's wounds. He got them disinfected, bandaged, and gave him an antidote for the poison the servine supposedly had in her vines. Aiden had put a bandage on Ryder's neck and left paw. The fire type was moving onto the servine. I couldn't quite understand why he'd want to help a women who tried to murder him and Ryder. Any wise pokemon or human would have forsaken her, if not finished her off.

The charmander laid the servine on her side as he pulled the kit up next to him. He took out the remaining supplies and began disinfecting her wounds with rubbing alcohol. The unconscious servine cringed from the burning liquid, but she remained unconscious. After that Aiden applied bandages on her injuries.

"Is there a reason to why you found it necessary to save her?" I asked the charmander as I watched him from afar.

The charmander continued to help her and ignored me, it was almost as if he was lost in a trance. "Stupid reasons," he answered with a hollow tone.

"Stupid reasons is right," I scoffed.

"Yeah…" Aiden spoke even more quietly. It took him a few minutes, but that servine was bandaged up. I couldn't guarantee she'd live though, I got her pretty good.

For a while the room remained quiet, it was almost peaceful considering the circumstances of this night. Just as I felt myself growing tired, a loud boom went off far in the distance. My ears perked up from the sound as Aiden and I both swapped glances.

"What the hell was that?" Aiden asked.

"How would I know? Did you see me go anywhere recently?" I asked sarcastically as I walked towards the front door. "I'm going to step outside for a moment, maybe I'll hear it better."

"Wait for me," Aiden spoke as he scurried to my side. The two of us got outside and waited quietly.

"I don't hear an-"

"Shhh," I interrupted him. My ears rose up as I listened carefully. From here I could here I could hear the faint sound of gunshots and other explosion. It sounded like it was pretty far from here.

"Do you hear something, I can't?" Aiden nagged me.

"I hear, gunshots and explosives," I answered as I tried to visualize what was going on.

"You're kidding, right? Maybe it's just fireworks or something. I mean, this city doesn't have any gangs does it?"

"No, I recognize the sound of gunshots from anywhere. And this isn't some little gang shootout either," I told Aiden.

* * *

**Point of View Ebony**

The three of us were now all on the second floor of the pokecenter. We managed to find a room that was safe from any bad guys. Apparently this was the room Dante was staying in while he was recovering. Luckily it had medical supplies for Alex. Alex sat on a chair with his leg bandaged up while he held a cloth against his neck to help stop the bleeding. It had almost stopped, but it wasn't quite ready to be bandaged up. I sat on a chair that was right next to Alex, and made sure to stay close to him in case anything happened again. Dante lazily lay on the bed, while the newly introduced croagunk, Tyson, leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

I have to say though, being an espeon feels weird compared to my old form. For one, I was a bit bigger. My legs were much longer versus how I used to kinda have stubby limbs. My tail was pretty weird as well, I wasn't sure if I liked how it was forked. And lastly, my fur just felt sensitive. I mean, I've heard of espeons having fur so sensitive they can predict stuff. Hopefully I'd get used to all of this, but I guess this evolution did save me.

"Anyways, the human appears to be better. I don't think it'd be wise for us to stick around here if that ghost freak said he'd be coming back with friends," Tyson spoke up, breaking the silence in the room.

"And we'll be safer outside?" Dante asked as he stood up and stretched out his body.

"Well, the pokecenter isn't exactly a safe place anymore. The only doctor is dead. I think right now we should regroup with other WPA members."

"I see. Well, you're the one with experience in this crap, so I'm trusting you not to get us all killed."

"Alright, lets get the hell outta here then," Tyson said as he opened the door and walked out. Dante jumped off the bed and followed him.

"Hey, where are they-" Alex began to say before I tugged on his jacket with my teeth. "Alright, I'll come," Alex said as he stood up. he let out a grunt from the pain of using his leg, but he pushed through it. "I'm fine, don't worry. My leg just hurts a bit," Alex said with a forced smile.

Our small group made our way through the halls on the second floor until we made it to the stairwell. Alex cringed from the sight of the stairs. Dante and Tyson already began to go down the stairs without a problem.

"This is going to hurt," Alex said as he began to slowly limp down the stairs. Every step of the way I followed by Alex's side. Eventually, we made it to the bottom where Dante and Tyson were waiting.

"Come on. The faster we get out of here, the better," Tyson said as he led the way. We entered another hall and made our way towards the lobby. About halfway down the hall to the lobby Tyson froze.

"There are two others here," Tyson spoke up before he ran towards this person I could just barely make out as something white and what appeared to be a charmander. Dante and I both ran behind Tyson as we came into the pokecenter lobby. The two of them stopped in the door frame, which blocked my view.

"You…" Tyson spoke below his breath as he focused on someone. Despite my curiosity, I stayed behind them for safety purposes.

"Aiden, what happened to Black?" Dante called out to someone.

"Wait, Black?!" I said excitedly as I pushed myself through them to see if I could see him. I went between the two and ran forward, but a set of teeth grabbed me by my nape. I stood frozen in place as my tail and ears fell low from the sight of Black. The umbreon laid on the ground bandaged up while unconscious. Aiden took a few steps back from Black as he rose his hands up as if he had nothing to do with it. But that isn't what made me freeze up. Standing on the other side of Black was a white umbreon, one with cold blue eyes that pierced my heart like a needle. Shivers began to run through my body as I felt myself becoming limp.

"Y-y-you…" I murmured fearfully.

"Ebony, are you okay?" Dante asked me as he pulled me further back.

"No… I can't be here, he's going to kill me!" I screamed as I pulled myself free from Dante and took off running as fast as I could.

"Ebony!" Dante called out as I ran past Alex who was just now catching up to our group.

"Ebony, stop!" Alex called out to me, but I continued to run away.

Third person point of View

"Dante, go get her, I'll take care of things here," Tyson ordered Dante.

"Your sure this guy is trouble?"

"Yeah," Tyson said with a nod, "Now go."

"Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can," Dante said before he took off running after Ebony. Tyson Glanced back to see the leafeon running after her along with the limping human.

"So, I see Genesis took interest in reanimating you of all monsters," The croagunk spoke to Stark. "But I'm not worried about that, I'm just wondering why the boss's kid is right there in that condition?"

"Wait," Aiden interrupted, "He didn't hurt Black, he actually saved him."

"So, is your umbreon friend going to step back then and let me take Ryder to safety?" Tyson asked as he glared at Stark.

"Sadly for you, that isn't the case. I have my own orders to follow," Stark replied.

"I see. Then I guess this can't be helped. Charmander, stand in my way and you'll die with this killer. So I suggest you stand off to the side."

"Do as he says, I'll take care of him," Stark ordered Aiden.

"Wait, can't we talk this out?" Aiden pleaded.

"There is nothing to talk about. He seeks to harm Ryder, and I have orders to protect him. Our missions conflict, so one of us must fall for the other to proceed," Tyson spoke seriously.

"I've seen enough violence for the-"

"Just stand to the side, this'll only take a moment," Stark spoke as he began walking towards the croagunk.

"Indeed, this'll be over quickly for you." Tyson cracked his knuckles as he charged towards Stark. "Let me send you back to Hell!"

"It's not over yet," Stark replied as he dodged a punch from the croagunk. Stark jumped backwards with a shadow ball charging in his mouth. He shot the attack at the croagunk. Tyson lept over the attack and darted towards Stark. Dark matter surrounded Starks right paw as he lashed it out at Tyson. The croagunk ducked below the attack and then jumped up as he kneed Stark in the jaw. A grunt escaped Stark as he flew back and tousled onto the ground, but he carried his momentum and smoothly got back onto all fours.

"Get back over here, we're not done!" Tyson shouted as he came at Stark again. Tyson jabbed his poisonous fists out towards Stark repeatedly and the umbreon moved from each attack. Tyson cocked one of his arms back into a powerful punch, but Stark dodged to the left and quickly clamped his teeth down on his upper arm. Stark then threw the croagunk down.

Just as Stark was about to go in for the finishing blow, Tyson inhaled a deep breath and exhaled a thick toxic mist in the air. Stark clenched his mouth shut as he jumped away from the cloud of mist.

"Hmmf, so close to," Tyson sneered as he pulled himself up. Blood dripped from his arm down onto the floor, but he ignored the wound as if it didn't even exist.

"So tell me Stark, why would you chose to work for Genesis, what are they planning for Ryder?"

Stark remained calm as he stared at the croagunk for a sign of trickery. "I don't work for Genesis. They reanimated me, but I quickly fell into the hands of Crimson."

"Then let me ask my question differently: What is the Crimson Dawn planning?"

Stark stared into the croagunk's eyes for a moment before he said anything, "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. Besides, I don't know the plan in great detail. I just know some middle parts and the beginning and end. If you want real answers, pursue our leader."

"It doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon enough."

"If I was to die tonight, it wouldn't mean anything to me, I've been dead since a year ago," Stark spoke bitterly.

"Then accept your death, be freed from your sins," Tyson spoke before he charged at Stark again.

"Sadly, I have given up, but I still have something I want to do before I die," Stark whispered to himself as he eluded a punch from the croagunk and moved behind him. Stark extended his paw out as dark matter formed around it. Stark's paw ripped into the croagunk's lower left back. Tyson let out a pained yell as Stark's paw went further in him, but he withdrew his paw before it went completely though.

"Shit… this wasn't supposed to-" Tyson struggled to say before he fell onto the ground with a pool of blood forming around him.

"Now, accept your own death, and I'll accept mine when the time comes," Stark spoke calmly to the croagunk as he backed away. A sigh escaped Stark as he stared down at the unconscious croagunk.

"You… you killed him…" Aiden spoke fearfully from across the room.

"He's probably still alive... For now," Stark responded.

"But… this wasn't necessary, couldn't you have knocked him out or something!" Aiden yelled in fury. "All this suffering for a fucking umbreon, how is this worth it?!"

"It was him or me. And to answer your question, none of this will probably be worth it. The end goal is to achieve peace by using that umbreon, but I doubt a better world can be made by using such dark methods."

"Fuck you, fuck Crimson, fuck anyone who is taking part in all of this shit!" Aiden yelled as he clenched his fists.

"And what're you going to do? Those who watch it happen are just as guilty as those who do this stuff. You could have stopped the fight if you truly desired, but you stood and watched. If it was me dying on that floor right now, would you resent the croagunk instead?"

"What am I going to do?" Aiden asked himself. "You're right, maybe I should just end all of this now," Aiden spoke as he walked towards Black and stood over him. "Maybe I should kill someone to? I mean, if this one umbreon dies, then all of this violence ends, right?" Aiden asked as he looked down at Black.

"And you have the stomach to do that?"

"No…" Aiden admitted, "It would make things easier, but I'm not killing anyone, ever. Now, move aside from that croagunk, I'm going to do the right thing at least."

"Do as you please," Stark replied as he moved away from Tyson.

* * *

**Point of View Dante**

My chase after Ebony went pretty far through the pokecenter, but she ended up running into a room at the end of the hall. I quickly made my way down the hall until I was standing outside the room. I looked inside a dark patient room as I heard the faint sound of sobbing.

"Ebony?" I calmly called out. The sobbing from inside the room continued without response, so I entered in after her. In a dark corner of the room I made out Ebony hiding in a corner. The espeon shivered uncontrollably as tears streamed down her eyes.

"Hey, you shouldn't run off like that, especially with all this stuff going on. Why did that guy set you off?" I questioned Ebony as I sat in front of her. The espeon just continued to cry as she trembled. A frown formed on my face as I saw her mood not getting any better. I moved a bit closer to Ebony and pulled her against me. I placed her head against my chest.

"Shhh, it's going to be fine," I whispered to her calmly. Her crying continued on for a minute before she began to calm down. After years of dealing with a sister with a lot of problems, I would pray that I could deal with an upset kid. Once I was sure she was doing better, I cautiously moved her away from me.

"Are you ready to tell me what's wrong?" I asked her. "You knew that white umbreon, didn't you?" I cautiously asked her. Ebony gave a weak nod. "Is it alright if I ask what he did to make you like this?"

Ebony looked down as I felt her trembling again. "He…" Ebony began before she stopped herself.

"It's alright, take your time," I said with a smile.

"That umbreon… he… he's the one who killed my older sister."

I remained quiet for a moment as I stood up. "That's not right. Someone your age should never be parted from a loved one," I said as I turned towards the door. "Wait here, I'll be back as soon as I can."

I walked out of the room and headed back towards the lobby. Coming down the hall was Alex, the human limped as fast as he could. I pointed towards the room Ebony was in before I continued on my way. Once Alex passed me, I allowed my tranquility to fade. My teeth gnashed together as I felt an uncontrollable anger eating me away.

"You're going to pay," I growled as I ran back towards the lobby. I didn't slow down for even a moment, after i turned a few corners I saw the entrance to the lobby up ahead. I ran into the lobby and slid to a stop. My eyes widened from the sight of Tyson lying on his frontside with a pool of blood around him. Aiden knelt down next to the croagunk, he appeared to be using some kind of healing kit on the croagunk. I took my eyes off the croagunk and directed my gaze towards the white umbreon.

"You bastard," I snarled at him as I stomped my feet towards him, "How could you kill that espeon's sister? How could you do something so sick twisted!?" I yelled at the white umbreon.

"I don't recall who that espeon even was," the umbreon replied. My growl grew more vicious from his response.

"I don't give a damn, you're going to pay."

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

Far off in the distance explosions and gunshots could be heard. All of us carefully walked through the streets. We had yet to even find a clue on Black or Kana's whereabouts. After the fight on top of the building we were attacked again, but that time it was just two pokemon, so we all managed without a problem… but then Isaac did his "clean up" thing again. I understood why, but it was so unnecessary.

During our journey Hesh was a bit quiet, it was obvious he was still a bit shocked from killing someone, but he appeared to be taking it well at the moment. Flare seemed to be the most cheerful of the group, although it was obvious he was forcing himself to act happy, from time to time I could see how worried he really was. Gray mostly kept to himself, while Isaac just remained silent most of the time, I found his lack of emotion unsettling.

"It has been a while," Isaac spoke up.

"Yeah, so?" Flare responded.

"So, I think it's time we take a break and check up on everybody at the pokecenter. Plus, this'll give me a chance to check out the chaos we're hearing without putting all of you in danger," Isaac answered.

"So, you want to give up on Black and Kana?"

"No, but at the moment I think it's best if we head back and take a break. We've been in two fights, plus I think your pikachu friend has had enough for the night."

"Hey, I'm fine, don't worry about me, seriously," Hesh insisted as he snapped himself out of his trance.

"Regardless of what you all say, we're heading back. For all we know Black could be there now, or maybe someone else already found him. Either way, I need to see what is going on down in central Shalour, it sounds like a war."

Flare let out a scowl, "Fine, we'll go back so you can go investigate, but after we've rested up a bit I'm going back out."

"Let's just see what happens when we get to the pokecenter," Isaac spoke as he led the way. Without a word, all of us followed Isaac's lead. To be honest, I was a bit happy that we were going to take a break from this constant danger, but in no way was I happy about a break from helping Black and Kana.

Our group made our way through Shalour. Not a word was said while we travelled to safety. After a bit of a walk, the pokecenter came into sight. In the darkness the pokecenter seemed like a light since it was the only building with lights on.

"Wait, something isn't right," Isaac said before he took off running towards the pokecenter. I squinted my eyes to see through the window, but I couldn't make out a clear picture of the inside. All of us followed behind Isaac in a hurry to see what was wrong. Isaac kicked the pokecenter door open just as all of us caught up. Isaac slowly walked into the pokecenter as he looked around carefully. I followed in behind him, until I froze in place.

"Dante!" I screamed at the sight of my brother lying on the floor covered in his own blood. I bumped into Isaac as I sprinted towards my brother. "Dante, what happened?!" I asked as I looked down at my injured brother. A giant gash travelled down his left side with blood pouring from the wound.

"I'm fine… I think…" Dante struggled to say as he barely managed to glance up at me. "We're in a pokecenter at least…"

"He's right," Isaac agreed, "We have all the supplies here we need to treat everyones wounds."

"Aiden," Flare called out as he ran to the front desk to find the charmander leaning against it. Aiden clenched a wound on his shoulder that had blood gushing from it.

"H-hey…" Aiden murmured weakly. Flare's ears and tail lowered from the sight of seeing everyone around him injured.

"Crap!" Flare yelled as he ran to the side of the room towards an unconscious croagunk I hadn't noticed before. "He's not dead, is he?!" Flare desperately asked. The fox buried his snout below the croagunk's chest and flipped him onto his back. Flare placed his giant ear against his chest and listened carefully. "No-no-no, he can't be!"

"Flare, calm down, panicking isn't going to help him," Isaac interrupted.

"I can't hear a heartbeat!" the fox yelled.

"Calm down buddy," Hesh interrupted, "I'm far better at this stuff than you, let me check him out," Hesh said as he ran towards the unconscious croagunk's side. The pikachu placed a finger on the croagunk's neck as he listened for a heartbeat.

"You just missed it. It's faint, but he's clinging on," Hesh stated. Flare exhaled a breath of relief. "And do you know this guy or something? You seem a bit invested in him."

"We can talk about it later," Flare responded.

"And what about the servine, does anyone know her?" Hesh asked everyone.

"She's not one of us, unless I haven't met her," Isaac replied.

"She's just a pokemon who got mixed into all of this," Aiden answered. "I managed to bandage her up… but, I don't think I did a very good job," the charmander finished.

"So, my question is, who did all of this?" Isaac questioned the two conscious survivors.

"It… it was an umbreon," Aiden answered weakly as his head bobbed up and down in a fight to stay conscious. "Black was just here too, but you just missed him… that guy took him."

"We'll catch him, where did he go?" Isaac asked as he quickly ran to Aiden's side and knelt down to listen.

"He… he went out the back exit, he was literally here a minute before you got here."

"That'll do charmander, save your strength on staying conscious," Isaac replied as he stood up.

"Wait," Aiden murmured. Isaac looked back towards the charmander. "I've never been much of a fighter, but this guy… he's strong, he doesn't hesitate. If you fight him, he'll try to kill you."

"That's fine, I wouldn't expect an opponent who caused this much damage to be weak," Isaac said before he walked towards the hall.

"Just… just bring him back… I can't let him…" Aiden began to say before he fell our unconscious on the floor.

"Aiden!" Flare and I both yelled out. The fennekin and I both ran to the charmanders side.

"Give him some space, he'll be fine. But he needs medical help now, same with everyone else here," Isaac stated.

"You all pursue the guy who took Black," Hesh spoke up, "I'm the one here with the most medical skill, just leave them in my hands."

"And you can handle this?" Isaac questioned the pikachu as he gave him a stern glance.

"We're out of options here, unless you're good at doing this stuff?"

"I'm afraid you are our only option then. Don't let them die."

"I won't," Hesh nodded.

"Flare, Gray, Naomi, we need to go, now!" Isaac barked at us.

"Right," Flare agreed as everyone followed behind the sprinting grovyle. A hesitated for a moment as I looked back at my brother.

"Dante… I promise I'll be back soon." I forced a confident smirk on myself.

"Naomi… don't… You'll-"

"I have to, I can't let anything happen to Black," I protested. My brother was about to say something, but I turned towards Hesh, "Please take care of my brother, I know we've had our differences, but please," I pleaded to Hesh. The pikachu froze up for a moment, before he chuckled.

"I may not be fond of you, but even if it was you on the floor right there, I wouldn't just let you die. Now get going, they'll need you."

"Thank you," I said as I bowed my head to him and ran after everyone. I made my way into the hall and navigated until I came along the back entrance. The door was just shutting from everyone passing through as I came by. I barely managed to squeeze through before the door shut completely. Once outside, I found everyone staring at something on the ground.

"What's going on, why'd you all stop?" I asked everyone.

"It seems whoever did all of this was badly injured, he's leaving quite the blood trail," Isaac filled me in as I got a glance at a splatter of blood.

"He won't make it far with a wound like this, unless he abandons Black," Gray commented.

"Let's not leave it to chance, we should hurry," Flare suggested.

"Let's go," Isaac ordered as he followed the blood trail. I followed behind everyone as I followed every splash of blood on the ground. We ran behind a row of buildings until the blood trail took us through an alley. We came out on the other side of the alley onto the main street.

"There," Isaac spoke quietly as he looked down the street. I looked down the street to see Black being carried on another umbreon's back. But this umbreon wasn't an ordinary umbreon, he was white… like Stark. The white umbreon allowed Black to fall off of his back, which he then turned to face us. Blood poured onto the ground from a deep gash in the white umbreon's shoulder. He panted in exhaustion as he held his head low.

"He doesn't have much time left in this condition, that wound is pretty deep," Isaac commented. "I should be able to finish him in one blow."

The umbreon's head rose as his panting ceased. Blue eyes stared back at us with a familiar face. I stood in place as I recognized those blue eyes, but I remembered them always being red.

"Stark…" I whispered to myself, but I frantically shook my head, "No… it's just him!" I said as I remembered who that imposter really was.

The white umbreon's eyes widened as he focused in on me. For a moment he stood frozen in place, but he managed to take a step forward. He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something, but no words left his mouth.

"Stand back, this one's mine," Isaac ordered as he slowly walked towards the imposter.

"Naomi…? but… you're dead..."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Heh, I almost didn't make this weekly update. I ended up busy a good chunk of this week, and addicted to a new game XD. It's outta my system now though. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed where the end of the chapter was going ;)

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.


	98. Tears

**Wow, I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing last chapter, it was really cool seeing everyone excited for this chapter. Heh, well to milk out this story some more, I decided we're going into... FILLERS! Nah, I'm just messing with ya XD. Heh, I'd rather not update... fillers are evil. Anyhoo, enjoy the moment you have all been waiting for!**

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 98: ****Tears**

* * *

**third person Point of View**

Rhys patiently waited atop of a building that towered over the scene below him. A thick smoke masked everything below, along with the new trees that were creating a thick forest in the middle of the streets of Shalour. Explosions and gunshots went off constantly, giving this whole scene the vibe of a war.

"Sir," the scratchy voice of a pokemon called out to Rhys.

"Kane, I'm glad to see you haven't fallen in the chaos of this night. I presume your mission tonight is going well?" Rhys asked as he didn't bother to look back at the black scyther behind him.

"I've retrieved the pokemon you asked me to, she's unharmed of course," Kane answered as he turned to show the unconscious pokemon he held tightly against him with his arm.

"Job well done, be sure to get her back to base unharmed," Rhys instructed, "She'll be useful when the time comes, I know she will."

"Yes sir," Kane spoke as he readjusted the unconscious jolteon in his arm. The jolteon let out a pained grunt, but she remained unconscious otherwise.

"Oh and Kane," Rhys spoke as the scyther was getting ready to leave, "Remember not to be seen, Crimson still thinks you're one of them."

"Sir, no one suspects a thing, I'll report back when I can."

"Very well, take care out there."

"You do the same sir," the scyther replied in his scratchy voice as he turned towards the ledge of the building. The scyther's wings came out and the bug type jumped with Kana in his arms.

* * *

Skull Face walked down the empty streets of shalour. Off in the distance he could hear the crackles and explosions from the war Mandus was fighting in.

"So, it comes down to this tonight," Skull Face said out loud. "All of this to get an umbreon they hardly even understand, how humorous," Skull Face snorted as he quickened his pace. A strong breeze blew through the air as he looked in the direction of his destination with a serious glare.

"Tonight, Skull Face joins the hunt."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

'It's not possible, she's dead, she's been dead for over a full year. But… everything about her is the same.' Naomi glared at me from down the street. The fur on her back stood up as she snarled. Her sharp fangs showed and her eyes focused on me with fire in them. I looked at the golden ring on her forehead, I made out a scar, one that kind of made her golden ring into a crescent. The facts only seemed to lean more towards her being the one and only Naomi, that scar was also where she got shot.

The two other pokemon both got into defensive positions. One was a fennekin who gritted his teeth with rage as he huffed fumes of smoke from his inner flame. An absol seemed to be among us either, he seemed to be a bit angry as well. The last one was a grovyle, this one appeared tranquil, but his fighting stance showed his hostility, not only that, it was obvious that he's seen some battles in his day, I could see it in those yellow eyes. As I focused in on the two my vision began to blur in an out. My eyes lowered to see the puddle of blood forming. My own blood seeped down my shoulder and dribbled onto the ground.

"I've already lost too much… And I can't fight her, I'd rather bleed out here," I whispered to myself in a panic. My vision focused back on Naomi.

"Naomi… You're…" I tried to speak, but something blocked my throat, it was a brick of emotions and pain.

"Save it, Skull Face!" She snapped at me, causing me to stumble back a bit.

"What does that even mean?" the absol questioned Naomi.

"This thing, it's some kind of monster," Naomi replied back.

"No…" I whispered to myself as my head fell low. "Not you… out of all opinions..."

"We can talk later," the grovyle interrupted as he lowered himself towards the ground, placing one palm in on the ground. "We'll kill him here, then we can talk after. Follow my lead, and be careful." In a blurring speed the grovyle sped towards me. His hand extended out towards me as the leaf on his arm hardened into a blade and pulsed with energy. In a sloppy movement I jerked to the side. His left blade slashed over my back as I evaded, leaving another gash.

"Finish him!" the grass type ordered as the absol and fennekin closed in on me from both sides. The fennekin darted towards me as his body combusted into a powerful torch, while the absol came in to slash me with his claws.

Grunting in pain, I jumped as high as I could into the air, just barely avoiding death by those two. That's when a powerful force smashed into me and an intense energy ate away the flesh on my underbelly. Everything turned black and white for a moment. I fell onto the ground and remained still as my vision slowly returned to normal. While laying on my side, I glanced at my stomach. The flesh was eaten away in the dead center, causing blood to trickle down and dye my fur red, the wound wasn't serious, but it had an intense stinging pain to it. There was no doubt where the damage from that attack came from, Naomi.

The grovyle jumped in front of my and pinned his foot on my neck, crushing me with it. "It's over for this one, look away if you wish not to see thi-"

"Hold on," A voice cut him off. Joining the grovyle's side was Naomi. Despite my blurry vision, I could still make her out. She still looked just like the skinny umbreon that was a runt, but why does it have to be this way, why isn't she even acknowledging me? Naomi Glared down at me spitefully, not one bit of sympathy in her eyes.

"Why, why are you doing this to us!" Naomi yelled out at me, her body trembled with fury as she stood over me.

"Why… why won't you recognize me?" I weakly spoke.

"Because, you're an imposter. Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you after you took that form so many times," Naomi snapped at me. "Now tell me, who are you, why are you targeting Black, answer!"

For a minute I remained silent, her question caught me off guard, nothing she even said made sense. "I don't understand."

"Why're you bothering to play dumb now? After all you've done? All the mind games, the manipulating."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't you remember me?"

"I remember the real Stark, and you're just mocking his image right now with that illusion or whatever the hell it is."

"I'm not an illusion!" I yelled weakly.

"Then what are you, what else takes the form of dead pokemon? You took the form of Black's brother, my mother, someone Aiden cared for, and now this! Explain this to me, are you a zorua, a ditto, or what!" Naomi shouted, before she calmed herself to catch her breath.

"Naomi," the grovyle spoke up. "It's better to just end him here, he won't bother answering, that's just how liars are. You may not get answers, but I promise you closure."

"Fine, just do it," Naomi agreed. The grovyle rose his hand up as the leaf on his arm hardened into a blade again.

"Naomi…" I began as I focused on her one last time. "If me dying here makes you happy that's fine, but I can't die again without saying something." The grovyle held his blade up, but waited patiently for me to finish. "Remember long ago before we were separated by Jack? I remember that night where you got injured during a job and I ended up carrying you to a secluded spot where we could be alone for a bit and talk. We both talked about escape, and we were really close when I was about to tell you something, but Sam interrupted me..."

"I do, I remember," Naomi replied quietly as her ears rose up in interest.

"I never got to tell you how I felt, and to the end I regretted every second of never telling you."

"And… what did you want to tell me?" Naomi asked me as she leaned in closer to me.

I exhaled a long breath as I thought of a good way to say this, but I remembered that it didn't matter, I just needed to say this, even if she was trying to kill me... "On that night-" I began before I stopped. I inhaled another deep breath as I closed my eyes and began to tremble a bit from the fear. "Naomi, I've always viewed as something more than a very close friend, I… I love you," I admitted as cringed in terror, even if I was about to die.

"Stark…" Naomi whispered. "You really are him, aren't you?" My eyes opened back up to see Naomi tearing up. A teardrop fell from her face and landed on my fur.

"And what makes you so sure now?" the absol questioned.

"Because, only the real Stark would be so nervous about that, even in a situation like-"

"Naomi," the grovyle cut her off, "Don't get emotionally invested in this, in the end he's still a criminal. This will ends here," In a swift motion the grovyle's leaf blade came down towards me.

"Never!" Naomi screamed as she tackled into the grovyle and the two tousled to the ground. The grovyle ended on top as he held Naomi down on the ground. The absol and fennekin stared at the two of us, not knowing which side to take.

"You disappoint me Naomi, I told you that we wouldn't tolerate anything from you."

"Leave her alone…" I growled as I forced myself up. "No one… No one ever touches her," I snarled.

"And what're you going to do, if you come any closer I'll end her." Before I could even respond, I crashed towards the ground. I panted in exhaustion, just standing up used the last of my strength.

"Wait, you can't just kill her," the fennekin rose his voice. "This guy's a criminal, but Naomi isn't. She's a good pokemon, you can't," the fennekin argued.

"Flare, hold on, he's WPA," the absol warned him.

"I don't care who he is, Naomi was just trying to protect someone she cared for."

"Think about what you're saying, Flare," The grovyle rose his voice. "You're just going to side with criminals?"

"And what does this accomplish? This umbreon is finished, you don't have to kill Naomi!" the fox argued.

"Hmmf, if you convince Naomi to stand down, then I'll spare her." The fennekin looked into Naomi's eyes as she was pinned down by the grovyle.

"Naomi," Gray called out as he stepped forward, "I can't make this choice for you, but if you don't stop this you'll be enemies with-"

"Just bite me!" Naomi yelled as her body flared up in dark energy. The grovyle was forced off her and he leapt a safe distance from her. "I already lost Stark once because I was an idiot. If you hurt him, you'll regret it." Naomi snapped at the grovyle.

"And this is what you truly want?" the grovyle asked.

"No… What I want is for this to stop here, but you're not going to let it stop here."

"That is true," The grass type agreed. "But, ask yourself this. What about your brother, and the charmander? This one nearly killed them. If we didn't arrive, they probably would have bled out if not for us."

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

The question Isaac asked me caught me off the guard. I just remained frozen in place. I glanced over towards Stark who was lying on the ground. His eyes showed that he was shocked, his jaw was slightly agape, and he looked downward.

"And let's also put this out, he's trying to abduct Ryder. These are three lives that he almost ruined tonight. All of which we prevented. If we hadn't come along, your brother would be dead along with that charmander, and Black would have been taken away. Not only that, who knows how many more people he's killed. Stopping him here will save many more in the future. In my opinion, that's a small price to pay to protect others. So, does this change your view on this situation, Naomi?"

I remained still as his question circulated through my mind, I had no idea how to even respond to something like that. Isaac had his arms crossed as he stared me down, while Stark remained in a nervous state where he wouldn't even look towards me.

"And you stay quiet because you know it's true," Isaac spoke as he began to walk towards Stark. "Don't be fooled by this umbreon, he's dangerous."

"Stark…" I called out as I stared at him, "Why… why did you attack Dante and Aiden, please tell me you had a good reason, please," I desperately asked as Isaac continued towards Stark. The white umbreon remained silent as he looked towards the ground. The only response I got from him was silence.

"Stark!" I yelled again.

"I didn't have a reason," Stark answered quietly. "Truthfully, I don't even know why I'm doing any of this. Even if I live this, it doesn't change the fact that I'm just waiting to expire in a few months. Even now when I'm free from Jack, I'm still being used as someone's killing tool," Stark finished and slowly pushed himself off the ground. "I'm sorry Naomi… all I've been doing lately is hurting others, it's all I know."

"Which is why you must be stopped here," Isaac replied.

"You WPA scumbags have it all wrong," Stark muttered before he looked the grovyle in the eyes. Blood dripped from his wounds, but they were managing to close on their own due to it being a full moon. "Pokemon like Naomi and me are victims to all of this too. I was just a kid when Jack captured me, I wasn't raised by a loving family, I was raised by killers. If I never met Jack or Sam, I would be a completely different pokemon, I wouldn't be me. Naomi as well, she had her whole life ahead of her, then Jack captured her and compromised every moral she had! Neither of us wanted this life, we were forced into it, and now we're paying for the sins of another man! How is this fair, why do we have to pay for what someone forced us to do?!" Stark yelled at the grovyle before he calmed himself. Stark remained silent for a moment before he exhaled a sigh. "Every morning I wake up wishing someone would just free me… sometimes, I feel like my only escape is going to be death. I never wanted any of this."

Isaac remained in place as he processed what Stark said. The grovyle crossed his arms as he stared the white umbreon down, "In the end, life is brutal. You may be a victim to one man's sick twisted mind, but in the end you're responsible for your own actions. It's sad, but no matter how hard you try to hide it and make others see your side, blood still stains your paws. Everywhere you have gone, death followed in your wake. It really does sadden me to see pokemon like yourself, but we at WPA will fight harder to prevent more pokemon like you from ending up with bad humans."

"Right now it's me being punished, my old owner still lives. Don't even begin to talk to me about helping pokemon like me, when you can't even stop Jack."

"We will stop your old owner, it's just a matter of time. When one does bad things, bad things will happen in return." Isaac said. The grovyle extended his arms outward as his hands formed rakes with his fingers. The leaves on his arms hardened into leaf blades with a green energy pulsing through them. "Now, stop fighting and allow my to show you absolution, only death can free you from your sins."

"Stark!" I screamed as the grovyle launched himself at Stark. The grovyle's swung his leaf blade at Stark, in a sloppy motion he jumped back. Stark stumbled around as he struggled to keep himself up.

"It'll be over in merely a minute, don't be afraid!" the grovyle yelled as he continued his onslaught. Stark barely dodged out of the way, every swing of the grovyle's leaf blade left a small cut. Just as Stark was adjusting to the pattern, the grovyle jumped up with a spin and kicked him in the temple. Stark flew to the ground as the grovyle landed and went in to finish the battle.

"Enough!" a wave of flames blasted between the two. The grovyle slid to a stop and jumped back to face towards the intervening fennekin.

"Why do you intervene?"

Flare's muscles tensed up as he stepped towards the grovyle. Heat vented through his nostrils as he stared at the grovyle with fury. "Killing him doesn't fix what he did. Just because he dies here doesn't mean anyone is brought back. He's just dead and that's that."

"Flare," Gray spoke up. "Why are you trying so hard to protect Stark? It doesn't make sense, he's the one who killed-"

"I know what he did!" Flare piped up. "I hate this guy so much, I'd love to burn him to ash, but at the same time, I understand what he's talking about."

"Understand what?" Isaac asked..

"The whole manipulation thing. I understand what it's like to have bad people forcing you to do things. After a while, you just accept things and do as you're told."

"And what does a simple fennekin such as yourself know about this stuff?" Isaac asked with his arms crossed.

"Gray… You know I wasn't with Alex first," Flare began. "I wasn't always the fennekin I am now, I've done things I'm not proud of… Maybe not on his level, but if I wasn't given a second chance, I would possibly be where he was. Actually, I would be."

"How could you possibly end up like him?" Isaac said.

"Because… about two weeks ago we were attacked by mercenaries who worked for the same trainer he had. One of the pokemon was a former friend of mine, a blaziken who ended up going a different path than me. If someone didn't save me, I would have probably followed my friend down the same path, I would be just like Stark right now."

"Wait, why didn't you ever fucking speak up on this, we all almost died and you held that back!" Gray snapped at Flare.

"Because I'm absolutely terrified of what everyone will think if they know things about me that no one knows! I'd probably be hated and maybe killed if the right person knew about me!"

"Both of you, quiet!" Isaac snapped at the two. "As much as I wish to kill this umbreon, I will give him one alternative option."

"What's that?" Stark asked.

"You'll surrender yourself to WPA and allow us to integrate your memories with a psychic. Then we will have our council decide what they want to do with you. It could easily be death, or perhaps hard labor, or perhaps you'll get off free if you really are innocent. So, what'll it be? I only offer this because two people here feel different about my decision."

"Fine. But if I'm found innocent?"

"You're free to do as you please, as long as it's legal. You'll also be watched, if you do anything again, you'll be killed on the spot."

"Very well, I don't wish for any further violence, so do what you need to do."

"Lie down then, I'm going to restrain you and take you into custody, then we'll continue from their," Isaac ordered.

"Wait!" I called out to isaac. The grovyle turned towards me and waited for my question. "I thought Stark was dead this whole time… If you take him, I probably won't see him for a long time. Please, can I just talk to him before that?"

Isaac stood in silence for a few seconds as he stared me in the eyes, "I'll give you a few minutes, but if you try anything, I'll kill both of you," Isaac warned me as he rose up his arm with the lead blade. I nodded in response as I nervously walked towards Stark.

My pace towards Stark picked up and I tackled him onto his back. "Agghhh, Nao-" Stark began to yell, but he stopped as I wrapped my arms around him. My arms tightened around him, I never wanted to let him go again.

"I've missed you so much," I said as tears started to form. It's been so long since I've felt Stark, I almost forgot how warm he was, and how soft his fur was.

"Me too," Stark responded as a tear streamed down my face. Stark nuzzled his head against my cheek, swabbing the tear away. I heard a sniffle and I pulled back in surprise. I looked in Stark's eyes to see tears.

"Are you… crying?" I asked in surprise.

"It's been so long Yet I honestly couldn't get over what happened… I know this night is going horribly, but this is the first time I've been happy in so long."

"Stark…" I began, but I couldn't find a single word that would express how I felt. Instead, I moved in close to Stark and my lips met with his. For a moment Stark's eyes went wide, but they relaxed and both of our eyes closed. I felt Stark's arm cradle the back of my head as he held onto me. After a minute, we both naturally pulled away just when we both felt satisfied.

"Hmmmf, how touching, a different voice called out, one that was familiar, yet felt different from its usual self. Stark and I both turned to see Kana standing over Black's unconscious body.

"Kana!" Flare called out, "We were all worried sick about you!" The fennekin yelled as he sprinted towards the jolteon excitedly.

"Somethings not right," Gray muttered as the fennekin ran towards her. "Flare, wait!" Gray yelled just as the fennekin neared her. Flare fell to the ground as blood splattered onto the ground, along with the electricity that was causing his body to shake. Kana retracted her paw that was covered in Flare's blood.

"Kana, what are you doing!" I screamed at the jolteon as I jumped off Stark and ran to the fennekin's aid.

"No… that's not her!" Gray shouted.

"Hmmf, you were fast to catch on, Grayson," Kana spoke as her body turned pitch black and morphed into a different eeveelution. I froze in my tracks as I realized who we were really dealing with, but if he was Kana… then that means…

"Aaron?" Gray spoke quietly as his eyes widened in surprise. "I… I thought you were…" Gray stuttered.

"It's been awhile, Gray. Do me a solid and help me stop these people, we both know they're all bad," the flareon smiled.

"Gray, that's not whoever you think it is, that thing is a liar!" I yelled at the confused absol.

"But… how else?" Gray asked as he slowly walked towards the flareon. "Aaron, why are you doing this?" Gray asked the flareon.

"Gray!" I yelled at him, but the absol continued to walk towards him like a mindless zombie.

"Aaron, how are you-" Gray began, before I ran behind him and clamped my teeth down on his left hind leg. Gray let out a yell of pain before I let go. The absol looked back towards me.

"Listen to me! That is not him, since when could your flareon friend turn into a jolteon that you already knew?!" I screamed at him before I smacked him in the face. Gray froze up upon impact with my paw, his posture lowered.

"Then… what is he?"

"Not your friend," I answered.

"And I thought he would have made a good pawn," Skull Face muttered as he backed towards Black's unconscious body. Flare laid on the ground groaning in pain from the wound on his side.

"Who are you?" Isaac spoke tensely towards the imposter.

"Who I am doesn't matter, but know that I am not a friend, but I also don't have to be your enemy. Stand back, or join the fennekin."

"You think you can intimidate me that easily?" Isaac scoffed. Isaac sprinted towards the false flareon with his leaf blades ready.

"Foolish move, grovyle," the flareon shook his head as Isaac closed in. In a spinning motion Isaac swung both of his blades at the flareon. The flareon just watched him with a bored expression. Black tendrils extended from the flareon's back and ensnared both of his arms. Isaac yelled in agony as the tendrils slowly ate away the flash on his arms.

"That's… that's dark matter," Stark spoke up as he moved in front of me for protection.

"But he's not an umbreon!" Gray yelled in confusion.

"Confused huh?" The flareon spoke as another tendril came from his back, this one slithered towards the grovyle's chest and stiffened up to make a sharp tip to pierce him with. "You should realize by now, I'm not a normal pokemon," Skull Face spoke as he slowly drove the black tendril into the center of the grovyle's chest. Isaac grunted in pain as he tried to refrain himself from screaming. " I am one who surpasses the miraculous. Tonight is the night where I take what is mine. I'd like to thank you though Naomi. While you teaching Black dark matter never did truly come in handy, I'm sure it would have if I didn't have to rush my plan," Skull face said as he slowly tortured the grovyle.

"Stop it!" Gray yelled as he charged at the grovyle.

"Very well." Skull Face used his tendrils to lift Isaac and throw him at Gray. The grovyle slammed into Gray and knocked Gray onto the ground. "If you chase me, I'll make it so this nightmare never ends for you. And might I add, you don't want to know what that means," Skull Face threatened as he used a tendril to pick Black up and place him on his back. "You should be proud of Black though, Tonight, he will fulfill his birthright."

"Stop!" Gray and I both yelled as Skull Face teleported away in a flash of darkness.

"Shit, he was to fast," Gray muttered as he looked at the area him and Black were last at.

"This isn't happening… Black…" I whispered to myself in a panic.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, their you all have it, one of the most highly anticipated moments in Black Dawn followed by an intense follow up. Anyhoo, things won't be staying intense for much longer, I actually chose to remove content from this arc so it doesn't drag out... Heh, don't worry, it'll be added in one way or another, just not right now. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.


	99. Behind the skull

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 99: Behind the skull**

* * *

**Point of View Zack**

Fire lit up the chaos around me as I took cover behind rubble with Ada. The gardevoir coughed as she tried to not breath in the smoke, but the resistance was futile. Being a fire type had its advantages, I was able to withstand this smoke. Every few seconds a flash of green would blind everyone as Mandus and that Legendary attacked us. I peaked over my cover to see Mandus riding Zygarde. The Legendary spat out beams of green energy as Mandus chucked balls of aura when necessary. Bullets seem ineffective against Zygarde, and it seemed that Mandus was able to foresee every attack before it even came at him. A series of elements flew towards Mandus as the ground elevated around him to shield him from the attacks. All of the pokemon and trainers waited for Mandus to let his guard down, but instead Zygarde burrowed its way above ground. A few pokemon and their trainers yelled in fear as the godlike pokemon took them all out with a swing of its tail.

The forest that the legendary spawned offered a lot of cover, yet no matter how hard everyone tried, Mandus always knew where we were. He foresaw every surprise attack. It was by the hands of one lucario and a legendary that we were crushed. The fight only seemed to escalate from here though, the blue eyed pokemon belonging to Genesis seemed to get bigger every time some of them failed.

"We need to pull back," I told Ada as I peaked over my cover towards the godlike pokemon.

"What, we can't just surrender," Ada argued as she stayed as low as possible.

"Ada," I said as I looked her in the eyes with complete seriousness. "We've lost so many… if this keeps up, their won't be a WPA, we'll be killed off. He's too powerful, we won't win like this."

"That's right," Mandus rose his voice from atop of Zygarde, "Accept defeat."

"How the Hell…" I muttered as I looked at Mandus who was to far to even hear our conversation with all the chaos. The legendary continued to defend itself against the full on assault against it.

"You still haven't realized it yet, have you?" Mandus spoke condescendingly. "Zygarde is the guardian of the ecosystem. This forest that was created here is Zygarde's sixth sense. But not only that, a skillful psychic of mine is not only controlling this Legendary, but he was also linked my mind with Zygarde's. I am able to see and hear every single movement everyone on this battlefield makes. Every plan, every cry of fear, nothing has gone unnoticed from the beginning of this battle," Mandus told me as he avoided a hail attack that came for him."

"You… you bastard," I snapped as I stopped myself from attacking him.

Mandus opened his mouth to say something, but he quickly stopped himself as he pulled a radio out of his cloak. He held it to his ear and listened carefully. "Is that so, and I was almost done here," Mandus said with a light chuckle. "Very well, it can't be helped," Mandus finished as he put the radio back into his cloak.

"Well, it's been a long night for all of us. I'm afraid our fight must end here tonight."

"Retreating, coward!" James the dewott yelled at Mandus.

"Retreat? Heh, call it what you want, but just remember this: there was only two of us here tonight, and next time we all meet for the final showdown, I won't just have one Legendary, my hunt doesn't end with just Zygarde. Now, I wish you all a good night," Mandus said as Zygarde quickly dove towards the ground and began burrowing a tunnel. Mandus quickly jumped off its head and grabbed the tail to avoid getting crushed.

"Stop him!" A voice shouted, but the lucario and Legendary were gone before we knew it.

"Arceus… It's not possible to be that powerful… How?" Ada spoke with fatigue as she pulled herself up.

I glanced around to see that the Genesis pokemon were withdrawing. I was about to give an order to chase them, but I quickly realized that their was already so much death tonight, I couldn't make anyone else suffer further.

**Point of View Black**

My eyes slowly cracked open as I made out a yellow blur walking back and forth in front of me. I groaned in pain as I clenched my eyes shut for a moment to collect myself. My wounds still ached, but the pain felt more manageable now.

"Black, you're awake," the voice of Kana called to me. My eyes shot open to see Kana smiling at me with happiness.

"Kana… I was wondering what happened to y-" I began, before the jolteon shape shifted into an exact copy of my mother.

"I'm not Kana, Black," the leafeon calmly spoke to me.

"Stop… stop taking the form of my family, you bastard," I growled as I pushed myself off the ground.

"My form doesn't matter, all that truly does matter is that you're here."

"Where is everybody? Last I remember they were in danger," I questioned the leafeon as I backed away and noticed that I was now in some forest.

"Hmmf, their all probably rushing Flare to the pokecenter. Him and many others are in the same condition though."

"Wait, Flare's hurt, and who else!?" I desperately asked the illusionist.

"I couldn't tell you who exactly, just a large number of pokemon that went against Mandus," Skull Face answered.

Dammit," I muttered to myself, "This shouldn't have happened... I'm the one they want... "

"It's the price they pay for having you around them. It should have been obvious for you that this would happen. I am impressed though, they somehow defied the odds of dying," Skull Face said. I released a breath of relief. This may have been horrible, but at least I could be thankful for their safety. The two of us were silent for a moment until something came to my mind, which made me stare at Skull Face fearfully.

"Wait… you were just Kana a moment ago… but… you only-"

"I only take the form of the dead," Skull Face finished for me.

"But… No… What happened to her!" I shouted as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to believe this wasn't happening.

"It's too complicated to explain, but I have this form."

"She can't be though… Kana…" I said to myself as tears began to blur my vision and a strong stinging pain formed in my throat. "Why… it should be me… not you," I told myself, but nothing relieved my pain, "Kana was such a gentle person, why did she have to die because of me?" I asked myself as tears streamed down my face.

"It happened because you were in their lives, Black." The leafeon answered.

"This can't be happening though… Kana doesn't deserve any of this," I choked out.

"Do you think Arceus cared whether she deserved it?"

My head snapped towards Skull face as an intense fury began to take over me, "What did you just say?" I snarled at him.

"It doesn't matter if you're a saint. Arceus isn't going to show mercy just because you were a good person, none of it means anything. Anyone can die, even good people."

"Just shut up. I'm tired of you and your crap. I don't even know where the Hell I am, and I wake up to hear someone I cared for is dead! Then you're telling me this shit!" I sobbed out as I tried to wipe away all the tears from my eyes, but their was no end to them.

"No one else has to die because of you though Black."

"And how am I supposed to stop that from happening to everyone else if I can't even be there to help them?" I sobbed out as I fell to the ground.

"Because, I'm going to change that for you tonight. All you have to do is accept me."

I looked up towards the imposter with complete confusion, "W-What do you mean?"

"There is a good reason I took interest in you, Black," Skull Face began as his body shifted to pitch black and morphed into my brother Kaz.

"But why?"

The jolteon wore a serious look as he looked me in the eyes, not blinking once. "You're not an ordinary umbreon. I know about your gift Black. I know the truth about what you are as well."

"It's just some evolutionary disorder, right?" I asked as I sniffled and tried to keep myself from sobbing even more.

"No, not many people actually know of your kind, but you're special, Black," Skull Face began as he looked upward past the canopy of branches and towards the moon. "Long ago, before Kalos was even the region that it is, your kind were known as eons."

"An eon?" I said with interest. Skull Face gave me a nod.

"Eons were a special group that were rare even back then, but they were powerful. And because of that, they were hunted down by those that made them to begin with, the Legendaries."

"I don't believe in that stuff, I'm an atheist," I quickly put out.

"Well, it's not uncommon for many pokemon to lose faith, especially those that endure pain. But, they're just as real and you and me," the jolteon responded as he shape shifted into a vaporeon. I flinched back at the sight of my sister.

"Eons were hunted down until the Legendaries thought every last one was gone. It truly was a tragedy since Mew created these eons long ago to help fight in a war the Legendaries waged against each other. You're probably curious as to why the eons were hunted down to near extinction?" Skull Face asked. I gave no response, I just continued to stare at him, unsure on what to make of this fairy tale.

"Hmmf, very little interest towards the one giving you answers," Cassie… that thing said as it shook its head in disappointment.

I let out a pained scowl, "Sorry, I'm just having a hard time following when I'm still thinking about Kana."

"Fair enough, but listen up, I'll only offer this explanation once. Eon's were hunted down because of an eon named Synn. He was the first eon to come into existence. This eon was an umbreon like yourself, yet he opposed the Legendaries. In the end, he was slain."

"Along with his death though, the rest of the eons died as well. All because the Legendaries feared another Synn rising. But, a few eons managed to survive. They reproduced, but the gift of being an eon rarely showed in eeveelutions. Some eevees were even eons and went through their whole lives without even suspecting it. But you Black, you became aware that you were an eon at a young age," the vaporeon spoke.

I remained quiet as I processed this info for a moment, none of it even sounded real… "So… you're telling me I'm a part of a died out breed of eeveelutions?"

"That's basically it," the vaporeon said as her form shifted back to Kaz.

"But none of this answers why you want me? So what if I'm this eon thing, what does it mean for you?"

Kaz let out a chuckle as he stepped towards me. "I've been waiting a very long time for an eon like you, I've seen a few others, but it was hard finding an eon that was an umbreon."

"Wait, what?" I flinched in confusion. "What the hell does my evolution have to do with anything?"

"The time will come for that Black, but it's time for you to fulfill your destiny," Skull Face said as he took another step towards me. Kaz's eyes narrowed in on me as my heart began to race. "If you wish for all the pain to end, I will relieve you of it. You must accept your fate," Skull Face spoke lowly.

"Relieve me… Just get the Hell back!" I snapped as I tried using a shadow ball, but nothing came out. "Shit," I muttered as I remembered what Crimson did to me earlier. I turned to run from Kaz, but right when I turned he was there.

"Resistance is futile, you're mine to do with as I please," Kaz spoke in a cold tone that sent shivers down my spine. The forest I was in began to grow darker, the moon grew in size until it was ten times its original size. The rings on my body intensified from the moon.

"What the…"

"This whole time you've probably asked yourself how I do what I do," Skull Face spoke. "Simple, I am an eon just like you, but I have more control over my powers. My strong point has always been my psychic abilities." pebbles and sticks on the ground next to Skull Face began to rise up and levitate around him. "Do you want me to tell you a secret of mine? Every time you've encountered me, you were trapped between a dream and reality. Think of it like a daydream, you're still awake, yet you were unaware of what was going on. This is how I was able to trick everyone for so long, I was manipulating your mind every step of the way as I pleased."

"Just leave me alone, please…" I begged as I turned to run the other way, but as I turned my body froze in place. I tried to budge free, but some invisible force was holding me still.

"Don't fight your fate. The moment I set my eyes on you, your fate was sealed," Skull Face spoke as he walked in front of me. "Now, I'll release you from this dream, but only because I'll need everything I have for this." The darker forest and the oversized moon reverted back to their original form. "You're now free from the dream, but I'm afraid this will be the last time you're awake."

"Why tell me all of this if you're just going to murder me!" I grunted as I fought the force holding me.

"Because, I figured you at least deserved something for everything you went through," Skull Face answered as I felt a powerful force crush me against the ground.

"Stop this," I grunted as I tried to push myself up, but nothing worked. "Please… I don't want to-"

"Shhh, it'll be over before you even know it, please, don't spend your last moment in fear. Remember everything you had in life. You may have lost your family, but you met some good friends on your way. Be thankful they gave you something to live for."

"I don't want to die here though, I have to protect everyone. I want to kill the bastard who killed Kana, I want to kill Crimson and Genesis for all of this, I want to kill you!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as dark matter exploded from my body. The force let up off of me and I was able to stand again.

"Hmmf, seems that all the exposure to the moon allowed you to recover from the drugs quickly. No matter, even on a full moon you're not a threat to me," Skull Face scoffed.

"I'm going to kill you, I'll make you pay for using everyone like this."

"Oh, then show me what you have, Black," Skull Face replied.

"Just die!" I yelled as I dashed towards him with dark matter forming around my right paw. Just as I swiped my left paw at him, a black tendril came from his back and blocked my attack. I froze for a second from the sight, but I shook out of my confusion and jumped back.

"You must accept your fate Ryder, be free from this nightmare you're putting everyone through," Skull Face said as he flashed in front of me. He extended his paw out against my chest. A flash of light surrounded both of us as every muscle in my body tightened. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I fell fell over onto the dirt ground. I dug my claw into the dirt as I tried to get the strength to get back up, but every muscle ached in my body. My eyes then shifted towards a few leaves that covered the ground. I quickly extended my paw out towards them and used my powers to turn them into a razor leaf. Every leaf shot off the ground and went towards Skull Face. In a quick motion he weaved around each leaf.

"You think that would catch me off guard?" He questioned me. I slowly got back up onto all fours and took off running. I continued to run until my foot stepped into a deep puddle. I turned back to see Skull Face closing in on me. I charged up a shadow ball and shot it at the monster. A shadow tendril came from his back and blocked the attack, the shadow ball exploded into a black mist. I then took this chance, the water near my feet hardened into a thick ice and shot towards Skull Face in the form of hail The mist cleared just in time for me to see him getting sliced up by the attack.

"Well played Black, but it'll take more than a few shards of ice to scare me away," Skull Face chuckled.

"Just… Just get outta here, I'm not interested in whatever you have planned.

"I'm growing tired of this game, I think we'll end things here."

Suddenly, a powerful force pinned me back down onto the ground. I tried using a shadow ball, but the force was crushing me so hard against the ground I couldn't even breath. Just as I was about to black out, the force weakened. I panted in pain as I laid pinned to the ground defencelessly.

"It's over. Everything for you ends here. Just think of it as a favor, you will no longer be a danger to your friends, they can be free to live a normal life now."

"Please stop," I pleaded as I tried to get free, but I couldn't move. I felt myself slowly drag against the ground towards Skull Face. I tried digging my claws into the ground, but it was useless. "Please stop, please!" I pleaded as Skull Face stood above me. I felt myself roll onto my back. Skull Face pressed his paw against my chest as his head lowered close to mine. His body turned pitch black as his form shape shifted again, but this pokemon was one I didn't recognize. A set of bloody red eyes stared down at me. The two eyes belonged to a monster with two different half's. His left side appeared to have suffered from severe burns and left a rough texture of deformed skin, only a small bit of what was once yellow hair remained. The other half appeared to be just a normal jolteon, just about the same age as my Mom and Dad.

"Look at my face and know that you aren't the only one who led a hard life, Ryder," The burn victim spoke quietly as his paw pressed harder against my chest. His eyes focused in on me and I felt an intense pain pierce my brain. It didn't take more than a second for me to resort to screaming with everything I had, but even my screams weren't enough to match what I was feeling. My brain felt as if it was being torn to shred, I felt as if my head was going to explode, yet my body never began to black out, instead the pain intensified with each passing second.

"Stooooooop!" I screamed as loud as I could as tears came from my eyes and my nose began to bleed. I continued to beg and beg, and scream for help, but no one came.

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

"What the fuck do you mean Black was kidnapped by a monster?!" Hesh screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw his fists towards the ground in absolute anger.

"We told you, this creature named Skull Face came and took him away," I replied to the upset rodent.

"And what about that umbreon that took Black, you mean he wasn't the one who got him?!" Hesh yelled.

"No…" I answered as I looked back at Gray and Flare. Gray turned his head from me, while Flare gave me a small nod, "He got away, but that's not important."

"Yeah, Black's missing, he's gone! Not only that, we still have yet to find anything on Kana!" Hesh continued to panic.

I let out a sigh as I glanced towards my brother who was laying against a wall next to Aiden who was still unconscious. Alex sat on a bench as he held Ebony tightly. It came as a big shock that she evolved, yet now wasn't the time to congratulate her on her evolution. While I'm also worried about Black, I also had no idea what to do with Stark… If he tried to kill my brother and Aiden, he could possibly never go anywhere near them. I'd have to keep Stark a secret my whole life, or push him out of my life. Either way, this shouldn't be my priority right now, I needed to focus on Black.

"So, now what?" Flare asked. "We can't just leave Black alone, he's in danger. He'd come for us."

"And where do we look?!" Hesh yelled. "You said this thing just teleported away from you in a flash, he could be in Unova by now doing whatever he pleases to Black!"

"Well, we can't just do nothing!" Flare piped up as he moved forward, but he was quickly stopped when he let out a grunt of pain from the sudden movement. A bit of blood began to show from the wound on Flare's back.

"Flare, are you okay!?" Alex called out as he quickly set Ebony on the ground and ran to his injured pokemon. This human was constantly panicking every time one of his pokemon showed a sign of pain, but he was also worried for the others as well.

"Yeah, it just stings a lot," Flare replied with a wince from the pain.

"Just take it easy, you shouldn't even be moving right now," Alex told the fennekin.

"I know," Flare agreed, "but I can't sit still, not with Black and Kana gone like this…"

* * *

**Third person point of View**

The night was silent as Black laid on his back. His mouth was wide open as if he was screaming, yet no sound escaped him. Blood dripped from Black's nose. The umbreon's chest arched upward as if he was being possessed and his pupils became small as they remained filled with terror.

"It's okay Black, it will all be over soon, I promise," the scared jolteon whispered to Black with tranquility in a voice that was almost soothing, yet it did nothing to quell Black's pain.

The jolteon just stared down at Black as he continued what he was doing, but then the jolteon's eyes came up from Black but did not look back to see what he was sensing behind him. Instead, a small sneer barely became visible on his face.

"That's enough!" a voice echoed through the forest. Skull Face turned back to see three water stars heading his way. The three water stars came at the jolteon, but each water star splashed against an invisible force just inches from the jolteon's body..

"You, do you realize how potent my concentration was?" Skull Face asked as he shook his head in annoyance, "This is no good, now we'll have to start from the beginning, and I don't know if his mind will withstand much more."

"Leave Ryder alone," Scarlet spoke ordered as she jumped down from a tree branch to the ground.

"Oh, if it isn't you, a Crimson dog. Surprisingly, I actually still remember your face," Skull Face scoffed as his body shrunk in size and morphed into a houndour. "Perhaps you remember me?"

Scarlet flinched back from the sight of Flynn. The very friend everyone in Crimson lost recently.

"You're… You're the one who..." Scarlet whispered to herself as her hand reached for her sword. "I usually prefer not to draw my sword in anger, but tonight can be an exception," Scarlet said as she took in a deep breath to calm herself. Scarlet's hand tightened around the blade before she quickly swung her sword at the imposter houndour. One swing quickly turned into a full on frenzy. The houndour swiftly evaded each attack as Scarlet only seemed to swing with more fury each time.

"Merrick!" Scarlet yelled while in her frenzy. A bright orange light illuminated the dark forest as a flamethrower went towards the two pokemon. Both the houndour and greninja jumped back to avoid the attack. Immediately after dodging Scarlet pulled an item out of her harness and tossed it towards the shape shifter. A thick smoke screen instantaneously dispersed into the air and masked the battleground.

"You think this is going to hide you?" Skull Face asked.

Scarlet dashed through the smoke as she swung her blade at the houndour's last location. She made out the figure of the houndour just as she swung her blade vertically. Scarlet made out the form of the creature changing just as her blade hit something. The greninja tried to retract her blade, but something held her weapon tightly in place.

"Scarlet, why are you doing this?"

The frog's hands slipped away from the handle of the sword as she desperately jumped back without hesitation. "No… Don't do this, not now," Scarlet whispered as her hands tightly grabbed her arms..

"Scarlet, what's wrong, what happened to your sword?" Merrick called out with the flames on his back burning brightly in pure excitement.

Scarlet looked ahead towards the smoke screen that was now clearing to see a greninja standing proudly with a serious look in his eyes. Scarlet only hugged her arms tighter as she saw the black frog. "Don't… don't you dare," Scarlet said to herself. "I know it's a lie, but you're not him, he's dead."

"Are you sure? Everything about me is just like your mate. My appearance, smell, the way I sound. Look me in the eyes and say I'm not your beloved Nagato."

"You're… You're… You're a liar," Scarlet snapped as she threw her arms outward and water stars formed as the rapidly spun at the tip of her fingers.

"Hmmf, let me send you to hell then, Scarlet," The black greninja spoke as he kicked the flat side of the blade and it spun into the air until he caught it by the hilt with precision. Both of the greninjas stared each other down, a calm breeze passed through the air, and then the two sprinted towards each other. The shiny frog extended the sword towards Scarlet and drove it straight through the left side of her gut. Blood shot out of Scarlets mouth as she fell against the shiny greninja for support.

"Was that your plan, to just charge me and hope for the best? Pathetic."

"Scarlet!" Merrick cried out as he stood in place petrified by the scene. The quilava's flames on his back rose up in fury as he began to charge an attack.

"Don't worry, I'll be coming for you next little quilava. I think I'll take her form after I'm done here," Skull Face sneered as he kept his eyes on Scarlet. With a small smile on her face, Scarlet returned the stare towards the shiny greninja.

"For a lie… you could almost pass for him… but your personality..." Scarlet whispered quietly as her arms fell limp and blood streamed down towards the ground. "But… This was my plan," Scarlet said as another sword went straight through the shiny greninja's back and into Scarlet. The shiny greninja spat up blood that covered his entire jaw. His eyes shifted downward to see a blade coming out of his torso. His eyes glanced backwards to see Scarlet looking at him with a chilling glare. The greninja placed one of her hands on his shoulder and ripped the blade out of his back. The greninja Skull Face originally stabbed faded to nothing along with the weapon he held. The false greninja fell to his knees and morphed back into the scarred jolteon.

"That... that was sneaky, yet clever... " The jolteon panted as blood gushed from an open wound. "I'm just curious though, how long has that espeon been here?"

"Oh, so you can sense me now?!" a voice said with amusement as a white paw stepped out from behind a tree. Vincent stepped out into the open as he carefully watched the jolteon. "I practically had to rush here. I barely made it in time to switch Scarlet out with one of my illusions."

"Hmmf, it was the smoke screen, wasn't it?" The jolteon said with a satisfied smile that was covered in his own blood. "Very well, you scratched me."

"Scarlet," the white espeon said to the greninja with a nod.

Scarlet rose her sword up above the jolteon's head. Her grip tightened before she brought the blade straight down towards him. The blade slashed into the dirt, but the jolteon flashed away. Everyone froze at the sight of the missing jolteon, but everyone turned towards the sound a raspy panting.

"Well," the injured jolteon began, "It looks like my plans will have to wait for another night. Just know that next time we meet, I won't be weakened from what I was doing here tonight, I'll be at full strength," Skull Face spoke as his body turned pitch black and began to fade away into the night.

"Stop him!" Vincent called out, but he was gone before anyone could even move.

"Shit," Merrick muttered in anger.

Vincent took a moment to process what was going on as the quilava huffed out angry sighs. After a few seconds of pondering what just happened, he made his way towards Black. The espeon stood next to his brother as he stared down at him with pity.

"I can only imagine what he did to Ryder," Vincent said out loud. The espeon closed his eyes as the red gem on his head glowed with a mysterious power. The espeon concentrated hard before he let out a loud grunt.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" Scarlet asked as she ran behind the dizzy espeon to stabilize him with her hands.

"I don't know… I've never seen anything like this before," The espeon said with surprise. "I tried to just go through his head, usually it would be a simple task. I mean we're family so it's already easier to access, plus his mind has been invaded so many times, it should be simple. But… I couldn't even get close to his mind… like something forced me out."

"Maybe he's built immunity to psychics?" Scarlet suggested.

"I don't know, I have no way of finding out what's wrong with him now. But, whatever that thing did to him, Black went through a lot of pain. And honestly… I don't have a single idea what happened to my brother."

"Then what should we do with him?" Merrick asked.

Vincent closed his eyes as he began to pace around the area, "Honestly… If anything happens to my brother here, then everything was in vain. I think it's best if we take him to a pokecenter. If this is serious, then we can't risk treating him ourselves, he needs professional help, his brain could be fried for all we know."

"And you're sure this is the best course of action?" Scarlet asked.

"If it was up to me, yes," Vincent responded.

"Alright them," Scarlet replied as she picked the umbreon up and cradled him in her arms.

* * *

Everyone at the pokecenter sat in silence. Not one attempt at finding Black had been made, but within the short time at the pokecenter many pokemon were rushed in. New doctors finally arrived and the scene was being investigated. All of the injured pokemon filled the lobby and set a scene of misery as everyone writhed in pain.

"We can't just sit here all night," Flare muttered.

Naomi looked over at the fox, "I know… I really want to go as well, but we can't just aimlessly search."

"Didn't stop us before," Flare muttered.

Naomi let out a sigh as she looked at the depressed fennekin. "Hey Flare," Naomi said to the fennekin. Flare glanced at her, waiting for her to speak. "Thanks…"

"For what?"

"For stopping Isaac earlier. If you didn't, things may have escalated, and I don't know what would have happened."

"We're going to have a long conversation about him after all of this. Don't think in anyway that I want to be friends with him, for matter of fact, I don't even want him within the same city as me," Flare stated.

"What exactly happened between you guys and Stark? You all knew each other, yet no one ever told me."

"Well, how were we supposed to know he was your friend? And I don't want to talk about this now, I have enough on my mind without worrying about your boyfriend or whatever you two are."

Naomi was about to say something, but everyone in the room fell silent at the sight of someone walking in the pokecenter. A greninja silently walked through the front door with an unconscious umbreon in her arms. The greninja stopped in the middle of the room as everyone stared at the greninja with Black.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well, just one chapter away from the 100th chapter mile stone! I'm so proud that this story came so far, and this arc perfectly ends on the 100th chapter. Heh, so I would like to thank everyone who has stuck with this story, old and new readers. Well, hopefully everyone liked the reveal this chapter, things will be getting interesting in this story in new ways, so don't worry things will stay fresh in this story :D

A big shout out to genericgamer207! The dude has worked hard up until now, and I also want to thank him for giving me a great idea on the Scarlet VS Skull fight. Everything after Scarlet got stabbed was an idea he had, it was much better than what I had originally! So, don't forgot to thank my beta if you choose to review ^.^ the guy has really helped this story come alive since he decided to be my editor.


	100. Goodbye Forever

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 100: Goodbye forever**

* * *

**Point View Black**

"It was around nine P.M, last night near central Shalour on Masqurlane that a threeway battle took place on a scale large enough to be considered war," A female voice spoke from a TV that was set up across the room. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage has been done, and many people and pokemon have been injured or killed. First responders are still reporting to the scene this morning trying to find and help those still trapped under debris or worse…"

My eyes clenched shut as I tried to ignore the lady on the TV, but her words felt so loud, and each word stung my brain. My claws tore into the mattress of my bed as I let out a pained scowl. My head was dominated by the worst headache I have ever felt in my life. An agonizing throbbing pain pulsed through my head and made me feel as if my brain was just going to burst at any moment.

"Just turn that thing off!" I snapped at Hesh who was the one with the remote.

"oh… sorry, didn't even know you were awake," Hesh spoke quietly as he clicked a button on the remote and the video and sound ceased.

Flare, Ebony, and Gray were also in the same room as me. Alex decided to leave everyone in here while he went to get some food for us. The pokecenter was just a mess, I could hear talking throughout the building. The sounds of pokemon being carted off to be be treated, and occasional groans of pain could be heard throughout the building.

"So, Ebony," Hesh began as he looked at the newly evolved espeon that was sitting on the counter and gazing out the window. The espeon jolted as she came back to reality, her head turned back towards Hesh.

"Well… you're an espeon now I see. Congrats, but how exactly did it happen?" Hesh asked Ebony. The espeon began to nervously tell Hesh the story as she struggled to have the confidence to tell the story. As the talking continued my claws continued to tear into the mattress. I couldn't take this, I needed silence. My paws went over my head as I tried to contain the pain in my head. I found myself curling up into a ball of pain as my muscles tightened with great strain.

"Hey you guys," Flare interrupted the two.

"Yeah?" the pikachu asked.

"We should keep it down, Black doesn't look good," Flare told the two as he pointed at me.

"Oh, sorry," Hesh said as he scratched the back of his head. The room became quiet and the only noises we heard were from outside the room. My pounding headache continued as we all waited for Alex to return. Although, the headache wasn't my biggest concern, it was Kana.

'They don't even know...' I thought in my head, 'How am I supposed to tell them that she's gone. Especially Flare. I mean the two of them were best friends, I know Flare cares for Kana,' I thought. I tried to take my mind off her just until my head recovered, but the image of Skull Face in her form haunted me.

'It's all my fault, if I wasn't endangering everyone then she'd be okay. Not just her though, everyone. Everyone who died last night died because of me.'

'I should have left when I had the chance long ago, why did I bother trying to be normal?'

Thoughts of my guilt continued to cycle through my mind until the door to our room opened. Walking in the room was Alex with a bunch of bags.

"Hey guys, I got some late breakfast," Alex said with a weak smile.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"Why in the Hell do I have to come with you?"

"Because you owe me," I replied to the servine named Lucy. The grass type followed a few footsteps behind me as I held a map out in front of me. My body was pretty stiff from my injuries, but nothing a night at the pokecenter wouldn't fix.

"Stupid charmander," Lucy muttered, "I still don't get why you bothered saving me, did I not try to kill you last night, or maybe you liked it?"

"Just follow me," I replied to her. "Okay listen, I helped you last night, so do me a small favor and watch my back for this meeting," I told the snake pokemon.

"Meeting, with who?"

I let out a sigh as I folded up my map. "A meeting with Crimson Dawn. I'm meeting an espeon named Vincent."

"Crimson, why would you want anything to do with those scumbags?"

"Because, they're holding my human hostage. They said if I helped them capture that umbreon they'd give my human back to me. So… I helped them, but I don't know if I trust them honestly."

"Ouch," Lucy said with surprise as she caught up with me. "So, you just want me to make sure they don't off you or something?" Lucy inquired.

"I'd hate to think they are lying, if they are lying I don't know what I'm going to do," I began to say as a shudder ran through my body, "But yes, if they do anything, please just help me."

"Tfff, you're such a wuss," the servine laughed as a vine smacked my back.

"Hey!" I snapped as a stinging pain agitated my back.

"Just relax charman-"

"It's Aiden!"

"What ev," Lucy said dismissively with a wave of her hand. "As I was saying. I'll help you, but only because those bastards fucked with the wrong servine. The moment you get your dumbass friend back, I'ma bust some-"

"No-no-no!" I frantically interrupted, "I don't want trouble, I just want help if things go bad."

"Really? You really are a wussy charmander. Those bastards took your friend, aren't you pissed? They could have made him a slave this whole time. On top of that, look at what they did to me!" Lucy yelled with anger as she opened her mouth and one of her vines showed me the spot that she once had teeth. "That bastard Mandus… he tortured me. I'm a modified pokemon so I heal quickly, but those teeth won't just grow back. On top of that, the freak tortured me in other ways as well, if I didn't escape... " Lucy began to say as her anger became silence, "If I didn't escape, I don't know what would be happening right now. I tried to act tough, but truthfully, I've never been so terrified in my life," Lucy said quietly.

"Listen, I'm sorry you went through that, but if I just get my human back, I just don't care really. You can do what you want after, I won't stop you."

"Fine, then make your reunion quick so I can kick this pokemon's ass," Lucy said more energy than a moment ago.

"Yeah, I'll try," I said with a nod.

The two of us navigated until we were near the outskirts of the city. I glanced at my map and I checked to make sure we were in the right area, but this couldn't be our meeting spot. A large metal fence surrounded a big open field of grass. In big long rows in the grass were tombstones.

"This can't be it?" I said with confusion as I glanced at the map.

"Let me see it." Lucy quickly snatched the map from me and glanced at it. "Hmmm." the servine glanced at the map before she glanced at a street sign behind us and then at a sign that was the name of the graveyard. "Yeah, this is it. Prob chose this place so they can bury us right where they killed us," Lucy said what I hoped was a sick twisted joke.

"Not funny," I growled as I walked through the open gate of the large cemetery. A soft breeze blew through the air as we walked down a path to the center of the cemetery. The tombstones seemed to all be in peak conditions. The gravekeepers did a fair job at preserving this place, everything here was pretty peaceful, despite how depressing these places can be. My eyes widened at the sight of the white espeon standing beneath a gigantic tree that provided shade to him and a few other tombstones below it.

"Where is David," I whispered to myself as I sprinted towards the espeon. I slid to a stop with my fists clenched as I tried to find the power not to attack him on the spot. "Where is he!" I yelled at the top of my lungs with fury.

"Aiden, this is a place for mourning, please respect that," the espeon calmly responded to me, completely unfazed by my anger.

"Listen you little albino prick, I've had it with your BS, I want to know where David is now!"

"He is here," Vincent responded as he moved to the side, revealing the writing on a tombstone. My eyes froze on the writing on the tombstone. I couldn't read, but I could recognize one name on it, 'David Kent'.

"What… you're… you're bullshitting me," I said to the espeon as I continued to look at the tombstone. "Why are you doing this, just give him back," I continued to say as the writing only looked more and more like how his name was spelled with each passing second.

"This is where your trainer has been the whole time, I'm sorry Aiden," Vincent said with empty emotions.

I locked my eyes on the espeon for a full minute, but his eyes didn't look like the eyes of a liar, only the eyes of someone who was looking down at me. I fell to my knees in front of the tombstone as I placed one hand on it and slowly slid it over the carved writing. "I can't read it… I don't even know what it says, I don't even know if any of this is true," I spoke frantically as my eyes began to grow heavy.

Lucy let out a long sigh, "In loving memory of: David Kent. ." Lucy read aloud.

"But… how?" I cried out as tears began to fall from my eyes, "What happened to my friend?"

"About three months back your human was trapped in a building where he burned alive with a few others. He was a journalist that did a lot of things on illegal activity, he angered the wrong group and he was targeted."

"No… not like that, anything but that," I choked out as I began to sob on the ground. I couldn't bear the image of him trapped in a building that was on fire.

"I'm sorry Aiden. I found you shortly after all of this, your mind couldn't handle the stress of losing someone so important so it just blocked everything out. I found you shortly after that, you were just the pokemon I needed at the time. I'm terribly sorry for manipulating you just for this outcome, I really do wish I could reunite you with your trainer."

"Just go," I muttered.

"Aiden, if there is anything you want just-"

"I said get the fuck away from me!" I lashed out as I tackled the espeon to the ground and began to strangling him. I pushed tightly as he struggled to get air and tried to claw at me, but I only increased the pressure. "You fucking shit! You made me hurt people because of a lie! You don't care about anyone, that's why you killed your-"

"Aiden stop!" Lucy yelled at me as her vines grabbed my arms and yanked me off him. I tried to yank on the vines in a desperate attempt to free myself, but every bit of energy left me and I just laid flat on the ground in tears. I sobbed out loud as the espeon panted for air while getting up.

"Anyways, I think I'll be taking my leave now. Aiden, one day I promise I will do something to make this right. I know you won't forgive me, I'm not worthy for forgiveness," Vincent said before he began to walk away.

As I continued to sob I felt Lucy's vines release me. The servine then turned as she began to walk away, "Anyways, sorry about your luck, but I gotta-"

"Please dont!" I cried out as I grabbed her tail, "Ivy, please don't leave me to!"

"Ivy?" the snivy replied with confusion.

"Please don't leave me again!"

"You're really starting to piss me off!" she snapped as she drug me along with her. "Let me go!" she yelled as her vines pried my hands off her. "I don't know who the fuck I remind you of, but I am not this person!" the grass type yelled at me as she looked around for Vincent. "Wait, where did he go?" she asked out loud. "Great, you made me lose him!" the servine yelled as she turned back towards me. "Alright fine, you want me to stay, then buy me something to freaking eat I'm starved and pissed."

I remained on the ground for about a minute before I responded, "I'm... broke."

"Ughhhh, alright, time to get a meal the good old street way," Lucy said as a devious sneer formed on her face, but it went away as I continued to lay on the ground sobbing. "Will you just get a grip on yourself and shut up!" Lucy yelled as a vine wrapped around my waist and forced me up. I was about to say something, but a vine smacked me straight across the face.

"Listen, I'm about one more tear away from leaving you. So, stop the waterworks or you can deal with your own problems."

"Okay… I'll try," I whimpered as I wiped my tears away. The tears did not stop, but I was at least able to force myself to not break down again.

"That's better. I guess I still owe you for saving me last night, so leave lunch on me. Just get a grip on yourself before then."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

It was now around mid afternoon and there was still no sign of her. She was supposed to be here already, about an hour ago actually. I paced back and forth in the forest just outside of Shalour city. An impatient scowl escaped me as I began to really lose my cool. My ears rose up from the sound of of twigs snapping.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Stark, I got tied up in all the aftermath of last night," Naomi said with an uneasy smile as she walked towards me.

"Guess I was getting nervous over nothing then," I responded with instant relief. Naomi and I nuzzled up against each other as I wrapped my neck around hers and she did the same.

"But Stark, we need to talk about a lot of things," Naomi said as she pulled away from me and began to look around as if she was expecting someone to be watching.

"what's on your mind?" I asked as I looked around as well.

"Stark… I don't know how to say this, but last night you really messed up," Naomi told me.

"Yeah… Well I would have done things differently had I known you were alive."

"Stark, these pokemon were my friends. Black especially, him and I were close."

"Wait are you saying, was their something betw-"

"No-no-no, not that" Naomi quickly defended.

"Well, then what is your relationship with them, I'm very confused with how you happened to get mixed up with the one pokemon I am after," I asked Naomi.

"Hmmm," Naomi began as she looked away. "Well, I suppose this story goes back a few weeks. It's kind of funny actually, I mean how lucky Black and that fennekin, Flare, were. Basically a Blaziken was trying to drown them by driving a van into a lake. Well, I happened to be on the scene because I was trying to get intel from this pokemon. Intel about Sam and Jack," Naomi told me as her eyes lowered away from mine and refused to show me how she was feeling. "I never got over what happened, I couldn't take it. I thought Jack killed you and I survived by pure luck. There was also Sam, I can never fucking forgive that monster," Naomi spoke tensely. "I swore that I was going to avenge you, I needed to so I could move on, at least I would have known they wouldn't come after me again."

"Why would you put yourself in danger like that? I would never want you to do that," I told the umbreon.

"Well… I wasn't exactly thinking straight," Naomi said as she looked up with a small smirk, "But my stupid decisions probably worked for the best. I ended up teaming up with Black and his friends, and we survived a battle with Jack's team. Then that Skull Face creature from last night confronted me with a deal. He told me if I helped Black learn dark matter he would help me kill Jack and Sam. I accepted the deal, and over the small time I spent training Black we became good friends I guess. He's a nice guy, kind of makes me sad that things are the way they are."

"I see," I said with a nod.

"Anyways, the events shortly led up to me being reunited with you last night. Now, I'd like to hear your side of the story, what have you been doing this whole time?"

I froze for a moment from the question, my mind began to come up with an appropriate answer that she could understand. "Well," I began nervously before I straightened out my face, "I survived as well. Genesis saved me, they also altered my body a bit, so I now have blue eyes. I'm not a reanimation if that's what you were thinking, of course I don't even know your background with Genesis."

"Genesis was the one who saved me as well," Naomi said with shock, "Then they lied to us!" Naomi yelled out with fury, "Those assholes knew it and they kept us a secret from each other!"

"Hey, calm down," I nervously asked Naomi, which she let out a sigh and calmed herself.

"I'm still pissed about that, but continue your story," Naomi said as she sat down.

"Anyways… Genesis saved me, then they ended up making me work for Crimson. I guess I was their spy, so all I did was collect info on them while pretending to work for them."

"Oh, so you know a lot of things about Crimson?" Naomi said with a smirk as she leaned closer to me.

"I know quite a bit," I admitted.

"You'll have to tell me all of this later, but first I think we need to talk about some other things."

"Like what?"

"A lot of stuff having to do with last night," Naomi said with a stern voice.

"I said I was sorry for trying to abduct Ryder."

"No… not that. Let me just try and get this list straight. Last night you injured and nearly killed a croagunk names Tyson, Aiden, a leafeon named Dante, and then you later tried to kill everyone else despite you being injured…"

"Yeah… I had a long night," I responded nervously as I inched away from her.

"Stark… there is something you need to know… That leafeon, he's my brother, and you almost killed him."

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

A few hours passed since I was in the cemetery with Lucy. The two of us were now hiding out in some crappy, unfinished underground tunnel. My tail flame was the only light in the darkness, yet this didn't seem to bother Lucy. I leaned against a wall with my tail resting near my feet. For the past hour I have been staring at the eternal flame. Lucy rested against the same wall, although she kept a small distance between each other. My tears had ceased quite a while ago, but my sniffled could be heard throughout the tunnel. This all had to be a lie, I did not just go through all of that just to find out he was gone. I can't even begin to imagine what I have left in this life, getting my trainer back was the only thing keeping me running.

"Are you going to eat the sandwich I stole for you?" Lucy asked me. I glanced down to see the sandwich she got for me. I was hungry, but I couldn't even begin to think of eating food right now.

"I'm not hungry," I quietly answered the servine in a tone that lacked any energy.

"Ughhh, how long are you going to mope over this?" Lucy scowled as she grabbed the sandwich for herself.

"David isn't someone I'm just going to forget, ever."

"Okay, then tell me about him, how did you meet this human and stuff?" Lucy asked as she stuffed her face. "Not that I care, but if it'll get it off your chest then go for it."

I remained silent for a moment as I stared at my tail flame. After about a minute I let out a depressed sigh, "David was my best friend. He kind of saved me when I was young. My parents didn't really want me, guess I wasn't supposed to be born… So, they abandoned me when I was very young. One day when I was half crazed from hunger I tried attack this little human kid who had food. He was still bigger than me, but I would have done anything for his meal," I told Lucy as I let out a small chuckle, "I was to weak to even put up a decent fight, couldn't even use fire yet because I didn't have anyone to help me learn. I think I tried biting him, but I collapsed before I could even do anything to this kid. Well, this kid was actually my future friend. He saw that I was just starved and gave me his meal. After that him and I were cool, he even took me home. Boy his asshole dad was pissed."

"Asshole Dad, is their a story behind that," Lucy asked me.

"David's Dad was a ass, yes he was. An abusive drunk who cheated on his wife, yet his ass still got rights over David. Bastard only cared about the child support checks, just what he needed to feed his addictions to drugs and alcohol. But, despite the shitty father, David managed to get a job and moved out. The dude worked his ass off with jobs and schooling. He eventually became a journalist and got enough money to move to Lumiose."

"Lumiose? Where were you originally from?"

"Originally from Laverre city, which is kinda far from here. I wonder why he was buried in Shalour… probably his mother, I know she lived near this city, but I didn't see a lot of her until David got more money so he could travel to see her. Nice women though."

"I see, I guess you two shared a lot of years then," Lucy commented.

"We did, David was my best friend…"

"So, now what're you going to do?"

I remained silent as I pondered this question, even though I have been asking myself this all day. "I honestly have no idea, I'm just so lost right now."

"Hmmm, I don't know what to tell you bub. I'm a bit screwed myself right now. I got separated from someone important to me, and now I'm going to have a hard time getting to him. While I do work with my friend Rhys, I'm not actually registered with Genesis… Rhys wouldn't let me, and now I have no way of getting near a Genesis base," Lucy said with an annoyed scowl.

"Well… here's to being screwed," I said as I weakly rose my hand and made a fist.

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

I glanced upward from the crowded setting of people and pokemon outside of the pokecenter to see the open sky. Today would have been any other boring day if none of this happened, we'd possibly be training right now, but instead all of this happened. My eyes came back down to earth as I began to navigate through the busy crowd of pokemon and humans. This place was a mess after all the events from last night, most pokemon didn't even get a room to themselves from what I heard, but our team was lucky due to Black's connections.

"Gray!" A voice called out from the rowdy crowd. I turned back to see a bandaged up flareon weaving through the crowd.

"Zack," I said with a small bow so I could remain formal with my former leader.

"No need to bow," Zack quickly laughed out.

"Za- ur sir, looks like you had a rough night, are you sure you should-"

"You can just call me Zack, I don't know why everyone has to be so formal, I don't care for it. But, I am fine, I'm just overwhelmed with everything right now. And I still haven't even had a second to see my son, is he awake yet?" Zack inquired from me.

"Your son is awake, he's just having some severe headaches. I don't know why though. Any word on who that greninja was?"

"No," Zack quickly answered, "I wish she would have at least told us what happened to him, she just put him on the floor and left."

"I wonder," I said to myself as I thought about the strange greninja, "I wonder if she had anything to do with that thing from last night," I said to Zack.

"You mean that thing that was called Skull Face? Tff, I got a serious bone to pick with Naomi next time I see her. She knew something like that was plotting against my son and she kept quiet, she's just lucky I didn't have time to deal with her," Zack muttered.

"And what about Isaac, he was seriously injured last night?"

A small smile formed on Zack's maw, "Don't worry about him, he's already up and moving. I talked to him a bit this morning, he told me you and everyone fought well last night."

"I was just trying to find Kana and Bl-urr Ryder," I corrected myself.

"You know, you waste a lot of potential with that trainer of yours. You would have probably made a huge difference if you stayed in WPA this whole time."

"Well… it's the world I tried to help that changed me, I'm not really the absol I used to be. I guess I'm full of a lot of bitter emotions now," I told Zack.

"Well, you should come back to WPA, a lot of things have changed since then. You've been through hard times, I think it has made you stronger, you know what it is like to suffer, and I know you'd want to prevent it from happening to someone else," Zack offered.

"Join… back?" I said with astonishment. I tried to say something else, but I didn't even know how to respond.

"Yes, join back. There are plenty of team openings. If you really wanted, I could even put you in charge of a nooby team, I know you're experienced."

"I-I don't know, I have my friends and trainer to look after."

"Hmmm, if you think that is what's best. The offer is always open for you though, so don't hesitate to ask if you change your mind," Zack said as he turned towards the pokecenter and glanced back at me.

"Anyways, I think I finally have a chance to check on my son. So, I'll talk to you later," Zack as I lost sight of him in the busy crowd.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

A sigh came from across the room, "Still no sign of Kana. She should have turned up by now," Flare said to himself as he paced around the room. Everyone has been cooped up in this room for the majority of the day, except Gray who disappeared earlier, and Alex who was busy with the police. Everyone continued to grow more and more worried about Kana, and I know what happened to her, yet I'm too much of a coward to tell them.

"I can't take this anymore, I need to go look for her," Flare finally broke as he went for the door.

"Hey! WPA told us to stay here while they look for her!" Hesh shouted out as he ran in front of the door and created a barrier.

"My best friend is missing, how can you expect me to sit in here all day just pretending that she isn't missing!" Flare snapped at the pikachu.

"These WPA guys are resourceful, I'm sure they'll get her soon," Hesh responded as he kept his posture tall and didn't wane with his position.

"Move," Flare growled as his fur stood on end. Hesh opened his mouth to say something, but someone knocked on the door.

"Now what?" Hesh mumbled as he pushed a door up next to the door and opened it up.

"I hope I'm not intruding on anything, but I was curious if I could see my son," A voice came from outside the door.

"Gah, not now," I muttered quietly as the flareon was allowed to enter.

"Yeah, he's right there," Hesh pointed over towards me.

"Wait," Flare interrupted the flareon as he headed towards me. "What about Kana, has anyone found her yet?" Flare desperately asked the flareon. My Dad kept a straight face as Flare looked up to him with hope.

"I have a team on the case, I'm sure she'll show up soon. Shalour is a big city, maybe she just got lost yesterday," Zack said as he gave him a reassuring smile, but I saw through it, my Dad was lying. I could tell he had no idea what to expect, he's probably only holding off the truth to avoid further problems in his day.

"I just hope she shows up soon, this isn't like her," Flare moped as he sat down on the floor and waited patiently in a depressed state.

"I promise we'll put everything into finding her," My Dad said before he turned to face me. I buried my head into the pillow on my bed as I tried to not show him my depressed state. That and my head still ached.

"Ryder, how're you feeling?" My father asked.

"Like shit," I bluntly answered.

My Dad remained silent for a moment, which caused me to look towards him. The flareon stared off in a trance before he looked towards me.

"Listen, I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through last night. This all happened because of some loose ends I didn't clean up many years back."

"Wait, what?!" Hesh piped up, "'The Hell do you have to do with all of this?"

"I suppose an explanation should be given, so I'll start from the beginning," My dad said as he sat on the ground to make himself comfortable for what I was expecting to be a long story. "Many years back when I was still in my youth, I ended up in trouble. To make a very long and depressing story short, a lucario named Mandus helped me out of this problem. During all of this I lost some important things and I was pretty angry. Afterwards I was craving justice for what happened to me, which the ones who did me wrong was Genesis. That lucario Mandus and I teamed up and formed what you know as the World Peace Association."

"Wait, you're telling me that the one responsible for this is with WPA?"

"No… He was with WPA, but one day he left us for reasons I didn't understand. His only explanation was telling me that my cause is just a revenge quest and that true salvation will never come with WPA's methods. I haven't seen that lucario once until last night, to think he was plotting to kidnap you Ryder," My Dad said as he looked towards me.

'Either way… my friends were hurt because of me, I shouldn't have put them in danger,' I thought to myself as I gnashed my teeth together in self disgust.

"Some really dry storytelling, but I get your story," Hesh said with a nod.

"Wait," Flare said as he stood up, "Why would you let that lucario get away if he's dangerous?"

"Because, he is a powerful opponent. Only one pokemon I know comes near his level."

"And where is this pokemon when they are needed?" Hesh asked.

"She works alone most of the time. She has trust issues, so usually she takes on missions where she can be on her own," My father answered.

"I see, must be an interesting women if she has a chance of beating the lucario that destroyed WPA last night," Hesh teases.

"I wouldn't talk so lightly about that, pikachu," my father spoke sharply.

"Oh no, I didn't mean any offense dude, I just open my mouth a lot, sorry," Hesh apologized nervously.

"It's fine. She is an interesting one though, not very social. Anyways, I'd like to change the topic away from that wretched prick Mandus, I already had to put up with him all night," The flareon said as he looked towards me with a smile, "Ryder, I didn't have even a second with you yesterday. I'm sorry this is late, but happy late birthday!" my father exclaimed, which forced me to cringe from both pain and embarrassment.

"Uhhh, thanks," I groaned out with pain from my pulsing headache.

"Oh sorry, I forgot your head was hurting," my Dad apologized.

"It's fine," I blandly responded.

"Anyhoo, we'll have more time to talk. I think you've all earned time for rest, so please take it easy." The flareon gave everyone a small nod before he exited the room.

I exhaled a sigh as I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. Time passed by as I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Hours later I found myself awakening in the middle of night. The only noise that could be heard was a snoring from Hesh and the ticking of a clock mounted above the door. I glanced around the room. Alex seemed to be back, but he was dead asleep with Ebony in his lap with his hand resting on her back. Flare was asleep in a corner, which left Hesh propped up against the wall snoring out loud with drool escaping from the side of his mouth. It took a moment for me to realize it, but Gray seemed to be the only member of our party that was missing, although I'm sure he was tangled up with my Dad's WPA thing.

My eyes went back towards Flare to see him sleeping alone. My heart began to weigh down as the sight of the fox reminded me of Kana. "I'm sorry Flare, it's because I'm here," I whispered as I pushed myself off the bed. My left paw and shoulder ached from the wounds from the previous night, but that didn't matter to me.

"I'm such a fuck up," I told myself as I jumped off the bed. Upon landing a shock wave of pain ran through my injured body and caused me to grunt in pain, but I was quick to control myself. "I knew it was wrong for me to stay here, now Kana is dead," I continued to tell myself as I quietly pushed a chair up next to the door. I slowly pulled myself up and pulled down on the door handle and a click echoed through the air as the door slowly opened. I jumped off the chair and escaped through the small opening of the door.

The halls of the pokecenter were silent as I navigated my way to the first floor. I only had to travel down one floor before I reached the bottom. Without any hesitation I continued towards the exit. I pushed the door open with my head and a cold breeze from the night air blew into the pokecenter. Slowly I walked outside as the doors shut me off from the pokecenter. My head turned back towards the pokecenter, but I was quick to shake off any hesitation.

"I won't be responsible for anymore death," I said out loud as I walked through the streets of Shalour. "First my family, Crystal, and then everyone who died against Mandus, and now Kana." The night air tonight was frigid, and the streets were empty. "If this'll keep everyone safe, then I'm fine with being on my own, I can handle it again." For around a half hour I walked through the streets until I saw someone walking down from the other end. A white furry mass of fur with a sickle pointing up from its head came my way.

"Black, aren't you supposed to be recovering?" Gray questioned me as I walked past him. "Hey!" He called out as he walked in my tracks.

"It's over, Gray," I said to the absol as I kept my eyes forward.

"Over? What do you mean by that?"

A bitter laugh escaped me as I stopped walking away from him, but I didn't look back. "You were probably the biggest asshole I met in my life. You always preached to everyone that I was trouble. For the wrong reasons you were right, maybe it was one of those absol senses that made you that way."

"Black…" Gray said with a pause, "What are you doing out here? I was just talking to your father, and he's pretty worried about you."

"Gray, I feel that you're one of the few people I can face right now. I'll entrust you with two very important pieces of information. I hope you know how to deliver it back to everyone else," I said aloud with a pause.

"As of today I am leaving Alex's team to seek answers I won't find here."

"Wait, you're leaving, but what about everyone else?"

"It's fine, I'm just endangering everyone with my presence. Besides, I don't belong here."

"You can't just leave us like-"

"Secondly, Kana is at rest." Gray's face went from furious to a confused frown.

"What… What do you mean she's at rest?"

"She's gone, just like everyone else who I've ever gotten close to."

"You're… you're wrong, Kana can't be gone," Gray stammered as he tried to find a proper response.

"Truthfully, it can happen to anyone. For a long time I let myself believe we were invincible, but I was incredibly foolish." Gray remained silent as a strong wind blew through the night. "This is goodbye, take care Grayson." Without another word I began to walk away from the stunned absol. He didn't bother chasing after me, perhaps it was due to him seeing what I've done to Kana.

I walked until I came to the outskirts of the city. I walked along a fence that separated the city from the forest until I found the opening I created earlier when I was with that servine. I squeezed through the hole and began walking through the forest. The ground inclined but I kept heading forward. Around half way up the incline I looked back towards the city one last time.

"You guys may have noticed, but you've changed me, and I won't forget that. You were all like a second family to me, but I won't allow anyone else to get hurt, I swear."

With my last moment of reflection, I continued on my way. From here on out, I'm seeking answers. I don't know what lies ahead, but I will not falter.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well, here is my 100th chapter! It has been a long road to get here, but one I don't regret going down. Writing this story has been a lot of fun up to this point, but I am afraid I am announcing that I am taking a small hiatus from writing this story. I've been writing non stop for a while and I want to take some time to rest and read some other stories I love on FF, and maybe I will take some of this time to finish the third chapter of my other story heh heh. Yeah, that one really got put on the back burner lol. Anyhoo, expect to see an update sometime between mid to late May. If I decide that I want a longer break I'll post an update in this author note. Thanks for reading.

Thanks to my boy genericgamer207 for editing this chapter

* * *

**POV Anonymous**

I woke up with an extremely groggy feeling. I opened my eyes, and blinked a couple of times, but my vision didn't change from darkness. I sent a spark into the air trying to see something for a split second. The snap of light revealed a surrounding cage, but not much around it.

'Where am I?'


	101. Alone

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 101: Alone**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

It has been a little over a month since the Shalour city incident. Ever since, nothing has been the same. I find myself struggling to even pull myself out of bed every morning. I mean, what's the point? I don't have any friends left besides Alex and Hesh, but I couldn't tell Alex how I felt, and Hesh and I were never close to begin with, and if you must include Ebony she's a bit young for me to be hanging around as a usual friend.

It was now around noon and I still hadn't gotten out of bed. Whenever we were home I usually slept at the end of Alex's bed. The human started his day around three hours ago, but I still didn't have much willpower. For a while I stared at the white wall in Alex's room. At the moment, I was content with this. It took around thirty minutes for me to decide it was time to force myself up. Once up, I stared down at my paws that were on the bed. I still looked like the same unevolved fennekin, yet I don't feel anything like myself. I don't even know if I remember who I am anymore. I stared at my paws for around a minute before I brought my head back up. With a long grumble I jumped off the bed and headed down the stairs towards where everyone should be.

Once at the bottom of the stairs I could see the image of a memory so clearly. Kana would always be the first to greet me in the morning, she'd always brighten my morning with such a pleasant smile that would fill me with vigor. At the bottom of the stairs I stared at the vacant living room where Kana would usually be.

"Kana…" I whispered as I felt a void in my chest growing wider. After a moment I continued through the condo until I came into the small dining room. At the dinner table I saw Alex on his laptop. The human was still in his PJ's and wore a blank white shirt. Pushed off to the side of the human was a bowl of cereal that was hardly even touched. Alex continued to use his laptop without paying me any attention. Perhaps he noticed me and just didn't have the energy to respond, or maybe he was just lost in thought, either way I wasn't really in the mood to interact with anyone.

I decided to skip a meal, and went outside of our home and onto the streets of Lumiose. Once outside I was greeted by a cold bitter whip of air. Shivers ran through my body and straight into my core as I tried to ignore the bitter weather. I began walking through the streets around our condo complex. Once I was nearing the end of the condo complex I stopped to look up at a tall tree that casted a tower of shade over me. The once vegetated tree was now an old withering tree that only had a few leaves left for this season. Summer just recently came to and it may be early Autumn, but this year felt like it was going to be a cold one.

I took my eyes off the tree and continued to walk until I was in the heart of the city. Everyone around me was going about their normal day without a problem in the world. Oh, how envious I was of them. What I would give to be able to walk around these streets with Kana again. I let out a sigh as I maneuvered through the crowd of people. The tide of humans seemed to push against me as I wandered. It came to annoy me that some of the humans were laughing and enjoying life, none of them probably ever experienced what I'm going through. Why do I get the short end of the stick again, was it too much to ask for a decent life with my friends? A life where I can be on a journey with Kana, Gray, Black, Hesh, and Ebony without a problem in the world. It was painful knowing that most pokemon only had to worry about pleasing their trainers when my problems consisted of keeping myself together in the head, and somehow pretending that the whole world in my eyes wasn't falling apart with each step.

At times like this I really, really needed Kana. She was always the optimistic one. So optimistic, it rubbed off on me. Before this I was different, as some may know, and now that she's gone, I don't know what to do. Is it really possible for me to just wake up every morning and forget about the electric canine that always kept me happy, the one that truly cared for everyone? To be honest I know the answer. It's a simple no. I'm not ever moving on, all I can do is simply push her out of my head and pretend it never happened, just like Annie. But I also didn't want to forget this time. Kana and I shared a lot of memories together, good and bad.

I let out a melancholic whimper as I kept myself from breaking. I couldn't do it here, not in public, not even in front of those I have left. With my tail dragging pathetically against the ground, and my ears drooping low I pushed forward. Another gale of wind inhibited my slow stride It seemed as if Arceus was making my life terrible in every way possible. I bit down as my pace strengthened, and I fought against the powerful force, all while I thought of her.

* * *

Orange rays of light shined over the tops of the buildings in Lumiose. The sun was just beginning to make its cycle over Lumiose for the day. The jolteon, Kana, and I were both out enjoying this fine morning as we strolled along the sidewalks in search of entertainment, or I trying to play along at least. Not much has been said between us, things were still awkward in my life. She somehow convinced me to stay with that dumb human. I guess Alex was a nice person, but why be nice to a complete stranger? Regardless, getting used to my new life was a bit tough… Normal people are boring, and they all sit there and pretend to be nice to each other or act fake.

"It's pretty nice weather today, isn't it Flare?" Kana grabbed my attention as she wore a gleeful smile on her face, one that didn't seem fake to me.

"I guess," I responded as I pretended to be the tough little hardass I wasn't.

"Well I think it's beautiful out today, plus Winter is finally over, so everything is coming back to life again and I just love it!" The jolteon said with lively energy as she inhaled a deep breath as if she was taking in this nice atmosphere she was speaking of.

"It's just spring," I shrugged at her as I refrained from rolling my eyes or scowling in annoyance.

"Just Spring?" She repeated with surprise, "Spring is awesome, the plants are coming back to life, it's so warm outside, and I just feel like I always have more energy around this time of year," The jolteon defended excitedly, she was so serious about this that I could almost see a spark of fire in her eyes.

"I never really cared what season it was, never had time to enjoy the weather," I responded with some honesty. Truthfully I was always underground in a Team Flare base, so I rarely went outside when I wasn't on a petty mission.

"Well, take some time to slow down in life and enjoy yourself, Flare," Kana told me. "I mean what would be the point of life if we were all serious the whole time and never took time to enjoy ourselves?"

"I guess you have a point," I meekly answered as I tried to loosen up a tad.

"You know what, I know a ton of things we can do that'll make you understand what I mean, come on!" Kana yelled excitedly as her pace quickened. The jolteon practically took off like a bolt of lightning, leaving me to compete with her abnormal speed.

"Hey, I haven't agreed to anything!" I yelled as I chased after her.

* * *

"Kana… why did it have to be you?" I asked as I stopped in place and looked at the cracked concrete ground beneath my paws. "Why are you the one who had to die?" I remained silent as everyone in the busy streets walked around me.

"How is this fair?" I asked, "How is any of this fair?!" I yelled out loud and everyone in the streets paused to stare at me. All of their eyes peered at me. I felt an intense heat flare up from within my core and I felt the muscles in my paw tighten, "What are you looking at!?" I screamed as a small flare of flame escaped from my maw on accident. Everyone jumped back and ran in panic, I just sat in place as I placed my left paw over my mouth in an attempt to contain my emotions.

"I just want to be left alone," I quietly spoke as I allowed myself to calm down. With a hard breath I continued along the sidewalk to wherever I was going. I wandered around the city until I was near the outskirts. Many of the buildings around this area weren't as massive in size. In a way this was my favorite part of the city, it wasn't as rowdy as the other parts near the center of Lumiose. I slowly walked around this area until I was on the very edge of this city. From here I could see the whole countryside. Off in the distance I could see many great hills that went on for miles, but in the middle of all these hills was a massive lake that stretched out for about a mile. The rays of the sun reflected off the lake's surface, creating a mixture of fiery orange colors dancing along the water.

My ears flattened against my head as I sat down and took in the view. It really wasn't anything new for me, but it was just something different to look at, it kind of inspired me to be a bit lazy and take my mind off things if possible. The air was just as cold here as anywhere else, but I found a bit of comfort here for reasons. Perhaps it was the memories they brought back into my mind.

For a while I sat in silence, but I soon found myself growing weary. My eyes grew heavy and I allowed myself to lay down on a soft patch of grass. A tired yawn escaped my maw as I laid on my front side, which after the yawn I rested my chin on my crisscrossed paws. I continued to look out towards the countryside as many thoughts ran rampant through my head. Some were thoughts of anger, sadness, or even memories that led up to the sorry state I'm in now.

But in the end, I was still thinking of him.

* * *

"And what makes you assume I want friends?" An upset shiny umbreon growled at me with strange crimson eyes that belonged to a normal umbreon that wasn't shiny.

"Well… I didn't say that. I was just trying to make a point," I nervously stuttered back towards the umbreon as I fidgeted in place with an uneasy feeling in my gut. This guy kind of seemed like a jerk… Yet for some reason he reminded me of a younger fennekin. I don't know why, I just saw it in those odd crimson eyes of his, the eyes of someone who is lost and doesn't know what to do.

"Well, I'll make a point right now, I'm not looking for friends, nor do I need friends," The umbreon snapped and I gave a quick nod towards him and backed up a few steps. The umbreon took his red eyes off of me. I stood silently as thoughts ran through my head. Truthfully, this umbreon seemed a bit miserable, even if he tries to act tough, kind of how I was when I was first with Kana, Gray and Alex.

"There you are Flare! I've been looking all over for you!" The voice of Alex shouted from behind. My head spun back to see my trainer smiling at me, but his eyes quickly looked towards the bizarre shiny umbreon with red eyes.

* * *

I stared off into the distance towards the lake. This was the very place that Black and I first talked, the day our lives changed. I remembered this peaceful spot pretty well, Black and I ended up here one other time after we first encountered Crimson. That guy seemed to really like this spot, perhaps it was the only spot he could find in the city where he could think in peace. I had no idea what to think of that umbreon right now, I had more questions now than ever.

"Black, what're you doing right now, where are you? Are you even alive?" I asked as I kept my eyes on the lake.

It took me around ten more minutes to grow tired of this spot, and once I did, I got up on my feet and began to wander again. This time though I didn't head back into the city, I headed towards the lake off into the distance. It was a bit of a walk, but once at the shore of the lake I just gazed into the ice cold water. Looking back at me from the water was a young adult fennekin, one that didn't have much to lose in life. I rose my chin up a bit, revealing the hidden scar below my jaw in the reflection.

"Tff, I'm still a fennekin… I should have evolved years ago. I mean Annie evolved when she was thirteen, but she is a prodigy then again..." I lowered my chin back down and dipped my left paw in the water. Every piece of fur on my body stood up as I withdrew my drenched paw from the icy water. My paw trembled from the sensation, I hated cold water so much, I couldn't stand it.

"Annie… I really do miss you," I said as I pictured the braixen in my head. "Ughh, why the Hell didn't I ask Hunter when I saw him!?" I shouted as I had an epiphany. "Fuuuuck, I'm so stupid!" I shouted as I kicked up the dirt in front of me. I was about to kick the ground again, but I decided it was best to not feed my anger. Instead, I just decided to let myself cool down.

"Now what?" I asked aloud as I sat in front of the lake. "I don't have any purpose in life… Everyone I cared for is gone, I mean except Alex," I stated as I reflected on my two missing friends. "I wonder if Gray is doing alright right how…?"

Things between Gray and I got very awkward before he left… I mean really awkward, but none of this awkwardness compared to the news he told me of on his final night with us. I still remember every exact detail, the way my world came crumbling down in a mere moment… Just from a few devastating words.

* * *

In Shalour the sun had set many hours ago, but I still felt as if it was midday. Alex and I seemed to be the only ones still awake, excluding Gray who was out at the moment. The sky poured infinite rain as few few cracks of lightning could be seen from the distance, shortly followed by a roar of thunder. Alex paced back and forth in the kitchen as he talked on the phone anxiously.

"No Dad, I said I checked there already… The police pretty much told me she wasn't important with all that happened, I don't know what to do, it has been two weeks," Alex spoke with a shooken up voice to his father on the phone. I could hear the sound of his upset father saying something from the other line, but it wasn't anger towards him, just more towards the fact that this happened.

"I… I didn't tell you because I thought something would have come up by now… I don't know what to even do now, I mean I've been searching non stop with everyone, day and night." Alex's father said something from the other line.

"Yeah… I understand, I'll call you tomorrow then," Alex finished as he ended the call. The human grasped the phone tightly in his hand before he walked out the kitchen, cocked his arm back and threw it as hard as he could at a pillow on the couch. "I'm just so sick of all of this happening!" The human rose his voice.

"Does this shit always happen on these journeys?! Seriously, this can't happen to everyone on a regular basis!" Alex exploded, causing Ebony to jump awake from the edge of the bed. The espeon's eyes grew wide in fear as she watched Alex walk towards the door and yank it open and slammed it shut so hard on his way out that a picture fell off the wall just next to the door. Ebony and I both stared at the door before it opened back up with Alex's head peaking in.

"I swear, no one goes anywhere without consulting me," he spoke tensely before he slammed the door again. Ebony and I both watched the door as the only sound that could be heard was Hesh's obnoxious snoring from a corner in the room he chose to pass out in with a pillow as a mattress.

"What's going on?" Ebony shyly asked as she lightly trembled in fear.

I let out a sigh, it was to painful to see Alex like this. "Alex is just overwhelmed. Finding Kana and Black is really just getting to him," I answered the young espeon.

"Where do you think they are? Black just disappeared in the night… and no one has a clue what happened to Kana, she just disappeared."

"I don't know, but I'm still optimistic they'll show up…"

"Really? But when?"

"I… I can't tell you, but I'm sure they have reasons… I know they do…"

'Stop bullshitting yourself Flare, who're you trying to convince, you or Ebony?'

I was about to open my mouth to change the conversation, but then someone knocked on the door to our room. The two of us turned towards the door, but neither budged a muscle.

I tried to say something, but nothing came out, I cleared my throat before I tried to speak again, "W-Who is it?" I called out to whomever was there.

"My name is Ada, I'm with WPA, your friend Grayson is here as well," a female voice spoke from the other side.

"It's us Flare," Gray's voice added.

"May we talk?" Ada asked.

"Sure, I just have to get the do-" I began, before the knob glowed with a purple light and opened itself.

"I got it," a gardevoir smiled as she came into the room with Gray behind her.

"Gray, what's going on?" I questioned the absol.

"Flare… I have some things we need to discuss. There is something I need to tell you, but I've been too scared and skeptical to tell you…" Gray responded. "Can we take this somewhere private?"

"Yeah, sure," I agreed. Gray gave me a nod and I followed him out the door. Ebony followed behind as well, but the gardevoir blocked her off at the door frame.

"Sorry little one, but this is for the two of them," Ada said as she kneeled down to Ebony's level and patted her on the head. I took my eyes from the child and followed behind Gray.

The two of us headed up the hotel until we were on the roof. The night sky was black, and the only light came from a dim light above the door we came through. On top of that it was freezing and the rain that was pouring only made it worse.

"Gray, what is the meaning of this?" I asked the absol who held his head low and looked towards the ground. "Gray?" I called to him again.

"Flare… I'm sorry," Gray said with a long pause, "I know what happened to Kana and Black."

"Wait, what?!"

"I didn't want to tell you this because I couldn't believe it myself at first. Black told me the truth of what happened before he left us… I don't understand what he's doing, but he said something about finding answers."

"So he left us?"

"I'm afraid so," Gray nodded.

"And what about Kana, is she with him or something?"

Gray remained silent as his eyes averted from my own. "Gray, where is Kana, tell me that she's alright? I mean… she is right? Gray?" Gray only remained silent, and that was all I needed to know what was going on. "Arceus…" I whispered as I looked at the absol. "Gray… Tell me that Kana is alright, where is she?!" I desperately pleaded. Thunder boomed through the air, and the rain seem to intensify as I ran to the absol and forced him to look me in the eyes. Gray flinched back from the sudden movement and kept arm's length from me.

"Gray, Stop eluding my question, where is she?!"

"Flare…" Gray began as he looked up towards me, I could see his eyes trembling in what appeared to be melancholy. "Before Black left, he told me that Kana… He told me that Kana is gone," Gray spoke quietly, just barely loud enough for me to hear. "He… He didn't tell me how, but I could tell he was serious."

"Gone as in she left Shalour…" I asked the absol with a racing heart. Gray simply shook his head in response.

"You're lying," I snapped. "You're just saying that to get me to not chase after him! You've always had some prejudice against umbreons and you don't want me to chase after him! You've always wanted Black gone, from the very moment Alex caught him! You just want me to not go after him, I know Kana is with him right now!" I yelled at the absol and once I finished I breathed heavily to catch my breath.

"Flare… You know that's not the case. I will admit, I had problems, but I got past that. Black left and Kana is gone. I'm telling you what happened. I would never lie about Kana being dead, no matter how much I hated someone," Gray retorted in a much calmer state than myself.

"But… Kana…" I tried to say, but something was stuck in my throat, blocking any words that wanted to come out.

"Flare, I didn't tell you because I was afraid. I couldn't believe what happened, I needed proof or something, but I know Black wouldn't lie and Kana would never leave us for so long..."

"And what proof, where is her body, we can't even find anything!"

"I-I don't know, maybe one of the those groups took her. Kana would never wander off, ever. She would have come up by now, I know she would have."

"This can't be the truth though," I said as my eyes began to water up and my heart became heavy. "Kana… Kana can't be, why would this…" I tried to say, but I couldn't choke the words out.

"I'm so sorry I withheld this, I knew this was going to be hard on you. I didn't want to be the one to deliver this, but Black entrusted me with this message" Gray said as he turned towards the door that would lead us back inside. "I don't think it would be right for us to withhold this info from everyone else either. They need to know the truth, I brought Ada as a translator, but there is also one last thing I need to discuss."

I looked up at Gray with my teary vision, but I didn't speak a word towards him.

"Tonight is my last night with Alex's team. I was offered to join back up with the WPA, Zack offered me a pretty good deal. At first I declined, but learning about Kana changed things… I remembered all the pain I went through when I lost my friends, the way it can drive a living being mad with depression. I decided that I want to help stop tragedies like this from ever happening again, I want to rid this world of scum," Gray spoke with a spark of fire in his eyes as he stood tall.

"You're… leaving me too…?" I sobbed out as I wiped the tears away from my eyes.

"It was fun at times being on Alex's team, even if I pretended to not be happy. Truthfully, I needed all of you. I was in bad mental shape when I met all of you, I just wanted to be done with everything. Yet somehow I pulled out of my depression after so long. Now it's time for me to go back and prevent anyone else from suffering my fate, I'm stronger because of this now, I can feel it."

"You can't just leave though!"

"Flare, I'm sorry, but it has to be this way."

* * *

My head rose up as I came back to reality. I let out a scowl as I pushed myself up and faced back towards Lumiose city. "Gray…" I whispered. He may have been a prick at times, but I still missed him. He always had the group's best interest in mind, even if it was sometimes based on prejudice reasons.

With that little trip out of my system I headed back towards the city. At this point I was starved, yet I still didn't have an appetite. The trip home was a long one, but I managed. I snuck back into the condo through a window Alex left open, so no one really noticed that I was gone, they all would probably just think I was lying around somewhere miserable. Once inside I made my way to the living room. The TV was on and playing some trashy comedy show with Hesh behind the remote. The pikachu sat on a recliner half asleep with a bag of chips spilled all over himself.

I shook my head as I passed the pikachu and headed towards the kitchen. Inside the kitchen I found Alex still glued to his laptop, although he wasn't doing anything but staring at his boring background while holding his hand over the mouse as if he was expecting something to happen. Truthfully, he looked just as miserable as myself. He didn't even have the energy to find something to do on his computer.

My stomach rumbled and Alex flinched back to reality. The human turned back towards me, "Oh… I suppose you're hungry bud, sorry I kinda forgot… I've just been so exhausted lately," Alex apologized as he got up and opened the fridge.

"What do you want, I got poffins, fruit, maybe some leftover steak from the other night?"

"Anything works Alex," I bluntly answered. Alex closed the fridge door as he stared at me with a pitiful look, but I just couldn't tell whether he sensed my mood, or he felt pitiful himself.

"Flare, how are you doing? you've been very quiet since we've returned home," Alex questioned me.

"I don't know," I answered with little energy.

Alex walked up next to me and sat down on the floor. "I know we can't have a verbal conversation, but I'm happy to listen to you. I mean, I can see it in your eyes that you're still hung up on Kana. I'm not saying I'm not, I can't quite get her out of my head either. My point is, we can't just shut each other out and tiptoe around each other forever. We're a family, and we're going to pull through this as a family," Alex told me as he forced a smile and picked me off the ground and held me against his chest. He gripped me tightly as he clenched my fur between his fingers. I just allowed myself to fall into his arms, it may have not been much to many, but having someone like Alex to fall on made things seem better. This human was all I had left, and I had to make an effort not to shut him out.

"Thanks for everything Alex. For being here for me now, and being a good friend."

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

A gray blanket of clouds rolled in from above as a crack of thunder silenced all the wild pokemon in the swamp forest I was trudging through. My feet squelched in the thick pasty mud that was deep below the murky water I was in. There wasn't one thing I liked about walking through water so dirty I couldn't even see through in the slightest, although part of me knew I didn't want to see what was at the bottom of this swamp. Rain drizzled down from the sky, which a canopy of thick snaggy branches and leaves offered somewhat of an umbrella.

I panted lightly as I pulled my feet out of the mud that seemed to suck me back in with each step. This environment was brutal, and it didn't help that the area was flooding from the rainy weather. The area around Laverre has been pretty gloomy lately: nonstop rain and a few storms. Due to the minor flood, the water was almost up to my torso, which usually it'd be around me knees.

After around an hour of struggling through the swamp, the land elevated and for the first time in a while I was able to rest. My legs were quick to give out and I didn't resist. I flopped down on my side and panted in exhaustion. Standing wasn't even an option anymore, my legs were done, every single leg muscle felt like jello at this point.

It had been a little over a month now, and I'd been trying to stick to this lone wolf stuff. While I am back in the WPA, I decided that it was best if I worked alone. It wasn't out of fear, but for the sake of efficiency, or maybe a bit of both and I'm just not being honest with myself. I had a mission, and I was motivated to see it through. I couldn't help but feel that getting used to a new set of faces would slow me down.

It took me a few minutes to repose, but afterwards I managed to sit up. Wrapped securely around my person was a customized backpack for quadruped pokemon like myself. The main storage unit was just behind my left shoulder, just close enough for me to open up with my maw. A strap went around my chest, which then met up with the main strap that went around my waist. I bit down on a zipper and opened one of the two pouches I had. With my maw, I pulled out an apple, placed it on a rock, and rezipped the pouch. I only kept a few things in this bag: food, water, money and a map.

I snacked on the apple for a few minutes while I got drenched in the rain. Once there was nothing left but the core, I kicked it into the brownish water.

"If my source is correct, this should all be over very soon," I said to myself as I began to walk towards my objective.

* * *

"Gray, I'm glad you could make it. I won't waste your time, but there is work that needs to be done," Zack spoke to me as he sat on a rock in the middle of a forest that was just about a foot taller than me. The flareon was covered in bandages from his battle with Mandus, but it wasn't enough to stop him from doing his job.

I sat down on the dirt ground and looked up towards my leader. "Well, I gave my soul back to WPA, so let's hear this," I responded to the flareon.

"After the Shalour incident a lot of things need to be taken care of. I'm sure you're familiar with the pokemon known as Stark?"

"I'm familiar," I responded with a grumble. I still haven't forgotten him. The one thing everyone failed to realize is that I had ties with that bastard as well. Back in Shalour I somehow managed to keep my head cool and not go crazy on him, but I still lusted for his blood to spill. But only if it wouldn't put anyone else in danger. That is what stopped me earlier, I just couldn't risk my friends lives at the time, not again.

"After interrogating some pokemon, following a few leads, we managed to track him down. He and Naomi are hiding near Laverre."

"As in the swampy part of Kalos?" Zack nodded in response. "Hmm, I'm not surprised. A lot of criminals hide in that area, lots of good hiding spots," I commented.

"So, will you accept?" Zack inquired from me.

I remained silent as I sat in place. The images of him and that riolu flashed through my eyes, I still haven't forgotten what he's done to me and my team.

"Gray?"

My gaze went back up towards the flareon, "I'll accept, under my conditions though."

"Conditions?" Zack said as he stared at me with curiosity, "Okay, I'll listen."

I huffed a breath and stood up to help this come out right, "I'll track Stark down, but I have two conditions to be more precise. One: I'm going alone. This is personal to me, that umbreon was one of the pokemon responsible for killing my team."

"I know, that's why I'm asking you, you're one of the few that survived against him. But, I was going to send Tyson with you, he too fought that umbreon."

"That won't be necessary, I want to do this on my own."

"I'll allow that, but what is your second condition?"

"Naomi and the leafeon Dante. I don't want them in trouble for this, she isn't a criminal."

"Why are you trying so hard to protect her?"

"Because Naomi is an idiot who is blindly in love with this umbreon. As for her brother, he's just looking out for her."

"The leafeon isn't with her anymore," Zack commented.

"Wait what?"

"Naomi parted ways with him after the Shalour incident. We asked him why, but he didn't know. My guess is that Dante figured out that Stark was a killer and Naomi knew Dante wouldn't allow them to be together. So, she ran away with Stark where they can live happily ever after, or until you find them that is."

"I see," I said, not really knowing what else to add.

"And one more important detail, Gray." I looked back towards the flareon. "I know it's selfish, but I need you to get answers from him. That umbreon worked for Crimson or Genesis, both groups that are pursing my son. If you can interrogate him, I may have a better chance of figuring out where my son went," Zack asked me. There was a silence between the two of us as Zack looked me in the eyes with with desperation.

"I'll do what I can," I nodded.

* * *

I continued on my journey to find the umbreon responsible for the death of my friends. I was so close to confronting him, where this time we can talk this out, one on one. I needed to know everything about this umbreon, why Flare would say they had some things in common.

"Just what the Hell did you mean by that?" I scowled as I thought of the fennekin's confession that night, and even our conversation a few days after.

* * *

"Flare, we need to talk," I confronted the fennekin that was just getting ready for bed after a hard day of searching for Black and Kana.

"Wait, what is it?" The vulpine asked as he stood up off of the edge of the bed he was on.

"Just come with me, this is important," I spoke lowly. Hesh and Ebony both eyed me as I glared at the fennekin, but they didn't know shit about what was going through my mind right now.

"Alright," Flare agreed with no suspicion.

The two of us exited the room and went down into the lobby of the hotel. It was very late at night, so late that there wasn't even a desk keeper at this hour, it was just the two of us, I could be as loud and angry as I wanted.

"Gray… you look a bit-"

"What? upset? Pissed? Infuriated?" I asked him as the muscles in my paw tightened.

"Wait, what's this about?" The fennekin asked as he took a step back towards the wall.

"What's this about?" I repeated in a snarl, "I'll tell you exactly what this is about. Back in Cyllage, you knew that blaziken. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be suspicious of you."

"wait… Gray it's not what you thin-"

"Then what the Hell should I think of this?!"

"He was just a combusken I knew back in my youth… I mean, he was a bit shady, but we hung out from time to time, but not too much," Flare stuttered out as he eluded eye contact and fidgeted in place nervously.

"I don't believe you, tell me the exact story, every detail," I demanded.

"It's kind of a long one… and it's getting-"

"Your stalling is only making me more suspicious, Flare."

"Um… okay, from the beginning you said?" I gave him a single nod in response. "Okay… Well, back when I was about eight or so… I lived in… Cyllage. Well uhhh, basically I was pretty lame with my fire type attacks, and one day Hunter found me attempting to get better."

"Anyhoo… Hunter felt bad or something and he kind of became a mentor for me. And while he taught me how to be better at fighting, we became good friends I guess… I mean, it just kinda happened."

"And someone who you just described as shady chose to help you out of the kindness of his heart?" I questioned the fox.

"Well… he was shady, but not a horrible pokemon," Flare answered.

"Okay, then continue, what exactly made it so you could have been a mercenary like him?"

"Ummm… We were close friends and after a while he opened up to me about his line of work…"

"And what about this supposed bad stuff you did?"

"I stole food to get by every day… sometimes it got a bit violent and stuff," Flare answered meekly.

"Okay, so where exactly were you living at this time, and for how long?"

"On the… with my old human… which- I lived with him until I was saved and Alex adopted me."

"Tell me more about this Hunter pokemon, what was your relationship with him?"

"As I said… we were good friends, he helped me get better and stuff, after that we became good friends."

"Interesting," I said as I looked him deep within his eyes. The fox attempted to make eye contact with me, but I could see the fear in him, I could tell he wanted to run away, he was struggling just to keep eye contact with me.

"What's interesting?"

"Your story starts off with him being someone you spend very little time with, yet you make it out that you were good friends. Care to explain?"

"Listen, I don't know what you want from me… I told you what I knew."

"Very well, that's all I wanted," I dismissed the fennekin.

"Okay… good night," Flare quietly spoke as he quickly walked back towards the room. I was sure to wait until the fox was gone before I did anything else. I released a hard breath as my palm slammed against the hard floor.

"He's lying, I know it," I growled.

* * *

"We'll talk about that more when I have time to visit, Flare," I stated as I walked along the muddy forest. My eyes gazed ahead towards a spot of land that was elevated and went on for quite some distance. Many trees grew out of the elevated ground and a small waterfall flowed down from a cliff and created a stream that went into the swamp. Just a small distance from the waterfall was a den. If my source was right and I followed my map correctly, this is where Naomi and Stark are hiding.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well I hope the one month break was worth the wait. And if you have to ask, no my one month break has nothing to do with the one month time skip in the story lol, just purely coincidental. On a side note I realize I screwed up on something big last arc... During the Stark and Naomi reunion I completely forgot about Gray's background and how Stark was there... Anyhoo, I will be making an effort to go back and fix that very soon, but please forgive me for the mistake, their was already 50 other things to take into account on that chapter lol. Anyways, I'm glad to be writing again, that break was just what I needed.

**Question:** Okay I have a fun question that I debated over with two friends XD Is eevee and the eeveelutions based off a dog, vulpine (fox), or cat. I say vulpine. Anyhoo just a fun question, I wanna see what others think.

Thanks genericgamer207 for getting this chapter down with your busy schedule!


	102. I'll always protect you

**Chapter 102: I'll always protect you**

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

**One month ago**

A light drizzle came down from the bleak clouds above. The drizzle dampened the dirt ground of the forest my brother and I were trekking through. The time of day was lost through the thick blanket of gray, but if I had to guess, it was probably past noon.

Dante and I continued on our way. I carefully glanced at the leafeon when I was sure he wasn't looking. Regret was quick to build up inside of me, doing this was a mistake, but I couldn't just continue hiding with Stark like this. Over the past few days everyone has been noticing my absence, especially WPA. Since the moment Stark got away they were been on the hunt for him, they weren't happy to know he was alive once more.

"Hey, how far are you dragging me out here? What's the big deal? You know I hate gloomy weather," Dante grumbled as we kept up our pace.

"We're almost there, I promise, just tad bit more," I nervously reassured him while averting from eye contact.

"Yeah… you said that like an hour ago," Dante griped with the leaves on his body sagging low.

Most of the walk from there was silent. Dante just did as I asked and followed my lead. I just couldn't guarantee he'd be okay with this once I got him where I wanted him. For the next half hour we walked in one direction, most of everything looked the same to me out here, it would have been difficult for anyone but me to remember the exact path I took, but luckily navigation was one of my specialties.

In a small opening I came to a stop, "Hey Dante?" I calmly began as I turned towards him. "Listen, I need you to meet someone, and I need you not to be an overly protective brother for once," I asked Dante as I nuzzled against him to butter him up like I always did when I was a child… sadly this still managed to work from time to time.

"Naomi… exactly who am I meeting? You haven't acted like this since you wanted me to help you get out of trouble when you were younger." Dante gently pushed me back from him and stared me down, almost as if he was reading me like a book.

For a moment I fidgeted in place, unsure of how to even present this whole thing. I really didn't want to tell Dante, but if I was going to do what I was going to, then he needed to know. "Remember that someone I told you about that I liked?" I started as Dante cocked his head to the side.

"You didn't bring me out here to talk about the past did you? You know we can find a private place that isn't miles from Shalour, right?"

"Dante, he's alive."

Dante practically jumped in surprise from the statement. "What do you mean he's alive?"

"She means I'm not dead," The voice of Stark called out. Dante and I both spun to the right to see the white umbreon revealing himself from behind a tree.

"Naomi get back!" Dante shouted as he lowered towards the ground as he readied to pounce like a predator towards Stark.

"Dante no!" I screamed as I jumped on top of him just as he leapt upward. Dante and I both smacked into the ground, causing mud to spatter all over the two of us.

"Naomi, stop this, he's going to-"

"Don't! I brought you here to talk with him! Not this!" I screamed as my claws dug into my brother's skin to keep him in my grasp. Dante pushed himself up with little effort as my paws wrapped around his waist. "I didn't bring you here to fight him, I just wanted us to sit down and talk!"

"Don't you dare fucking tell me this freak umbreon is your friend, or even someone you had a thing for," Dante growled as he looked dead ahead and his ears began to move back. I couldn't see his expression from where I was, but I could tell from his constant growling and snapping of his teeth that he was beyond furious. The muscles in my arms tightened as I realized this was a mistake.

"You don't understa-"

"I don't want to understand this wreck. He's a killer, not only that, a child killer!"

Stark let out a long breath. "I told you this would be pointless, why would anyone try to trust me?"

"Dante, can you just listen for one-" Dante quickly spun in a circle, causing me to fly off his back. Ribs first my body pounded against the muddy ground.

"I'm not listening to this bullshit Naomi," Dante spat out as he glared at me, his eyes burning with resentment towards Stark. His eyes shifted back towards Stark. While Dante watched with fury, Stark remained in a much calmer state. His eyes peered at the leafeon, but his stance drooped low, his tail sagged, and his eyes lacked any sign of confidence in ameliorating this situation. The umbreon who once could fix any bad situation was helpless towards convincing my brother to understand.

"How the Hell did you fall for this guy? Are you really that desperate Naomi?" Dante spoke lowly.

"It's not like that…"

"Then what is it! I don't get it, don't you have any morals? I mean what could you possibly see in him?"

"Just stop, you're being a jackass," I lashed out.

"Get up, Naomi. We're leaving now," Dante demanded. "As for you, murderer, come near my sister again and I'll fucking smash your teeth and turn you in to WPA." Dante walked towards me as I slowly began prying myself off the ground. Dante grew impatient and clamped his teeth on my scruff and pulled me up.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed as I shoved Dante away.

"Fine, just start walking." Dante flung his paw in the direction he wanted me to go.

For a moment I hesitated as I looked at my older brother, then I glanced towards Stark as he watched the whole scene unravel. The umbreon didn't even know how to react. It was one of the few situations he had to deal with where he couldn't just murder someone and be done with it.

"Move it!" Dante snapped as he gave me a push with his paw.

"Will you stop!" I defended as I stumbled from the push. I took a few steps as I peeked back at Stark, the umbreon's eyes growing wider as we were pulled away from each other.

"I'm… I'm not going with you," I spoke out loud as I quickly scurried away from Dante.

"Naomi, don't test me," Dante growled as he stomped his paw down.

"Listen, I came here to talk, and I'm going to tell you what I have to say and you're going to listen," I spoke sternly to my brother while my insides began to shake down to my inner core.

"I already told you, you're not going to have anything to do with this guy."

"I told you to stop!" I yelled at him. Adrenaline began pumping through my veins as my heart pounded. At this very moment, everything I wanted to say became lost in my mind. I opened my mouth to speak, but my mind couldn't even think of a proper starting point.

"Naomi, it's fine," Stark whispered from behind. "Just say what you need to say, I won't let him take you if that's what you want." Stark's words calmed my nerves, his very voice was like a drug that put my heart at ease. Having someone standing behind me was what I needed right now. Stark kept a short distance between us, I think we both knew what would happen if he approached me.

I exhaled all my worries as I faced my brother. "Dante, I'm leaving Shalour with Stark today. I brought you out here to make amends with him, but it's clear you won't. Stark and I have been through a lot over the years, he protected me when I felt alone and scared. If Stark wasn't there with me, I would have died. He tried his hardest to keep me from being like him." Dante began to show his teeth as I spoke, but I just had to put faith in Stark that he'd protect me if Dante tried to take me. "You've always been there for me Dante. From the beginning you kept me safe, but when the time came when you weren't able to protect me, Stark was there. He's weighed my life over his on countless occasions. I wanted you to make amends and learn he's a good guy because I wanted you to come with us today. I thought we could all find somewhere to live and start over, forget everything and make the best with what we have," I told Dante from the bottom of my heart. After my long speech I glanced back at Stark, a small smile managed to form on his muzzle, but it only lasted for a brief moment.

"So that's your plan." Dante snapped my attention back towards him. "Just going to abandon what you having going on here for that?"

"Well, we have to. The WPA will be searching for Stark, and he's going to get caught hanging so close to Shalour. Stark and I talked and we agreed on a good hiding spot to hang low until time passes."

"You were always such a smart child, what the hell happened to your big dreams of working with humans as a scientist?"

"We went over this already," I muttered.

"If you stay with him you'll never get what you've always wanted. If you stay with me I'll help you get there, but living in secrecy with him will seal that you never get what you want in life," Dante argued.

"Just stop. None of that matters to me anymore. My whole life I thought I would be happy doing that, but I think I just want to be happy with Stark now. Maybe I won't ever get to do that, but I'd given up on that before I even met Stark."

"You know… I really thought you were smart, but you're acting like a real dumbass right now."

"Really? How? I thought you of all people would tell me to follow my heart and not what others wanted me to be."

"Yeah, but never once would I tell you to do this," Dante retorted.

"You're acting like Dad right now!" I rose my voice.

"Really Naomi, how? Humor me."

"You're telling me how to live my life! Dad always wanted me to be something I wasn't! And right now you're trying to force me to not do what makes me happy!"

"Okay fine Naomi! If you want to get knocked up by a psychopath murderer then do it! Have fun telling stories to your children about all the victims daddy killed!"

"You know what Dante, I fucking hate you!" I screamed at the leafeon, and the forest fell dead silent.

"Yeah, well I'm dead to you anyways," Dante muttered. "I'm sorry for looking out for your safety, but I'm apparently not appreciated for looking out for you all these years," Dante added as he turned from me. "Oh yeah, you should hear about what your mate did to your poor espeon friend."

"Espeon friend?" I repeated as Dante turned around and stormed off. "Ebony…?" I said as I remembered that Ebony evolved. "Stark, what does he mean by that?" I asked as I turned towards the white umbreon.

"During the fight last night things got carried away… And the espeon may have ended up in the line of fire once or twice," Stark responded nervously.

"Wait… you tried to attack-"

"It wasn't on purpose, a lot was going on at the moment, it's all kind of a blur," Stark quickly answered.

"As long as you didn't hurt her," I sighed.

An awkward silence lingered as I paced back and forth in silence. Eventually my legs grew a bit tired and I sat down. My mind slowly wandered back to the argument with Dante. Everything in that whole conversation seemed fuzzy. I could hardly even remember everything that happened other than the last words I'll ever get to speak to Dante, 'I fucking hate you.' My choice of a goodbye left a rather bitter taste in my mouth, this was worse than how I originally left my family the first time, but now I'm leaving Dante emotionally wounded as our last memory together.

"Naomi…?" Stark whispered to me as he rested his chin on my shoulder and rubbed against my neck. "You know you don't have to leave your brother for me. I want you to be happy, I'll understand if you want to be with family," Stark softly talked into my ear.

"Dante will come around eventually. I know he's coming off as a bad person there, but he only got that angry because he wants to help... Dante just doesn't know how to respond to this right now, he needs time to think, a lot."

"And you're sure you want to be with me… You know their are plenty more pokemon out there who are more suited for you… Pokemon who won't have a past like mine… Pokemon that can give you a normal and happy life. Someone you won't have to live in fear with."

I nuzzled my head against the side of Stark's head as he continued to rest his on my shoulder. "You're right, I should go," I plainly spoke as a small sneer formed.

"Wait, what?" Stark quickly withdrew his head from my shoulder.

I let out a small giggle from the shocked look on Stark's face, it was cute in a way. "I'm just messing with you, but jeez you should have seen the look on your face." Stark and I both broke into a laugh, but it quickly died down and we went back to our gloomy states. "I know you may lack confidence in being a good example of a decent pokemon, let alone a lover, but let's be honest… neither of us are good examples of anything… except a good example of a bad example. So I really am happy with being with you."

Stark's gloomed expression turned to a hardly visible smile. "Thank you…"

* * *

**One month Later**

The sound of jagged coughing echoed through our dark den. My eyes slowly peeled open from the pained noises coming from Stark. It took me a moment to remember falling asleep with Stark by my side, but it seems that Stark's sickness woke him up before me. For a moment I remained still and tried to get just a little more sleep, but Stark's coughing continued and I realized that he could probably use some comfort right now.

I slowly pushed myself off the cloths we had laid down as a bed in our new home. Our den was a dark one, but being night creatures also meant we could develop night vision if we lingered in the dark long enough. Carefully I navigated through the open tunnel of our den until I found Stark.

The white umbreon panted as his head hung low and his body slouched towards the rock ground. Blood dripped from his open mouth and mixed in with a puddle of crimson on the ground.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" I asked Stark as I came by his side and carefully wiped some of the blood from his blood stained chin.

"I can't take this anymore… it's just getting worse every day," Stark whimpered as he panted to no end.

"The doctor should have results back on what's wrong with you soon. Just hang in there and we'll get you the help you need," I tried to reassure Stark, but the umbreon lacked a response. For the next few minutes I waited by Stark's side as he caught his breath. After he felt a bit better we moved to the back of our den where I laid Stark down so he could attempt to sleep through the pain. As Stark lie on his side, I laid down behind him and placed an arm over him and held him close to me. For as long as he needed, I would be here for him.

It had been around a month now that Stark has had this sickness, actually almost the moment we left Shalour together. At first it started off small, but as the weeks went by it developed into something much worse. I tried everything I could to treat Stark myself, herbal remedies, medicine, and many other methods, but the most I could do was ease his pain. It took a good while to find a trustable doctor that wouldn't have a single chance of figuring out who we were.

For the next ten minutes the only noise that came from our den was Stark's winded breaths, that is until he asked me something. "What if the doctor can't help me? What will you do?"

My head rose up in surprise that he would even consider that, "I don't want to talk about that Stark."

"What if I'm a loss cause?"

"You aren't though. You'll get treated, I know you will." Stark remained silent for a while and I allowed my head to rest on the blankets we had below us.

"Naomi… if I die what will you do?" Stark asked as he turned his head to look at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Stark… You're scaring me, I really don't want to think about something so horrible. Just please stay-" I stopped in mid sentence from the sound of a rock rolling around, creating a light echo through the den.

"Stay here," I told Stark as I pushed myself upward.

"It's probably nothing," Stark said as I quietly moved towards the sound.

The den was silent, and I knew Stark was right, but I couldn't just ignore these things when we were both wanted. I turned a corner and a strong force clamed its claws down on my neck and forced me to the ground. I opened my mouth to scream but I noticed the sickle horned creature holding me to the ground with his massive paw.

"W-What are you doing here?" I shuddered as Grayson kept his paw over me.

"I'm here to talk to you and Stark," Gray answered.

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

Silently I sat on the dirt ground patiently in a grass field with a few trees surrounding us. Sitting to my left side was Scarlet and Merrick. The burning flame on Merricks back flickered as a breeze passed by. It has been around thirty minutes that we have waited here without exchanging a single word. Most of this past month has been a lot of dead silence between us, mostly due to us all being split up. I guess that's the price we pay for starting a war in Shalour, everywhere we go we have to watch out for the police.

For the most part I've barely been getting by. A white espeon doesn't really go unnoticed, and I guess their is a hefty reward on my head for being responsible for controlling a Legendary and using it to wage a war. I've been mostly moving at night, finding food was also a big challenge. I'd actually say I lost a significant amount of weight due to not being able to eat properly, my ribs were just starting to show as well. Scarlet on the other paw seemed unfazed, she has mastered the art of stealth, therefore eluding all contact with others was a simple task… If only she stuck with me this past month, would have made things much easier on my part. Merrick was probably the one I had the most contact with. He and I kinda worked as a team… but there was only so much we could do to help each other. On top of all of this, I was under constant stress of keeping Zygarde under my influence. At times I could feel the Legendary regaining control, especially now that my mind is weakening, the Legendary slowly breaks free of my control.

I continued to ponder the past month for a minute, but then In a flash Mandus appeared, his bullet-like speed blowing the leaves off of the withering trees surrounding us.

"It seems all but one is here," Mandus nonchalantly began as he crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "Enough time has passed since our last move, it's time for us to make another," Mandus spoke with a pause as he glanced at each of us.

"Great, what're we going to do to those WPA assholes now?" Merrick sneered as his flames grew in size excitement.

"Not WPA," Mandus stated. "We have no reason to continue a fight against them, I only wished to fight them to take attention off the umbreon. It seems our planned failed in the end though," Mandus glanced at Scarlet for a moment, but took his gaze off her and looked up towards the vast blue sky.

"Mandus, I apologize, but we had no idea what was wrong with him. I feared he may have died if I didn't-"

"I trust your judgement, Scarlet," Mandus assured her. "Either way, the umbreon has gone missing from what I've gathered. We'll hunt him down later, I have a feeling he'll turn up sooner or later."

"Then what is our next move?" I asked the lucario.

"We proceed with the plan, the umbreon is pivotal to achieve the end goal, but for now we'll hunt another."

"Who?" Merrick asked as he leaned forward towards the lucario.

"Xerneas," Mandus said with a pause, giving us each a moment to take in the main purpose of the mission.

"Mandus, we're two members short this time!" Merrick complained. "I love the idea of doing that, but Zygarde was supposed to be one of the weaker Legendaries, and all but you almost died going against that thing," Merrick spoke frantically.

"You seem to forget two things," Mandus said as he moved from the tree and faced his back towards everyone as his cloak blew in the wind. "We'll have Kane with us this time, and the godly power of a Legendary under our control. Xerneas may be the Legendary of life itself, but it stands no chance against our might."

"Alright... I guess we can make this work one way or another," Merrick nodded in agreement. "How're we going to find this Legendary though?"

"Vincent." Mandus turned towards me. "I trust you have Zygarde hidden in a safe place?"

"I do," I nodded.

"Use Zygarde to locate Xerneas. Intercept his mind, go deep within his memories and find out everything it knows. We need every advantage possible if we wish to defeat our foes."

I nearly flinched from what he was asking. Controlling Zygarde was already exhausting, I've barely had energy for anything ever since I've been manipulating it, but now going through Zygarde's memories… I've already tried this before, the memories of a Legendary are locked more tightly than anything I have ever seen. It's almost similar to how my brother's mind was locked up recently. It was all strange though, because it should have been more of a challenge to influence Zygarde than to read his memories.

I let out a disappointed sigh, "I can do that but…"

"But what?" Mandus pried.

My ears and tail lowered just from the thought of how daunting this was going to be."I've tried accessing his mind before. It's tightly locked up, I don't know if I have enough power to unlock and keep my influence over Zygarde at the same time. If I try that, it is very possible that I will lose control of Zygarde."

"What will you need to get it done then?" Mandus asked.

"More psychics around my level," I answered.

"Anything else?" Mandus asked.

"Just a capable psychic who can help take stress off me. Also I could use a small bit of time with Zygarde off my mind… it's really starting to wear me down," I told the lucario. I know it was self centered to ask for a break, but if this kept up I was going to break.

"Very well, I have an old acquaintance who'll be of use to us. Two days worth of travelling with minimum stops."

"And is this psychic trustworthy?" Scarlet asked.

"She's trustworthy."

"I suppose we have no better options, so let's seek out this pokemon you speak of."

* * *

Point of View Stark

"You've got ten seconds to tell me what the hell you're doing here, Gray!" Naomi shouted from the other side of our cave.

My eyes shot open and I quickly jumped to my feet. Without a second of delay I ran towards Naomi. I panted in exhaustion, it felt as if my lungs were on fire. I quickly turned the corner to see Naomi pinned down by an absol. I jumped towards the absol. He quickly turned towards me and jumped back as an ice beam charged in his mouth.

My mouth opened to counter with dark matter, but instead blood shot out of my mouth. I hacked violently as I spat out my own blood, feeling dizzy I fell onto the ground hardly conscious.

"Stark!" Naomi cried out as she got up and ran in front of me as a protective shield. "Get out of here or die! I'm not asking you again, Grayson!" Naomi snarled at him. Her ears flattened against her head, her backside arched upward, and the fur on her body stood upward. "Leave!" She snapped her teeth at the absol.

My eyes came in and out of focus on the absol, but then there was a click in my head. It was so many years back, but I just barely remembered that face. I remembered what Sam and I did to him and his friends. Not only that, he was the same absol I saw in Shalour. I seemed to have missed that due to my excitement at the time, but I now remembered his face, and the faces of those I killed that day.

The absol stood his ground, he did not react with any form of violence. "Naomi, stand down. I said I am here to talk, don't make things harder than they need to be," The absol ordered Naomi.

"Just what the hell do you want from us?" Naomi growled, barely keeping her temper in control.

"I'll say this once more: I am here to talk, nothing more," the absol repeated himself.

"Naomi, just he-" I broke out in another coughing fit, it felt as if each cough was slowly killing me. "Just hear him out," I managed to finish.

The absol's eyes narrowed in on me, his eyes were filled with fire, but he took his eyes off me and kept his gaze afar from my own.

"What's wrong with him?"

Naomi loosened up a tad, but she still remained a bit tense. "He's sick," Naomi answered with a venomous attitude.

"I see," the absol replied without much care. "White umbreon, Stark, I have questions for you."

I breathed heavily as I pushed myself off the ground. Naomi used herself to help assist me, and once up she allowed me to lean against her for support.

"Ask what you're going to," I spoke weakly.

"Get comfortable, this is going to be a very, very long talk," the absol muttered before his teeth gnashed together. "I'm going to ask you what I was sent here to ask, but when I'm done we're going to have a very long talk about something personal, do you remember what I'm talking about?" I gave a weak nod in response, I knew full well that this absol wanted to spill my blood all over this cave. I would too if someone was to harm Naomi.

"Tell me exactly where Crimson is hiding," The absol demanded as his claws dug into the ground, I could see that he was growing impatient with the sight of me. I leaned against Naomi more as the question was asked. While I did hate Crimson Dawn, I still liked some of the pokemon there, I don't know if I'd be happy with selling out the few I did like.

"Well?" The absol asked impatiently.

"Crimson had a hideout in a pokemon civilization near Geosenge. It was in the forest that is northeast to Geosenge. Although I can't guarantee they are still there, they aren't dumb," I answered with a bit of disgust in myself. This whole time I was some spy there, but I grew accustomed to those around me at the time. Sure they were all messed up pokemon trying to do messed up stuff, but they treated me with respect, something I've only gotten from a few others. If I had chosen to, I could have left Crimson Dawn at any time. They wouldn't have stopped me, they treated me like a living being, not a killing tool.

"And are you lying to me? How come I've never heard of this pokemon civilization?"

"I don't know, Crimson Dawn was constantly on the move," I lied to the absol.

"Next question: I need to know everything about Mandus, the leader of Crimson Dawn, and one of his followers Vincent, an espeon."

I leaned up from against Naomi as I was caught off guard by that question. "What's so important about Vincent?"

"That doesn't concern you," The absol sharply replied.

"I'm not answering anything then," I snapped at him. "For once in my life people treated me like a living being, I can't just sell them out like that." Instantly after finishing my sentences I felt regret… I have no idea why I cared, I've never cared for anyone besides Naomi… Why would I put us in danger for them?

"If you don't cooperate I have orders to kill both of you, and believe me, I'm more than happy to give you what you deserve after what you did to my friends," The absol responded.

"Wait. Stark, do you know him?" Naomi asked with astonishment. Naomi looked at me, but my mouth remained clamped shut, never to open up on this topic in front of her.

"What, too proud to show her your true colors, you murdering bastard?" The absol snorted. "Don't act like it never fucking happened, I'll kill you here if you do." The absol began to growl with years of hatred built up.

"I'm not going to stand for you threatening me or Naomi like this. I could care less what happens to me, but Naomi is off limits."

"Think I give a damn about what you say? My friends didn't deserve what they got, you have no right to claim that someone is off limits. A monster like you deserves to rot in Hell."

"Either way, you're not going to kill me, I have info you want," I responded to him with a small sneer forming.

"You're already set on not talking."

"Even if I do talk you're going to try and kill us."

"Yeah, I didn't have intentions on letting someone like you roam free." The absol stated as he glanced at Naomi. "Naomi, come with me and there is a chance I can save you. Your brother is the one who told us you left with Stark. He's desperate to see you again, he told us all about your argument and how you left with Stark. Even your brother realizes that this is a ridiculous doomed relationship, he realizes that every second you're with him you're in danger. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now and we would have never known you left with him."

"Just shut the Hell up!" Naomi rose her voice up in a vicious snarl. "I'm sick of everyone just trying to tell me what to do! I don't give a damn if Stark has a dark past, I don't care if it's dangerous, I trust him and I feel safe with him! Go tell Dante to stay the Hell out of my life! I'm not some little kid anymore, I'm a full grown adult and I can own up to my decisions!" Naomi finished yelling. She breathed heavily after her speech, but quickly got over her winded state.

The absol let out a scowl as he glared at the two of us, "Naomi you're putting me in a very tough situation right now, I don't want to put you down, but I can tell if I do what I came here to do, I won't have a choice."

"You touch Naomi and I'll put you right with the rest of your fri-" In a flash the absol lunged towards me as he swung an ice like blade that formed on his right paw. I quickly jumped on Naomi and the two of us fell to the ground, just barely avoiding the attack.

"You fucking prick, I'll kill you!" Gray yelled as a hail storm shot from his maw. Naomi and I both quickly rolled out of the way. I winced in pain as a few shard of ice impaled my hip.

In a quick motion I jumped up on my feet and shot a shadow ball at the absol. The absol quickly slashed the ball of dark energy and it exploded into a thick fog of darkness that lingered in the cave.

"Naomi!" I shouted as I ran to where I saw her last. I found her, pulled her up with my teeth and guided her to follow me. The two of us ran as fast as we could towards the exit of the cave.

"Just keep running," I panted as we saw light at the end of the cave. Once outside we were both met by a drizzling rain and the muddy ground, but that wasn't important. "Just keep running and don't stop, even if I can't keep up," I instructed Naomi. If things get bad, I'll hold him off," I told Naomi as we navigated around the swamp-like mud pit forest. Naomi and I jumped over fallen trees, ducked under branches, and jumped over large puddles of water that formed.

Naomi and I ran until we made our way towards the flooded part of the swamp that would be hell to get through due to the deeper waters than usual.

"Stark, we can't stop here, he's going to catch up," Naomi begged as she tugged on my arm.

"I know, I know," I said as my head hung low and I felt like I was going to vomit from being so out of breath. As my adrenaline began to die down, I felt a strong sting in my side. I looked towards my left hip to see blood seeping down from two shards of hail that stuck out of me. I sucked in a deep breath as I clamped my teeth down on one of the shard of hail and yanked it out. I repeated the process for the other piece as well, and my hip stung with more pain than when I thought things couldn't get much worse, I began to cough violently again.

"Shit," I managed to say between coughs. Blood mixed in with the muddy ground as my head rose back up. "I'm fine, and I told you not to stop," I spoke sternly.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Listen, I don't care if I die here today, but I'll be damned if anything happens to you, now go," I ordered her.

Naomi and I both ran through the deep water. Luckily Naomi and I knew where the shallow parts were, so The water level only went up to my torso, for Naomi it was about up to her neck since she was shorter. Naomi and I both moved as quickly as we could, until Naomi tripped and went under.

"Naomi!?" I yelled as I stuck my head under and pulled her out. Naomi spat out a mouth full of muddy water.

"Found you!" The voice of the absol shouted. I glanced back to see an ice attack charging in his maw, but instead of shooting it at us he shot an ice beam at the water and created an ice path for him to run on. The absol hopped up on his ice path and ran towards us with a speed that we had no chance of outrunning.

With a loud grunt I forced myself to jump out of the water and towards the absol. My right paw lit up with dark matter as I flew towards him. The absol quickly opened his maw and shot a hail attack. Like a shotgun each shard of ice impaled me all over, some shards just barely missed my eyes. In mid flight I let out a yell of pain as my blood dripped down me from everywhere. In a swift motion the absol jumped towards me and tackled me. His fangs were quick to lock down on my upper shoulder just below my neck. My yell grew louder as I splashed into the mucky water and inhaled water immediately. His fangs released me and I tried to get up, but a firm paw to my chest held me under.

The water was mucky, I couldn't see a damn thing from here. I tried to move his paw, but his strength overpowered my own. I clamped my mouth shut as I tried to resist the urge to breathe, the fact that I already got water in my lungs made it all the harder. It didn't take more than five seconds for me to feel like I was going to explode and suck in anything I could. A few more seconds passed and I felt dizzy, I needed air, I needed it or I was going to drown. I began to panic as I clawed at his leg and tried with every ounce of strength to break free, but soon I lost the strength to even grasp his arm.

Just right when I felt like I was going to give into the screaming urge to breath, the paw pulled back and I immediately surfaced. My first reflex was to breathe, but instead it turned into a coughing fit. I coughed out a mixture of blood and water from my lungs, and after I took in a sweet breath of air.

While breathing in more air, the sound of snaps and growls got my attention. I quickly spun around to see the absol with Naomi on his back. The absol thrashed around as he tried to get the umbreon off of him. Her teeth clamped right down on the same spot he got me, the shoulder. The absol jumped and ran in quick circles before he slammed Naomi against a tree. Naomi let out a cry as she fell from the absol.

"Stop…" I faintly spoke as I tried to move towards them, but my body felt as if it was asleep and didn't want to respond at me pace. "Stop," I begged as the absol stood over the struggling umbreon.

"Naomi, it's not too late, I don't want to do this," the absol pleaded to Naomi, the look in his eyes showing hesitation. "I don't want to kill you, you're not a bad poke-" Naomi lashed upward, her maw releasing a ball of dark energy. The absol flinched downward in an attempt to shield his eyes. A explosion pushed the absol back and he splashed into the water.

Naomi stood petrified as a dark energy faded from her maw. Not a single breath left as she stared where the absol landed with her eyes wide. Seeing her state, I began to move towards her, my body was finally managing to cooperate after nearly drowning. Halfway through stumbling towards Naomi, the absol surfaced from the water. Naomi's eyes widened at the damage she caused.

The absol winced in pain as blood gushed down from a large portion of his horn missing. The absol looked Naomi in the eyes, as his own became drowsy. The absol's stance weakened and his legs began to shake, no doubt he was going into shock from blood loss..

I closed in on Naomi just as the injured absol turned towards me. His teeth gnashed together in rage for one last moment before he turned and ran in a sloppy motion, leaving a trail of blood from his shoulder and horn in the brown water.

I let out a breath of relief before I focused my attention on Naomi. Naomi was no longer petrified, but the remorseful look in her eyes managed to say all I needed to hear. It was similar to that look she always had when she had to hurt someone when working for Jack.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked Naomi.

"I… I know he was trying to kill you… but I didn't really want to do that. I just wanted him to leave."

"You did what you had to, and because of that we're going to be okay."

"I don't feel like anything is going to be okay," Naomi stammered out. "WPA is going to be searching and trying to kill both of us from now on… We can't stay in Kalos… We have to leave."

"And you're sure that's the right choice?" I asked Naomi.

"There is no future left for us here. We have nothing left for us here either way. We're both wanted, we can't go into civilization ever again, I don't even know what to do because I can't leave Kalos." Naomi became hysteric as tears broke from her eyes.

"Why can't we?" I asked.

"My medicine. If I don't take it I'll lose my memories, I'm already running low to begin with... And once it's out I'm done… My memories will fade, I won't even remember you or even my own name." I remained silent as Naomi continued to break down. There had to be a way for me to protect and keep Naomi's health well, and I do have one way.

"Naomi," I said as I looked her in the eyes. Naomi wiped a tear away with her paw as she looked towards me. "We both know people who will help."

"Stark you can't mean… They'll just use you again!" Naomi argued.

"It's only a matter of time before they contact me again. I'm lucky enough they let me run away to begin with, they're just waiting until I can be of use to them again."

"There has to be a better way though."

"Let's be realistic. We need your meds and protection, if I work for Genesis they'll provide for us. You said it yourself, they offered you a job when they found you. We're going to go to them, I'm going to ask for work in exchange for our safety and meds. Who knows, maybe they can help me out with my sickness as well. But, we are out of options at this point Naomi, if we continue to live like this we're going to end up dead before too long."

Naomi remained silent for a moment as she thought of what to do. Just when I was about to push for an answer she opened her mouth to speak, "I don't like your idea one bit… But you're right, at this point, we have no choice."

"Alright, let's head back to the cave quick and get and any belongings we can bring and get out of here as fast as possible." Naomi gave me a weak nod in agreement.

The two of us began to move through the water as quickly as we could. Our pace only quickened once we made it to dry land. Despite the fact that I was always winded, I didn't stop for anything. After a small run we made it to our den.

"Grab everything you need," I sternly told Naomi. Naomi didn't even waste a second, she chose a brown sack with her medicine that was near empty. As for my choice, I grabbed a small bag that had a small bit of food that would last us a few days.

"It's kind of sad," Naomi started as she looked around the cave on the way out. "I hated this place so much, but over the weeks I grew to like it," Naomi admitted.

"It's fine,. We'll find something better in the future, something more deserving for you."

"I'll just be happy if we make it to Genesis in one piece," Naomi worried.

"We will, I promise," I assured her.

We finished up in the cave and hurried away from the swampy area that was our temporary home. For now, we were on the road. Every turn could be full of danger, but no matter what, I will protect Naomi. My biggest fear now was crawling back to Genesis…

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Author Note: Well that ends another chapter I guess. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing lately, I was astounded with how much attention last chapter got, it really does mean a lot to me, thanks.

Special thanks to The pokemon Melody and genericgamer207 for editing this chapter, this chapter really came out great thanks to the two of them.

**PS** \- apparently the next Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was announced. It'll include all 720 pokemon. Sounds fun, I can't wait.


	103. I don't know you anymore

**Chapter 103: I don't know you anymore**

* * *

A groan escaped me as I pushed myself off of the cold steel floor. My joints cracked as I got up and stretched out my body like I did every morning when I woke up. Slowly I stretched my neck out and a satisfying pop relieved some of the stiffness from sleeping on such a flat surface for so many days straight. I peered around the room thinking I would see something, but I was quickly reminded that this room was pitch black. Within moments I began to shiver from the cold air in the room, but I didn't have anything to help alleviate myself from the feeling. To make things even better, my head still ached from the injury I received from Aiden a long while back.

For another day I was going to continue rotting away in here. I remembered when I first arrived here I was able to use my electricity for a bit of light, but now I could hardly do anything with my natural affinity. It was no doubt the food, if you could call it that. I think it is once a day a human brings me food, but I've lost complete track of time in this room. It could be three times a day. once every other, or every hour, I've just lost complete track in here. Usually when the human came it was the only time I got to see anyone, since I was the only one confined in here for some reason. It was always too dark to make out the humans face, but he would always come up to my cage and pour a bucket of this slop into an opening in my cage, which would then pour down into this bowl that reeked of a rotten stench that made my nose curl up. After I was fed and he gave me water, the human would always leave without a word. Sometimes I would try to talk to him, but never once did he even bother replying to me, it was almost as if he didn't even see me.

The food I was served here was just disgusting, like nothing I'd ever seen. I was able to use a spark to make it out when I first got here, and it was like some brownish sludge that looked like fecal matter… but it wasn't. I tried to resist it for as long as I could, but after so long I gave in… The taste was bitter and dank, the texture was sloppy with some squishy chunks in it and some hard chunks. Just touching the stuff with my tongue made my entire jaw lock up in an attempt to stop me from continuing on. At first I could barely stomach the stuff, I actually vomited the first few times I ate it. Luckily the food guy noticed and sprayed me and the cage off with a hose… While I hated him for being so cruel, it still beat sitting with my puke all day. Although, getting sprayed off also made me more cold, I remember sitting in my cage shivering like I was left out in the winter without any warmth.

The human never even took a moment to tend to the wound on my head. To this day the wound Aiden inflicted on me still ached. While it did feel better, it still felt very sensitive. The bloody scrapes that were left from the rock also seemed to leave its mark, a deep cut on my head didn't seem to want to heal, and it felt itchy, warm, and like it was pussing out some nasty liquid at times… I had no doubt in my mind that an infection was starting, but I had no way of treating it.

This whole experience was mental and physical torture. The food hardly kept me full, I can tell I've lost a lot of weight, I could feel individual ribs popping from my skin. Worst of all, I haven't bathed since I was hosed down when I first got here… My fur felt so nasty and greasy, and my skin itched in some places due to gross stuff collecting on my fur and skin.

I think the thing that got to me the most was the isolation in this dark cage. I've spent a lot of time alone when Flare was gone with Alex, but it didn't compare to this. The only time I got to socialize was in my dreams, but a dream is only so satisfying. At times my eyes play tricks on me, I hear things that I didn't really hear.

After some time, my mind began to drift back towards happier days. I think the only time I got to be happy here was when I lost myself in thoughts of the past. In a way it kept me sane, but also made me all the more scared. While I did prefer to reflect on the days I had fun with everyone, I still could never forget the situation I left everyone in. For all I know they could be dead right now. Black could have been taken as well, Arceus knows what they're doing to him, and the torment the thought of Flare being in danger made me tear up every time, but it wasn't just him though, I worried for everyone. I wanted to leave this place so badly I need to help them. I need to get out of here.

"Guys…" I began quietly as my eyes began to grow heavy, "I just want to come home now… I don't want to be here," I quietly cried to myself, slowly turning into sobs. Every sob and snort that came from me echoed in the silence, just reminding me that I was suffering alone. As I continued to sob, I could feel anxiety building up inside of me, ready to burst at any moment.

"I can't take this anymore!" I screamed as I threw myself at the steel bars of my cage. "I want out! I want out! I want out!" I repeatedly screamed to myself as I rammed my side into the cage. When my shoulder felt as if it was going to break I continued. I didn't even stop when I lost all feeling in my shoulder. I lost count of how many times my insanity pushed me to assault the bars of the cage, but my spirit weakened and I fell to the ground. Without any resistance, I allowed myself to release all of my emotions. Tears flowed down from my eyes as I curled up in a tight ball, my own tears drenching my fur as my sobs were muffled against my body. I cried and cried with no end. Alex never came to give me a hug and make things better, Flare never came to tell me things were going to be okay, Gray never told me to stop acting so weak, that was until a paw nudged me.

"Huh?" I said in surprise as my head rose upward.

"Hey, what's wrong, it's not like you at all to be like this?" Flare smiled at me.

"F-Flare?" I stammered as I pushed myself off the ground.

"What is it Kana?" the fennekin asked.

"Why is this happening to me?" I pleaded for an answer. The fennekin's smile turned to a frown..

"I don't know," Flare answered with a quick shrug, "Sometimes the world isn't always beautiful like you always pictured it," Flare answered as he walked across our home and towards the exit. The fennekin stood in front of the door with his back turned towards me.

"Flare!" I called out as I tried to chase him, but I found that something was blocking me. "Flare wait, please don't leave me!" I cried out as I stuck my paw out towards him. The fennekin looked back towards me with a comforting smile, but he didn't respond to my begging.

"Flare, I don't want you to leave me again!" I yelled out even louder, but the fennekin looked as if he couldn't even hear me. The fox gave a small wave as the front door was opened from the other side. A blinding white light shot through and my eyes clenched shut.

"Flare, please!" I cried even louder, but when I opened my eyes again the fennekin was gone. Emerging from the white abyss was a human, but I couldn't make him out do to me being blinded.

"Stand towards the back of the cage," a human snapped at me. In almost an instant I found myself back in the dark room, but the bright light from outside still blinded me.

"Wait, what's going on, where am I, please let me go, I'll do whatever you ask, just don't leave me here!" I begged as I practically pressed my face against the bars.

"Dumb bitch," a run down voice growled as a marowak walked out from behind the human. All I saw was the blur of the marowak extending his bone club towards me, then I awoke on the ground with a numbing pain on my head. I whimpered on the ground as I felt warm blood dripping from my skull. The human paid me no attention as he fiddled with a padlock on my cell. A click sounded from the lock as the door slowly opened with a loud screeching scream..

"Do anything and you'll regret it fast kid," the marowak growled as he batted his club against his hand.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered pathetically as I stayed completely still, not wanting to anger the marowak again. My head ached as the pain only grew worse, it was almost worse than what Aiden did to me, especially since my head was still sore from the previous injury. The pain in my head felt as if my skull was split, it was like nothing I've ever felt before.

I watched the human with my blurry vision as he walked towards the entrance of the room and grabbed a long stick with a U shaped thing at the end. WIthout much emotion, the human came back to my cage. The human looked down towards me, I quickly averted my gaze, not wanting to anger him in any way. I just clenched my eyes shut and prayed to Arceus that it would be over soon, and that I wouldn't be hurt any further.

"Get up, now," the marowak spoke in a snappy tone. "Don't make me wait, I hate waiting on you pokemon lab rats," the marowak finished as he whacked his club against the ground, creating a booming echo.

I let out a yip as I forced myself up. Then without warning the human jabbed his stick towards my neck. I clenched my eyes shut, not wanting to see what was coming, but instead of pain, I felt something wrap around my neck. My eyes opened in surprise to see that the U on the stick inclosed on my neck and made a collar.

"Move," the human ordered me. Without a chance to respond, I was yanked out of my cage. I nearly fell to the ground as he forced me to move towards the door. Despite my anxiety and pain at the moment, I still couldn't help but feel a bit of joy from finally getting the chance to leave this dark room, but that small ember of joy was smothered out by the overwhelming fear of what was in store for me.

"Stand still," the human barked at me as he pulled something off his belt. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him holding something in the shape of a gun. My eyes widened as he pulled me closer to him and pressed it against my neck. Just as I was about to run, I heard a beep and the gun like thing lit up green.

"Her chip says she's the one," the human nodded as he attached what I realized was a scanner to his belt. "Alright pokemon, stop standing around and start walking," the human ordered.

The human guided me towards the door with the stick, I tried to look back to see the cubone, but the collar stick kept my head looking forward. As we made our way towards the door, my eyes began to burn from the bright light from outside as if I was looking directly into the sun. For the first time in what felt like forever, I left the room. Everything was white, my eyes couldn't see anything but the color white.

"Move it!" The human barked at me as he used the stick to force me forward, and I slowly realized that we were walking down a hallway. I did as he wanted without resisting and blindly wandered. The blurriness slowly began to fade and I realized I was in some kind of pokecenter or something. Although, this one appeared to be a lot more advanced, but why would they keep me in confinement like that, and the staff would never treat me like a vicious pokemon. The halls to this place were much wider than the average pokecenter, and lights on the ceiling seemed to reflect off the shiny white walls and illuminated everything, I'm sure Black would have hated this place. Along the walls I could see many door and windows to other rooms, but I never got a good look at what was inside.

I was honestly a bit astounded by how crowded this place was, pokemon and humans of all kinds were doing all sorts of things in these halls. Some humans and pokemon were transporting equipment, others were moving pokemon that were patients here, and the rest was a mystery to me, I couldn't quite tell what they were doing. Other than the clacking sound of foot steps, this place seemed dead silent. Most of the humans and pokemon roaming around seemed a bit lifeless, like they were all over worked and exhausted.

We moved along the pokecenter for quite a bit, this place was far bigger than any pokecenter I'd ever seen, and it was surely the biggest maze I've been in. Eventually we came to a stop in front of a door. The human knocked on the door, and then to my amazement it slid open on its own.

The human moved me in front of him and guided me into a room. At the end of the room was a office desk with a laptop and other things you would expect to be on an office desk, except this weird swinging stick sculpture thing that kept moving in a pattern…

Behind the desk was an office chair that had its back faced towards us. The chair spun around and revealed an aged kadabra.

"Might I ask why you have her chained up like some damn feral beast? I told you to bring her to me, not chain her up like a fiend," the psychics voice boomed in my head.

"My apologies si-"

"I don't care, just leave before you have to find a new job," The kadabra waved his hands towards them. "Hold up actually," the kadabra said to the human and marowak.

"Yes sir?"

"While you're here, I don't want to trouble my assistant, she's doing far more vital things. Get me some braised pork loin, and some more coffee, add two and a half packets of artificial sugar," the kadabra ordered the two. "Miss Kana, may I interest you in a meal, I'm sure you're very hungry... after that," the Kadabra spoke as he glared at the human and marowak with disgust.

"Umm…" I began nervously, "I'd hate to trouble you…"

"Nonsense, you're a guest here, just say whatever your heart desires and our chefs will do there best."

"Umm… I'll just take what you're having," I answered, not even sure what the heck a pork loin thing was...

"Coffee as well?" the kadabra asked.

"No... Al-... my human doesn't allow me to anymore…" I answered shyly.

"Suite yourself miss Kana. Just bring her some juice of some kind then," The kadabra said with a shrug as he waved off the lackeys working below him. "Please, take a seat," the kadabra offered as he gestured me towards a cushioned stool that appeared like it was for quadruped pokemon like myself to sit on. For a moment I was hesitant towards trusting him, this was too big of a change from my previous living conditions. I stared at the kadabra with very little trust, there was no way I was being treated like this for no reason.

"Miss Kana, is something troubling you?"

"H-How do you even know my name?" I nervously asked.

The kadabra smirked towards me. "Oh how rude, now that I think of it, I never even gave you my name, where are my manners? My my, seems those two from earlier are corrupting my behavior," the kadabra lightly laughed to himself, while I remained serious. "The name you will have to know me by is simply Zero. While it may not be the most conventional name, it is what I must go by while here. As for me knowing your name miss Kana, I just simply scanned your mind for that small piece info," the kadabra gave me a lengthy answer. "You see though miss Kana, their is no lying to me. You can train your whole life to lie, be able to act just how you need to convince me, but your mind will never lie to me. Now, would you kindly take a seat miss Kana?"

"N-No," I began as I fidgeted in place. "I-I'm sorry, I appreciate your kindness, but what the heck is all of this. I mean I'm kept in a cage in poor living conditions for Arceus knows how long and now I'm suddenly treated like this?" I frantically spoke as I felt myself becoming ready to explode with anger.

"Miss Kana, please have a seat, I'm afraid there was a mistake and you ended up in the wrong place… Sadly for just a little over a month."

"It's only been a month…" I said with surprise, but then again I wasn't even sure how long I expected. I remained still for a seconds, but I allowed myself to have enough trust to take a seat. I walked towards the chair and struggled to pull myself up. To my surprise I was weaker than I thought after a month in that cell.

"So one month?" I asked with disbelief.

"I'm afraid so," The kadabra answered. "May I ask though, what happened to your head, that wound doesn't look so pleasant."

"Why don't you just read my mind," I muttered with annoyance.

"No need to be snide, while I told you there is no lying to me, I do believe that a mind is someone's sanctuary, something I have no right to intrude on. So long as you respect me and tell the truth, I will not tread where I do not belong."

I let out a long sigh, I was about to argue with him reading my mind for a name, but it wasn't worth it, I needed answers."Why exactly was I being contained for that long? I nearly went insane inside of that room."

"I'm afraid there was a mix up. I don't know how it happened, but you ended up where you were. Luckily the person feeding you eventually put two and two together and realized you weren't supposed to be in there. It took the imbecile long enough."

"That's a bit of a mistake…" I said with frustration. "What kind of pokecenter keeps pokemon in containment like that and then beats me like a crazed pokemon!?"

"Huh?" The kadabra said with surprise. "Who told you this place was a pokecenter?"

"Well no one…" I answered, "I mean it kind of reminds me of one."

"Well this could be a place for treatment if needed, but that's not the primary focus here."

"Then where am I? Where are my friends? All I remember is running down the street in search of my friend and then everything went black."

"I can't answer for your friends, but as for you miss Kana, you're in a facility known as Techvivre labs, and here running this facility is Team Genesis. I'm sure you're familiar, after all you did have a run in a while back, did you not?"

"Wait… if this place is owned by Genesis… Why am I here!?" I yelled in panic at the kadabra as I sat up from my chair and tried leaping away, but a strange purple light surrounded me and all my problems melted away in a moment. The throbbing pain on my head even ceased, my body felt so relaxed and sleepy.

"What are you…" I began as I tried to fight the feeling, but no matter how hard I tried to fight against it, I just felt so tired and relaxed.

"Please, I don't wish to pacify you like this, but if you can't behave I'll have to resort to other methods." Suddenly I felt the drowsiness lift up from me.

"What did you just do to me?" I said in shock as I looked all around my body for damage, but he didn't do a thing to me that I could see.

"I just calmed you down with my mind, no harm done, I just need you to understand that we can't behave like that," The kadabra answered. "Now, I'm willing to explain your current situation, but I need you to promise to be calm. And if you do, I have someone here who'd like to see you, but only if you cooperate."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I apologized. In no way did I plan on sticking around after this since he was Genesis, but I'd at least hear him out. Still, the thought of being here terrified me.

"No need to apologize miss Kana, you're scared, that's a natural reaction for someone in your current situation, but enough of that, I believe I owe you an explanation. It was around one month ago that you were taken by a fellow member of Genesis, needless to say he brought you here. Now originally you were suppose to be brought here to me, but instead you got mixed up and put in with our specimens, and no, I don't know how that happened… But thank goodness someone caught on, you could have ended up on a lab table if something didn't happen," The kadabra spoke nonchalantly.

The thought of being dissected on a table made me want to barf, but I contained myself.

"So, we have plans for you Kana. Sadly for you, you're not to know these plans, but know that no harm will come to you. All I need is your trust, if so you're welcome to stay here, so long as you don't disobey some rules."

"I'm not staying here with you, and I will have no part in any plans of yours. Especially after you sent mercenaries to kill us," I rose my voice towards the kadabra.

"Correction, the mercenaries were not sent to harm you, they were only to take the lives of the others that were involved, sparing both you and your trainer."

"Wait, just why the heck would they not kill me and Alex? We're both just as involved as everyone else. I mean hell, you're weighing my life more than a child?" My tone became sharp as I felt a fire rising in my chest.

"My my, I guess it'd be easier to explain why you and your human were spared."

"Excuse me, I'm not following," I said as my left brow rose in confusion.

Zero leaned forward and pressed down on a button below a microphone. "Mr. Hayter, you may enter," The kadabra spoke into the mic, before he released his finger and allowed himself to rest against his chair again.

"Wait… did you just-" I began as my eyes widened and the door to the room slid open. "What's going on, I don't understand?!" I cried out as John Hayter entered the room with a lab coat on.

"Hey there Kana," Mr Hayter said as he crouched down and extended his hand out for me to come towards him so he could pet me like when he returned home from work.

My body began to shake in fear, if this was what I thought it was, then everything I have been told by this man was a lie. I stepped away from the human and his hand dropped towards the ground in disappointment.

"This isn't true… it can't be," I frantically whispered to myself as my heart pounded in my chest, and everything felt like it was moving so fast.

"Kana, I'm broadcasting your voice to Mr Hayter so he can hear you," Zero said.

"No no no, this is a lie, this is a trick… He's just messing with your head, he's Genesis, Mr Hayter would never work for Genesis," I frantically told myself.

"Kana, calm down, it's going to be alright," Mr Hayter spoke to me. My head snapped upward in surprise as the human somehow got close without me realizing it. His hand reached downward towards me. "What happened to your he-"

"Get back!" I emitted a small discharge of electricity into the human, zapping his finger tip with the only form of electricity I had the strength to use.

"Oww, dammit Kana," John pulled his hand back, but he didn't retreat. "Why are you so scared of me, do you really fear me that much now, nothing about me has changed, you just know more about me."

"I don't know you anymore!" I screamed at him, tears breaking from my eyes. "Do you not realize what Genesis does to pokemon?!"

"Well yeah… I've kinda been working for them before you were even born, I think I know what my employers do," Hayter answered. "Kana, just please calm down, I swear this'll make sense if you just listen." Mr. Hayter's arms extended out and grabbed me with hands that I once viewed as gentle. I opened my mouth and bit down on his shoulder. Mr Hayter let out a yell of pain and released me.

"You don't ever touch me again!" I yelled at him with tears streaming down from my eyes and onto the floor. "How can you just lie to everyone like this!" I screamed as I quickly ran around him and towards the door. Suddenly I felt my body lift into the air and remain still. I tried to budge free, but I quickly realized I was helpless.

"I'll calm her down," Zero spoke.

"No," John cut him off.

"Hmm?"

"she has every right to be angry with me," John spoke and I was set back down on the ground, but I couldn't budge a single muscle, it was like I was frozen in place. "Kana, I want you to hear my story, then maybe you'll understand how someone like me ends up here." The invisible force holding my body released me and I was able to turn back to John. The human looked at me with a melancholic stare, one that I've rarely seen on him.

"Why would you join Genesis?"

"It's a long story, I guess I'll start from the beginning. I guess it all started shortly after I married Samantha. She and I made a decent living with our combined incomes, but we were far from wealthy with all our bills and student loans. Well, it wasn't until a few years after our marriage that Samantha became very, very ill. After a bit we both had enough and I took her in to see a doctor. Well, it was on that day she was diagnosed with cancer. Samantha took it hard and her illness made it impossible for her to work, so we both decided it was best for her to stay home. Family and friends kept close watch over her while I worked as much as I could, that was until something happened…"

"I worked for a lab, we were conducting research on illnesses that kills pokemon. Well, our lab ran out of funding, and due to a lack of results, we were all let go since the board didn't want to fund us… So, this is where my life turns around. Samantha was dying and I couldn't get her good treatment without money, or even keep our home if I didn't do something. So, one night at a bar I was drinking away my problems, it was there I ran into an old friend from college. We spent a good hour catching up, I guess my bad luck moved him because he offered me a job.,and yes, this job was working for Genesis."

"So, doing what I could, I accepted the job. At first I was very cynical, but I realized it was just like any other job, I just couldn't let anyone know or I'd be in prison for a very long time. I still remember my first check, my heart nearly stopped beating from the shock. In just one week I earned what used to take me three, and that was just the beginning. With the extra money I was able to get Samantha the best treatment possible, plus Genesis had some medicine that would help her, but their was only so much they could do. After around a year, Samantha's cancer went away, together we beat it," John said with a small smile, but in a way it looked a bit pitiful.

"This doesn't make sense though. Samantha passed away from cancer, is their something else going on here?" I shyly asked.

"No no, you're completely right on that, Samantha did pass away from cancer. You see, after that we carried on a normal life, the only difference being that I had to lie about my job. I think it was three years after she got better that we adopted you," A smile crept onto John's face. "I still remember that day, you were so cute, our first addition to our family. You may not remember Samantha that well, but she really did cherish you, I really think the two of you would have gotten along well," John said as he continued to smile from the nostalgia. "two years later, Samantha gave birth to Alex. I remember how happy we were, everything in life was just going to well and we had another family member. Although, things took a turn for the worst later down the road. Samantha's cancer came back, but this time she didn't recover," John stopped for a moment as he stared towards the ground. "You probably ask why I continued to work for Genesis even when I didn't need the money, I do it because I want the money if anything ever happens to Alex. Because of this money I'll be able to pay for his college, his wedding, help him out if he ever needs it, this money I have can change our lives. So tell me Kana, do you understand why I do what I do now?"

"I do," I nodded my head as I looked the human in the eyes, "I understand you now, I thought you were just greedy, but you did it for good reasons."

"I'm glad you've come to-"

"But I still can't accept that you hurt innocent pokemon. I know you loved Samantha, and I know you'd do anything to protect Alex, but Genesis kills pokemon and funds killers, how many lives was it worth to save Samantha, wasn't watching her suffer enough for you to understand that no one should die?"

"Kana, you don't understand what Genesis does here, and with your immaturity I doubt you'll ever come to comprehend it either."

"Then what are you doing here!? Black had to walk through a facility where countless innocent pokemon were shot and burned to ash! Then then these killers hired by Genesis come to kill us! Maybe I don't know what Genesis is doing to pokemon, but I don't need to know that, because I realize that Genesis is a horrible organization!" I screamed at the human, but John remained unfazed.

"Here at Genesis we do hurt pokemon, I won't lie. We've killed more than we can count. But Genesis has also produced many miracles that will save more pokemon in the future. Our studies may even benefit humans as well."

"It still doesn't make what you're doing here right!"

"I know what I'm doing may not be the best line of work, but I have no other damn choice. okay?" John rose his voice.

"Then what about me? Are you going to do things to me then?!" I lashed back. John flinched back in surprise.

"Kana… I'd never hurt you, nor is anyone here going to harm you."

"I don't even know if I trust your word on that."

"Listen Kana, why don't I take you back to my room where we can both cool off. Obviously a lot has been put on you today, so maybe it's best if you just take some time to think things through. No one here is going to harm you, I swear."

"I don't want to stay here though… I just want to go home."

"Listen, I promise if you be good and do as you're told, I'll get you home as soon as my contract here is up, shouldn't be more than two months. After I'll be stopping home to check on Alex."

"Then promise me, promise me you'll take me home after all of this."

"I promise Kana, I'll take you home after my work here is done."

"Okay," I quietly said as I gave a small nod.

"Well Zero, I appreciate the help. I'll get back to you later on other things."

"That's fine Mr Hayter, just keep an eye on Miss Kana."

"I will," John said as we walked towards the door. "Come on Kana, I'll take you to our room," John said as he gestured me to follow.

I followed him without a word and we left the room and went back into the white halls. I followed closely to John as we turned multiple corners and made our way through the facility. As we walked I tried to map out the facility, but I quickly gave up on that as I realized this place was much bigger than I anticipated. About halfway down one of the halls, John stopped in front of an elevator. The human pressed a button and the door opened up.

"We're almost there, don't worry," John smiled at me. I didn't reply, but I did enter the elevator with him.

The two of us waited in the elevator for about two floors down. Both doors slowly slid open and revealed a big empty hallway that was illuminated like the rest of the facility. The halls down here were much more narrow, but it still looked like all the other halls. Without a word John exited the elevator and headed down the hall. Along the hall there were many different doors that were parallel to each other, almost like a hotel. I followed behind John until we reached the very end of the hall. John turned to the door on the left and pressed his palm against some kind of scanner. A beep sounded and the door clicked.

"Well, here we are, home," John said as he opened the door and allowed me to enter. My jaw dropped in surprise from what I was seeing. The room we were in appeared like a normal home, just smaller, maybe more like a suite in a hotel.

"It's not much, but this'll be where you sleep. Feel free to do as you please here, just don't wreck the place," John said as he walked through the room and entered the living room. There wasn't much to it, just a recliner and a TV, along with some fake plants along the wall. Across from the living room was the kitchen, the only real separation was the carpet that transitioned to white tiles, no walls. The kitchen had all the essentials one would need, stove, fridge, oven, counter, and all the cooking utensil stuff.

"Kana, come with me," John waved for me to follow. John led me to a door just past the kitchen and living room. He opened the door, revealing the bathroom. "Come here," John said as he bent down and lifted me up from under my arms.

"Hey, I said not to-" I began to argue, but he set me down on the counter in the restroom. "What're you doing?" I asked as my head cocked to the side.

"Don't worry, I'm just tending to that nasty gash on your head, it looks pretty bad," John chuckled as he reached into a cabinet behind me. "Watch your head sweetie," he said as he opened the door, and it swung over my head. John dug around back there until he pulled out a few items.

"Alright, this is going to sting a bit, just bear with me," John warned me as he grabbed a swab a poured some disinfectant on it. "Hold still, I don't want to hurt you," he said as his hand gently held the back of my head and his other hand lowered the swab near my forehead. My eyes closed just before it touched, and then I felt an intense burning in my wound.

"Ow ow ow," I whined as my head lowered as a reflex.

"Hold on, we're almost done here," John said. "And done," the human finished, and threw the swab into the garbage.

"Thanks," I lightly said as I jumped off the counter.

"Here, I'll show you to my room, which will now be ours I guess, unless you prefer to sleep somewhere else," John said as he led me towards the back of the room towards a door. John opened the door and revealed a small bedroom. Inside it seemed like a normal human room. John had a big bed, and next to his bed was a nightstand with a clock, and a picture. I looked closer to the picture and my heart nearly skipped a beat. It was a picture of John, Samantha, Alex, and me very long ago.

"I'll be sure to find you a bed, I know Genesis has some here somewhere, but that'll have to wait till later. Till then you can sleep on my bed, or wherever makes you comfortable." Usually I would have something to say to John, but at the moment I didn't have much to say to him. I just gave him a nod and the human walked out of the bedroom.

"Well, I have a lot I'd like to show you here, but I'm afraid I have a job here. Zero told me earlier that he'd have a guide show you around the facility, just don't give them a hard time, I don't want to hear any trouble about you. You got that? Don't expect me back anytime soon, feel free to eat before I return."

"Okay."

"Your guide will be here shortly, I'll be back when I can." John gave me a small wave and he left me in the room alone.

For a minute I just stared at the door he left through. None of this felt real in any way, but I knew too well that it wasn't some dream. I released a sigh as I looked around the room, until I spotted what I was looking for, the bathroom. I got access to the room and entered. In the bathroom I found exactly what I was looking for, the shower.

I didn't waste a single second on getting in the walk in shower, and closing the glass sliding door behind me. I stood up on my back two legs as I used the wall for support. Using my maw I twisted the hot water knob and warm water rained down onto me.

"Arceus," I said in ecstasy as I cleaned myself in the first time in a month. I let out a long moan of joy as I felt my fur being cleansed of all the icky things stuck in it. No words could really describe how amazing it felt to shower after one long month.

Despite me being overjoyed from the shower, my mind was quick to drift off towards other memories. To this moment I still couldn't believe where I was. I also couldn't help but wonder how everyone else was doing. If everyone was well then they were probably back on their journey, or maybe they were looking for me at this very moment. I really missed being with them, the first chance I get I plan to escape this place and find everyone. But what was I going to tell everyone? Would anyone really believe that I was here with John… there is no way anyone would accept that, ever.

"Hello?" a male voice called from outside the bathroom.

I let out a sigh as I faced towards the door, but I found that I couldn't see through the window due to all the condensation that formed. "Couldn't I just have a little longer?" I whispered to myself as I tried to enjoy the shower for a moment longer.

"Come on, I don't have all day, get your ass out here," the voice snapped as I heard the door slam open.

"Hey, can you kno-" I began, before something shiny touched the glass window. I jumped back in surprise as I realized it was some kind of steel claw. The claw began to slowly drag downward, creating a high pitched squealing.

"Don't make me count to three, I want to get this over with," the voice spoke up.

"Can I just have a minute, seriousl-" Before I could even finish, the glass door slid open. "Get out of here you weirdo!" I screamed at the top of my lung, but then I froze in place… "Y-You…? You're…" I began, but I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"Oh hey there, remember me? Heh, funny, I saw your name on a list of jobs to do today and I just couldn't pass up the chance to say hello," the voice hysterically chuckled as he held up a steel prosthetic arm. "If you're curious, I'm beyond pissed about the arm, so get your ass out of the shower before I drag you out!" The riolu shouted at me.

"Someone help!" I screamed as I quickly ran past the riolu and towards the exit.

"Will you sit your ass down, I can't even kill you here, you dumb bitch!" The riolu yelled as he chased after me.

"Someon-" I began, before I felt something jump on my back and took me to the ground.

"Alright missy, calm the fuck down, you're starting to piss me off more than usual!"

"I'm sorry," I whimpered as I closed my eyes in fear.

"Have some damn dignity, I'm a cripple and you're running from me? I'm not even armed," he spat out. "Listen, as much as I'd love to beat you to death here and now, I can't. Genesis would easily trace it back to me, then I'd be used as a specimen, and I don't fancy getting cut up into pieces."

"Then why are you here?!" I cried as I tried to pull myself free.

"Well… ever since your dickwad absol friend chopped my arm off, I've been struggling to survive… Poor ol' me, I used to be a respectable mercenary, now I'm a fucking bitch here... Yes, yes, even someone as badass as me can't pull off all the mercenary shit without my dominant arm. So, I do side jobs for Genesis inside their facility so I save up. Cheap ass bastards charge a fortune to make me a new arm, even if I'm practically their slave."

"That's not what I mean, why are you here now…" I fearfully asked as the riolu remained on top of me.

"Oh, I just wanted to say hi. I decided to take the job on showing you around this facility, should be an easy job for a cripple like me. Plus, you're going to tell me where that absol is, or I'm going to do things to you when I get the chance. Just you wait, I'll figure out your worst fears and I'll make them reality." The riolu got off of me and allowed me to stand once more. "Now get your ass into first gear, this is a big place and I want to get this stupid job over with so I can go find some other way to make money."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said as I jumped to my feet and moved back from him.

"Listen bitch, the job said to show you around certain parts of the facility, it did not say how I had to do it. So, either get your ass under control or I'll drag you by your feet. So you pick."

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

"Huh, Courmarine is quite the city," I spoke with amazement as I looked over a cliff and towards the city that bordered the vast ocean. All of Crimson stood along a cliff as we watched the city below. While there was no cover from the sun up here, the view was quite breath taking. From here we could see all the ships docking and sailing out towards the horizon.

"Yeah… one hell of a climb without the damn train…" Merrick complained as he fell flat on the grassy ground. "Aghhh, every muscle in my legs burns, why did we have to come up here?" I shrugged towards the upset quilava. The quilava just let out a huff and I just turned towards the city below.

"Because, it is far less crowded up here. We're less likely to be spotted," Scarlet answered as she sat cross legged and meditated with her eyes closed.

"Vincent," Mandus called from behind me. I turned back towards the lucario. "We have work to do," the lucario walked towards the edge of the cliff as he put up the hood of his cloak. "Come," Mandus instructed as he walked along the edge of the cliff towards the nearest way down.

"Wait, are you two are going down?" Merrick asked. Mandus turned half way around and gave a small nod.

"Vincent… can you like, bring some snacks back if we're going to be here awhile?" Merrick asked.

"Let's go," Mandus interrupted. Without a word I followed behind Mandus. We followed a small path that would lead us down to the bottom of the cliff. By the time we made it down, the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon, and we began making our way through the city.

Most humans stared at us as we walked down the streets, but we kept our distant attitude and they left us alone. For some reason, none of them really attempted to capture us, perhaps it was because they thought we were already taken, or maybe Mandus just looked civil with his cloak, either way I'm not complaining.

Mandus and I both travelled through Courmarine city until it was dusk. Our venture came to a stop in front of a club… Just from being outside of the club I could feel the ground vibrating from the overly obnoxious music being played from within. The building appeared like any other building, except for the neon sign that had two eevee looking tails crossing… I could get an idea on what kind of club this was…

Standing in front of the club was a very long line of pokemon, it was actually stretching around the building. Most pokemon were dressed up for some strange reason, which was a bizarre scene for me.

"Brace yourself," Mandus stated as he stared at the entrance with his fists tightening.

"Should I be expecting something to happen?"

"What awaits us inside this place is some of the worst things humanity has to offer… let's just get this over with," Mandus scowled, and without another word Mandus walked to the front of the line where a Gurdurr in a tuxedo stood with a clipboard in his hands. "Hey, get in line and wait like everyone else," the ripped pokemon snapped at Mandus.

"I'm here to see Shade.".

"Shade? What the hell would he want to see you for? What's your name grandpa?" the Gurdurr asked as he held the clipboard up with one and held a pen in the other.

"Mandus."

The Gurdurr stared at the list for a moment before looking back at the lucario. "Tff, you're not on the list, now get in line like all these other poke-" Suddenly the Gurdurr flew upwards from an uppercut from Mandus. The fighting type flew backwards leaving the pen and clipboard suspended in the air. Mandus quickly caught both the clipboard and the pen in hand and began to write something down.

"I am now," Mandus said as he threw the board down on the unconscious Gurdurr. In a loud roar, all of the pokemon in line cheered for Mandus, some even jumping up in pure excitement.

"Mandus… I don't think that was a good-"

"It's fine," the lucario cut me off as he pushed the door open. "Let's just get in quickly and be done with this."

I sighed as Mandus waited for me to enter. "Alright." I walked inside a dark hall in the pokemon club, Mandus and I both walking side by side as all the other pokemon rushed in behind us. As I walked I began to feel tremors in the ground along with a loud thumping sound. At the end of the dark hall I could see flashing lights, all of which were different colors. Mandus and I both walked out of the hall and we were immediately blinded by a light, and blasted by the overwhelming power of modern day music...

I opened my mouth to complain, but when I spoke my voice was drowned out by the electronic music. Mandus just ignored everything and began to transverse the dance floor before us. I glanced around in amazement, I've always heard of these places but I've never actually seen one. The color scheme was a purplish pink, the floor even lit up with these neon colors, while lights on the ceiling flashed down and made me feel all jittery. This was surely epileptic hell.

In the front of the crowd of dancing pokemon was on a stage some flygon operating some board. My head cocked to the side as I noticed him somewhat moving on beat with the music. My head turned back towards Mandus and noticed I how much further ahead he was from me. I picked up my pace and followed Mandus until we reached the back of the club, where we were greeted by another guard, this one was a pangoro in yet another tuxedo.

"I'm looking for Shade," Mandus asked the bear.

"He ain't in," the pangoro spat out as he leaned against the door.

"Don't try and fool me, I can sense his aura from here like I can see through your lie."

"Oh looky here, we got a tough guy," the pangoro snorted as he stood up from the door and cracked his knuckles. "I'll give ya one chance ta hightail it outta here."

"I don't have time for this," Mandus muttered to himself. "Move."

"Pff, is that the best you go-" Mandus slammed his palm into the pangoro's chest, a small bust of aura exploding. The bear slammed against the wall, leaving an indent of his body.

"Stay down." Mandus said as he opened the door. To my surprise, no one seemed to notice that Mandus just assaulted someone, they were all so caught up in their dancing and whatnot. I turned towards the door to see another set of stairs waiting for us.

"You sure you should be doing that to the guards… I thought we were keeping a low profile," I questioned Mandus as we made our way up.

"It's fine, Shade will clear it up for us."

Once at the top we reached another door, but this one was unguarded. Mandus opened the door and we entered. As the door closed behind us, I was shocked by the sudden change in atmosphere. The music that blasted through the air was replaced with smooth jazz, and the neon purple was now a dark red mixed with black. The sound of bass could still be heard from outside, but it was mostly blocked out by the walls.

"Well, well, I was wondering if you were dead," a voice said from across the room. Mandus crossed his arms as he looked across the room towards a zoroark who was resting on a black leather couch with his feet on a table and a cigarette in his mouth. "Who's the albino kid?"

"Vincent," I answered.

"Is this guy safe, Mandus?"

"I trust him more than most," Mandus answered.

"So, you must be Shade then?" I asked with a bit of surprise.

"Yeah," the zoroark nodded as he leaned further back and blew a puff of smoke into the air. "Alright Mandus, why'd you come here?" the zoroark yawned out.

"I need you to use your connections to get ahold of someone," Mandus replied.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes," Mandus quickly answered.

A sneer formed on the zoroark's maw as he leaned forward. "I can only wonder why you want from her, this outta be interesting," the zoroark laughed as he got up and smothered his cigarette in a ash tray. "Alright, I guess I do owe you, but you're going to be here for a very long time, she isn't exactly easy to get to nowadays. So sit tight, feel free to get some drinks, food, Hell, get some women up here if it'll please your espeon friend," the zoroark laughed. "No seriously though, I don't want to come back to some kind of kinky shit, so keep it PG-13 up here."

"Just go," Mandus responded with annoyance.

"Hey, hey," the zoroark said as he walked by Mandus and placed and hand on his shoulder and leaned in close, "You know things are complicated for me, always have been. Excuse my behavior, I just gotta stay in character, never know who's watching, right?" The zoroark whispered into Mandus's ear. Mandus didn't react to what he said, and the zoroark shrugged. "Well, I'll be back before morning if I'm lucky. You two behave now." After those words, the zoroark parted from our company and left us to ourselves.

"Who is he? I wasn't aware that you knew someone like that," I inquired from the lucario.

"He's someone I met many years back, he was younger when we first met, but he and this other pokemon we're about to see were intertwined with me at one point. Just some old ties I have," Mandus answered.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

"Alright let's see, I showed you the cafeteria, I showed you all the places you can't go, I showed you all this crap, I think I've showed you everything. Thank Arceus, you're so fucking annoying, you know that right?"

"Thanks…" I meekly answered. as I stared down at my reflection in the white floor.

"That's all I get?! Just a weak 'thanks'" Sam mocked my voice as he became furious. "Listen here betch, I don't like you, so you better straighten the hell up or you better sleep with one eye open, you got that!"

"I'm sorry!" I screamed as I jumped back from the furious riolu.

"I can't hear you! Sorry for what?!"

"I'm sorry for upsetting you, I honestly don't know what I did!" I yelled as I tried to turn to flee, but I froze in place as the riolu came at me.

"You just pissed me o-" In mid dash, something smacked the riolu straight in the face and he fell down. I watched in amazement as the brownish blur flew back behind me.

"Really Sam, do you have to scare every newbie here?" a female voice spoke from behind me.

"Gah, not you again," Sam growled as I turned back to see who was there.

Sitting on a stack of crates was a braixen, in her fingers was a stick that she was fiddling with. "Jolteon, are you going to be alright, I know Sam can be bully, but he's really just insecure," the braixen asked.

"Wait, what the fuck makes you think that?" Sam piped up as he got up and reached for something on his back, but then the riolu realized that what he was looking for wasn't on his person. "You wanna go bitch, I'll gladly shove that stick up your ass!"

"Why is it that everything that comes from your mouth is foul and just wrong…?" the braixen asked, before she jumped off the stack of crates.

"Oh, so you do want some of Sam?"

"Sorry Sam, I have a code against fighting those who are weaker than me, maybe come back when you've trained a little more, then maybe I won't have to worry about accidentally killing you," the braixen teased as she laughed to herself.

"You're asking for it you bitch!" Sam ran towards the bipedal fox as he cocked his arm back and let out a powerful yell.

"Wow, I've never seen this one before," the braixen shook her head as she twirled the stick in her finger and stuck it towards the riolu's face. Sam stopped in place right when the braixen pressed the stick against his forehead. "Just take it easy, okay?" the braixen smiled as the riolu fell over.

"Did you just… kill him?" I stuttered, before the riolu let out a loud snore.

"You know, sometimes I wish I could," the braixen laughed, "I kid, as annoying as he is, I wouldn't kill him over that."

"Well… glad to see some pokemon here are sane," I nervously joked.

"Heh, I wouldn't say that," the braixen smiled, "Anyhoo, bye!"

"Wait-wait!" I yelled after the braixen.

"What's up?" the braixen turned back towards me.

"I didn't even get to thank you for helping me… I'm not really much of a fighter, and honestly, he terrifies me."

"Believe me, he's like a yappy poochyena. They just sit there and yap and yap all day, but that's all he is, just a yappy mutt. Stand your ground against him and he'll back off."

"I'm not sure if it's that simple, but thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome. Anyhoo, I got to get going, if he's giving you trouble just tell me, I got your back random jolteon."

"Thanks, umm my name is Kana by the way."

"I know," the braixen chuckled.

"How...?"

"It's a psychic thing, don't worry though, I just found your name, I'm not going to look through your private stuff or anything."

"Ummm… thank you," I meeped out, realising that she could ruin me in a second.

"My name is Annie by the way, since we're introducing each other and all. Maybe I'll see you around, but as I said, I got places to be," the braixen said as she gave me a small wave with her hand.

"Yeah, see ya, and thanks again," I said as Annie turned away to go wherever she was going.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, I'd say that was a eventful chapter. Lots of returning faces. Anyhoo, thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter. And yes, I am sorry Sam has foul language, I don't know why, but when writing his character he seems to be that type of person...


	104. A bit odd, to say the least

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 104: A bit odd, to say the least...**

* * *

My body shifted back and forth on a hard surface until a sharp pain in my shoulder caused me to gasp loudly. My eyes opened wide as I panted heavily, and I began to notice a raw pain on my lower horn just where it started to curve upward. I looked around and saw the walls of a dimly lit cave. The only source of light was the slim rays from the sun that managed to sneak through small openings in the ceiling. I placed my right paw on the ground and tried to force myself up, but my body quickly gave out before I was even a inch off the ground. So, I remained on the ground as the pain in my horn and shoulder gradually got worse.

"Where am I?" I asked weakly, as I barely had the strength to talk.

Before I could attempt anything else, I noticed a different light source start to illuminate the area. I glared down the cave to see a shadow coming from around the corner. I placed my paw on the ground in another attempt to get up, and I grunted loudly as I used every ounce of strength I had, but it still wasn't enough and I fell to the ground panting.

"Idiot, don't move like that!" A female voice yelled at me as I looked back towards where I saw the shadow, but now a figure stood around the corner with a blinding light flaring over her shoulder. Multiple tails wagged behind the creature as she moved towards me on four legs.

"Who are you?" I managed to say.

"I am Amaterasu," the creature answered as the light dimmed to reveal the ninetales.

"Amater- what?" I said in confusion.

"Amaterasu," she repeated herself. "Now absol, you need to stop moving around or your wounds will open again. You're lucky to be alive," the vixen told me.

"Where am I?" I questioned the ninetales.

"Isn't it obvious? You're in a cave, also my home. So understand, you're a guest here. I'm happy for you to stay, but only if you behave."

"And you're the one who saved me?" I questioned her.

"Well, you didn't end up here on accident. I mended your wounds, although I'm sorry about the horn, I know for many absols it is something they take great pride in."

My eyes widened as her words settled in. "What?" I said in surprise as I brushed one of my paws over a small remainder of my horn. "Dammit," I muttered as I realized even more of it was gone than the first time.

"You don't seem that surprised. I saw an absol lose her horn in a battle against a mienshao one time. While she managed to survive the encounter, she wasn't the same after."

I didn't bother responding to her, she didn't need to know that I already lost my horn previously. Instead I just repositioned myself on my front side.

"Anyways, you must be starved absol, it has been three days."

I looked up towards the ninetales with surprise. A small smirk formed on her face as she noticed my attention.

"You lost a lot of blood, and went through a lot of physical trauma," the ninetales said as she turned towards the exit of the cave. "Now, I will go find us food, till then behave and don't move much," she ordered as she began to walk away.

"Right, I'll do that," I said as I rested my chin on my paws and closed my eyes.

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

Hours had passed since Shade had left to fetch this contact. The clock on the wall ticked by. Despite not having access to a window, I could figure that day was just breaking. I rested on a couch that reeked of tobacco, while Mandus sat on the ground with his legs crossed and his hands interlocked like he was meditating. It seemed like the party downstair had come to an end when the music died about two hours ago..

I released a tired yawn as I sat up on the couch. I could only wonder what Scarlet and Merrick were doing. I also wondered if Kane ever caught up to us. Originally the scyther was supposed to regroup with us before we came here, but Mandus just told me he'd find his way to us. I guess the scyther was an experienced tracker if I remembered correctly.

My ears flicked up from the sound of the door handle turning. Mandus calmly opened his eyes as the door opened and Shade walked through alone. The two legged fox let out a hard breath as he closed the door behind him.

"You're alone?" Mandus commented as he went back to his meditation.

"It'll take her some time to get here, she can't just leave from where she is right away," Shade replied as he fell to the couch. The zoroark let out a relaxed groan as he stretched out his body and reached into his mane. Almost instantly, he pulled out a cigarette. The zoroark reached for a lighter on the table and lit it.

"Give her a few hours, until then just wait for her-" A yawn broke out from shade as he allowed himself to lazily lean back.

"You seem exhausted, not only that, stressed and trapped," Mandus said with his eyes closed.

"Hmmm, am I that easy to read?" Shade said as he practically fell asleep on the couch, but a small smile managed to creep onto his maw.

"Your aura is hard not to notice. I sensed it from the moment I walked into this room."

"What else can you read from my aura?" Shade asked.

"I can sense you're not pleased with me reading you like that."

"It's scary how accurate that is," Shade laughed, "Anyways, until she's here I want some shut eye, I never really have time for a full night of sleep, so I get it where I can," Shade said as he flicked the cigarette out of his mouth and onto the table without any regard to where it went.

I let out a sigh from the way things were going. I knew this was important, but I honestly didn't feel like waiting. With each passing second my mind became weaker, and Zygarde was a little closer to breaking free. I shook my head frantically as I tried to forget the thought of Zygarde, all I wanted was to get that thing off my conscience just for a day.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Alone, I wandered down the streets of Lumiose. Ever since I've been back home these walks had become routine for me. Never did anyone accompany me on them, even when Ebony would ask to come along. I needed these walks. They gave me time to think. I left earlier this morning, probably around eleven. Hesh seemed to be noticing my absence from home, the pikachu had been questioning what I'd been doing on these "long walks" I take. I'd always answer the same way every time 'I just need some space, that's all.' He'd then usually tell me something dumb along the lines of how I shouldn't be wandering off all the time to be alone.

Their concern for me was appreciated, and it did make me feel better, especially how Alex had been trying to find things for us to do, but something inside of me was just repelling me away from everyone. I knew a large part of it was Kana's absence, but there was also something in everyone else's actions. At first, I didn't understand it, but then one day it clicked in my head. The reason I'd been so annoyed and distant from everyone was out of spite. Kana was ripped from our lives. That once happy jolteon who changed me was no more, but no one was asking who did it? Not once had Alex, Hesh, or Ebony taken just one second to wonder who did it, nor wanted someone to pay for what happened. What sick twisted monster would kill her? Kana would never hurt someone, and it made me sick thinking of someone hurting her in any way.

"Someone is going to pay," I said as I walked on a sidewalk. Someone hurt my best friend and they deserved to burn for it, and if no one is going to do something about it, then I'll take matters into my own paws.

"Just you wait, I'm coming for you. It's only a matter of time," I said to myself as I began to picture who would have been the type to do it. The search was easily narrowed down to three figures: Crimson Dawn, Genesis, or that one thing known as Skull Face.

I stopped walking as my mind continued to process the whole situation. If I was going to hunt down who did this, I knew I'd have to leave Lumiose for a while. That would mean leaving Alex, he wouldn't understand how I was feeling, and either way he wouldn't be any help. To top things off I'd have to find them, which would prove to be an even bigger obstacle.

"Hey Flare." A hand touched my shoulder and my head spun. A pikachu held my shoulder tightly, behind him was my trainer and Ebony.

"You all followed me?" I asked as I pulled my shoulder free.

"Listen, we've all been noticing how you've been lately. You sleep in for a long time, you disappear all day, hardly eat anything, and then you seem restless at night. We're all worrying about you you," Hesh informed me.

I remained silent as I looked up towards Alex, the human squated down towards me level as he held out a hand for me to come to him. I stood in place as I looked at his hand, but I didn't feel any driving force to go to him.

"Flare, let's go home," Alex said as he continued to hold his hand out. "We all want to talk."

Ebony took a step forward, "Flare, please, you're worrying all of us," the espeon said meekly.

"What's there to talk about…?" I asked as I looked towards the ground, too pained to even look at them.

"We want to talk about you," Hesh answered.

"What difference does it make?" I asked, "Nothing I have to say will fix things."

"You're right," Hesh nodded his head, "But we're not trying to change what happened, but we can change what is going to happen. Now, will you please come with us? We're just going to talk, it won't hurt anyone to try."

I looked back up towards everyone. All of them stared at me with a sour expression. I could see the emotions all in there eyes. Each one of them cared for me, and I was foolish to argue from the start.

"Alright," I quietly agreed. I took one small step towards Alex, but the human quickly came to me and lifted me up.

"Thanks Flare, you have no idea how much this means to us." The human hugged held onto me tightly as he carried me off with everyone.

"You know I can walk?" I told Alex, but the human only smiled at me.

"Jeez, loosen up Flare," Hesh told me, I glared down at the pikachu that was walking by Alex's side. "You know, I didn't care about Al at first, but after getting to know him I realized some things about him." I waited for the pikachu to finish. "The human really cares about his pokemon. He treats us as equals, not many humans would go this far to help you out, most humans wouldn't have even noticed how you are acting recently."

"I know…" I admitted.

Alex continued to walk us home. While in his arms I began to pass out, the lack of sleep recently was beginning to catch up, and I felt some comfort in Alex's arms. It wasn't until around a half hour that Alex stopped walking. My head rose up from his arms and I realized we weren't home. Instead we were in front of some single floor building, one that was made of light colored bricks, and an archway in front of the main door.

"What is this?" I asked in shock. No one replied and Alex walked me into the building.

I felt some discomfort, and a strong sense of distrust in everyone. Alex's arms tightened around me, keeping me against his chest.

"Hey, what's going on!?" I yelled at everyone as Alex carried me to the front desk of some lobby. My head turned towards some secretary lady. The younger lady filed down one of her nails before she noticed Alex and put it down.

"Hi, I called about two days ago about an appointment," Alex said.

"An appointment for what?!" I yelled at everyone, smoke beginning to fume from my maw and nostrils in anger.

"Counseling," Hesh answered.

"Counseling?" I repeated with surprise. "Seriously, I don't need some prick in my life. I'm fine with talking to you guys, but not some stranger who I don't know!" I lashed out at him.

"Flare, calm down," Alex sternly told me. "Just give this a try, if you don't like it I won't force you, but just give it a chance."

I opened my mouth to argue, but my mouth closed when I realized there was no point in resisting him. "Fine," I quietly agreed.

"Alright, it's the first door on the right down that hall," the women smiled.

"Alright, thanks," Alex said as he carried me to what will be the greatest humiliation.

'I don't want to go to counseling,' I thought to myself.

Alex approached the first door on the right, and knocked. The door opened on its own, and slowly cracked open. Alex gave a small shrug and we all entered. Inside we found multiple cushioned chairs in front of a long coffee table. A large window that was half the size of the wall allowed an abundance of light to shine in.

"Welcome, please have a seat," a psychic's voice spoke calmly within my mind. My head looked towards the back of the room towards a big desk, where there was an espeon sitting on the ledge of the desk with his tail leaning off the edge.

"A espeon counselor?" I said with surprise.

"Yep," Hesh said, "This way you and Alex can communicate."

"Umm…" I nervously began as I looked towards the human. Alex sat me down on my own chair and took his own, while Ebony took the last remaining one. Hesh looked around the room for somewhere to sit, until he just sat at the base of Ebony's chair.

"So everyone is here it seems," the espeon's voice spoke within my head. "Just a warning, at this moment I will begin translating everything everyone says to break the language barrier. So, now we can all talk, human and pokemon." The older espeon smiled at all of us.

"Alex?" I said as I looked towards the human.

"Whoa, it's just like that porygon Mr. Norman had," Alex said with surprise.

"Wait, can you hear me?" Ebony asked as she sat up in excitement.

"Yeah, I actually can," Alex said with a smile.

"Before you all get carried away, I am paid by the minute," the elderly espeon said.

"Oh, right," Alex responded nervously.

"It's quite alright, many pokemon and humans are shocked the first time they're able to communicate. Now, my name is Lance, and I believe we're here for you today, Flare." My head turned towards the espeon, and I noticed the way he looked at me nonstop, not blinking for a second.

"I guess," I answered with little interest.

"Flare, why don't you tell me about yourself," Lance told me.

"Ummm," I nervously began as I looked back at Alex, who gave me a reassuring nod. "Alright… well I'm Flare as you know, and I live with my human Alex, and everyone else here," I began.

"Go on," the espeon pushed.

"Listen, we're not here to talk about who I am, I thought we were here to talk about feelings and stuff," I rose my voice a little at the espeon, but he just chuckled to himself.

"I believe having a good connection with my clients helps build an understanding of who you are, how your mind works and why you are feeling the way you do," Lance answered.

"Flare, just answer the question, it's not like you have anything to hide," Hesh barked at me.

"Fine," I muttered as I got ready to recite my fake story, "Alright, as a child I lived in a different home where I was abused by my owner. After years of putting up with that stuff I was rescued by the police, who then put me up for adoption. That's when I came to Alex's home, and things changed… I met Grayson and Kana. Kana was my friend who helped change me, at first I hated her guts, but she never gave up on me, and one day she broke through. Ever since, she and I have been like brother and sister, I loved her with all my heart. I guess things didn't change until recently…" I told the espeon, while feeling the return of the hole in my chest.

"And what happened to Kana, if she was so important I'd imagine she'd be here right now."

I remained silent for a minute, until I opened my mouth, "She was murdered."

"I am sorry," the espeon replied, but it seemed as if he truly didn't care.

"That's actually why we're here," Alex added. "It was one month ago that Kana was killed. While I'm still broken up over it myself, I can keep going one way or another. But everyday I see that Flare is much worse than I am, and I just want to help relieve some of this feeling of pain from him."

"Flare," the elder espeon began, "why don't you tell me more about Kana, I'm sure just talking about her will offer something for you."

I let out a scowl as I looked towards the espeon, "I don't want to."

"Then what would you like to talk about?" the espeon asked. "We can talk about anything you want," the espeon smiled.

"I don't want to talk, I just want some space from everyone. This whole thing right now is not what I need."

"Well, if you don't talk I got something to say," Alex stated.

"Alright, then speak Alex."

"Listen Flare, I know I can't talk to you, that's why I want to take this chance to talk this out with you. I need to know what's going through your mind. You used to be full of so much energy and now you're just so sad lately. So will you please just tell me what's on your mind, don't just hold it in like that."

I remained silent, I didn't even look towards Alex. I did have something on my mind, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to share it with them.

"Well Flare, do you have something to say to Alex?" the espeon asked.

"I do," I nodded slightly, "How do you feel about this?" I questioned the human. Alex slightly flinched in shock from the unexpected question, but he didn't hesitate.

"I feel how everyone does. I miss her, and I'd do anything to have her back. But, I know Kana, she wouldn't want us to be sad over her, she'd want us to be happy and move on."

"That's not entirely what I meant. How do you feel about the murder," I looked the human dead in the eyes, I wanted to know if he truly was feeling how I felt.

"It's tragic, she didn't deserve what happened. But, I think we all just need to accept this and move on as best as we can," Alex answered.

"This is crap," I muttered.

"What is?" the espeon asked.

"That's it? That's how you feel about Kana getting murdered? You don't feel anything like me right now, and you don't understand me apparently! All I keep hearing from you is that we'll move on, or we'll get past this some how! I don't want to move past this, what I want is to hunt down the bastard who did this and slowly burn them to ash!" I yelled at the human, with flames peeking from between my fangs. "Not once have I heard you talk about justice for whoever wronged her!"

The room fell silent, Alex's eyes went wide in shock from my outburst. "And you think murder will make you feel better?" Hesh questioned me.

"It's a start," I snapped towards him.

"Try and actually take a second to picture how Kana would respond to this, seriously," Hesh tensely answered.

"I don't need this, let me out of here," I growled at the espeon.

"Flare, I think it's best if you sit down for a minute and think about what your friend sai-"

"I said let me out, do it before I burn the door down!" I shouted at the espeon.

"Flare, take a seat, please," Alex pleaded.

"I'm done talking, I honestly have nothing further to say on this topic," I growled in fury, a flame tindering in my mouth. Now let me out."

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

It seemed with each hour we waited, I seemed to faze in and out of sleep more. The zoroark Shade snored for all of us to hear, while I grew annoyed with it, Mandus didn't seem the least bit annoyed, and somehow remained in his meditation.

"She's here," Mandus abruptly stated. The lucario stood from his meditation sitting stance and turned towards the door. I did the same, and watched as the door handle turned. The door opened, and a rather lithe braixen walked through the doorway. She closed the door behind herself and scanned the room.

"Is she the one?" I quietly asked Mandus. The lucario didn't answer, and the two locked eyes.

"Wow, it has been some time, hasn't it?" the braixen smiled as she rushed towards the lucario. In a quick motion the braixen managed to lock the lucario in a strong hug. Mandus's eyes widened and his fists clenched tightly as he resisted throwing her off him.

"Ummm… what is your relation again?" I shyly asked the two.

"Oh hey, didn't see you there?" the braixen gave a flick of her hand as wave and smiled.

"We know each other," Mandus answered, "That's it."

"Jeez, that's all I am to you?" the braixen laughed as her attention went towards the sleeping zoroark. The vixen made her way towards the snoring zoroark, the dark type leaned far back with his jaw agape.

"Hey, wakey wakey," the braixen patted him on the cheek. "Come on, Zylen." the braixen shrugged as she reached for her bushy tail and withdrew a stick. "I swear, he's always such a pain to wake up," the braixen held the stick near his open mouth, before ramming it in.

The zoroark flew forward and let out a loud gagging gurgle, before he broke into a coughing fit. "Arceus, what the Hell is wrong with you, Annie!" the dark type coughed out, as he fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air, "Can you not just be normal for once?!" his left hand reached for his stomach.

"Well, no. Besides, you're such a pain to wake, I could yell directly in your ear and you wouldn't respond."

'Is this seriously the one...?' I thought to myself as I cringed from the sight.

"Annie, we didn't come here for your games," Mandus rose his voice.

"Yeah, yeah," the braixen sighed as she backed away from the recovering zoroark.

"So… she's the talented psychic?" I asked with disbelief.

"What, don't think I am?" the braixen looked at me as she placed a hand on her hip and glared at me.

"Well… you just seem a bit… odd."

The braixen frowned, "Wow, sorry I'll put on my serious face now, apparently this is a no fun zone."

"I don't mean that, you just seem a bit impractical for what we're wanting."

"Vincent," Mandus caught my attention, "Annie may be a bit… different, to say the least, but she's capable of what we're asking."

"And you're positive? This is a delicate matter." Mandus nodded in response.

"And what is this delicate matter? I guess it would be silly to assume you wanted to just talk," the braixen Annie asked.

"It would be easier for you to see," Mandus began, "But we need assistance with interrogating someone's mind, and it doesn't seem to be a one man job."

"Ehhh… you brought me here for that," Annie crossed her arms as she frowned. "Shouldn't an espeon be able to handle that, I mean don't get me wrong, but mind interrogation is pretty easy."

"As Mandus said, it's best for you to see for yourself," I told the braixen with annoyance.

"Well, I'm already out here, so what the heck, let's go. You coming Zy?"

The zoroark shrugged."I suppose."

"Hold up," I said, "Earlier you said you were Shade, then she called you Zylen, and now Zy?" I questioned the two.

"I told you people would question that damned nickname," the zoroark growled as Annie nervously chuckled while scratched the back of her head. "My real name is Zylen, Shade is a fake identity I live, another persona I take on as a mercenary. Truth be told, when you do what I do, you don't want people to know who you are. As for the ever so crappy nickname Zy that Annie game me, she just uses that to torture me."

"I see…" I said with a nod, before we left the room.

* * *

**Hours later**

"Seriously, what the H, you two. What were you doing this whole time, and who the Hell are those two?!" An unhappy quilava complained with an intensifying flame.

"Who are we?" Annie said as she pointed her finger at herself with uncertainty. "I'm Annie," the braixen answered with a smile.

"Shade," the zoroark answered as he crossed his arms and looked at the two new pokemon with skepticism. "And now you know our names, so who are you two?"

"Merrick," the quilava answered with a roll of his eyes.

"I am Scarlet."

For a minute, the four newly introduced pokemon stared at each other in what looked like a staring contest. Until Annie broke off from the stare and looked towards Mandus.

"Alright, you didn't bring us here to meet your friends, where is this pokemon we're interrogating," Annie inquired. The lucario turned towards me.

"Vincent, are you able to bring him here from our location?"

"Yeah, it'll take a minute though," I answered.

"Very well, bring him here. As you you two, don't be alarmed."

My eyes closed as I began to concentrate on the Legendary. His location was deep down below ground, where no one would ever find him. The gem on my head began to glow as I summoned the Legendary to surface. The ground began to shake and everyone uneasily backed away.

"What's going on?" Annie asked as she tried to keep her balance.

A crack formed on the surface, the the crust of the ground exploded as Zygarde revealed himself. Everyone excluding Mandus and myself jumped back to safety.

"Is that a…" the zoroark began.

"It's… it's Zy-zy-zy-" Annie stuttered.

"Are you trying to say my name or something!?" Zylen barked at Annie, but kept his eyes on the serpent Legendary.

"No, I know what that thing is called, it's Zy something, but I can't remember," Annie answered.

"Zygarde," I told the two. "And yes, this is a Legendary, in the flesh."

* * *

**Chapter end**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, hopefully everyone enjoyed this chapter. Anyhoo, some of you may have noticed the new cover for this story, maybe some of you use phones so you don't even see story covers... anyways, I commissioned someone on Deviant Art to make that cover and it turned out pretty damn good. So credit for that goes to Eldrige on Deviant Art. If anyone wants to see a full version of the cover, sadly you'll have to wait just a little bit, Eldrige has not uploaded it on Deviant Art yet, I'll post a link on my profile when it is up though.

Special thanks goes out to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.


	105. Doesn't make sense

**Book II: Impending Twililight**

* * *

**Chapter 105: Doesn't make sense**

* * *

**Point of View Annie**

"How… How is this even possible?!" I exclaimed at the lucario, but I kept my eyes on the slithering serpent God. The creature remained still, and stared off into the distance. Even though the creature looked as if he had green hexagonal shaped scales for eyes, I could tell the creature was out of it.

Zylen stepped back as his posture remained tense and ready to move in an instant. "This can't be real…" the zoroark whispered to himself.

Mandus remained calm, along with all the other pokemon that were his followers.

"Why are you showing us this?" I asked the lucario.

"I already told you, we want your help on interrogating Zygarde's mind," The lucario answered.

"A Legendary though!?" Zylen rose his voice. "Seriously, it's one thing to renounce your faith towards a God, but doing this, what are you even planning?!"

"Changing the world," the lucario answered. "Now Annie, will you help us?"

My body remained still as the question came up 'am I actually going to help him? This is crazy.' I turned towards the lucario, his crimson eyes stared me down, demanding an answer this instant. "I need to know why you're doing this. I can't just do something like that without good reasons," I told the lucario.

"Very well," Mandus nodded, "I'll tell you why we're doing this, but no matter what your answer is, I need the two of you to swear your secrecy."

"I can agree to that," I nodded. Mandus then turned towards Zylen, who remained silent.

"Well?" Mandus pushed.

"Your reason better be good. I'll keep quiet," the zoroark agreed.

"We pokemon that have united to fight against this world are share a lot in common, even if it may not appear that way," Mandus began. "All of us share a kindred hatred towards what this world has become. Each of us had something ripped from us by this world. Family, pride, and who we are.

"In the beginning Arceus created the world, and then gave birth to the Legendaries to guide this world. Because of the Legendaries this world only knows one thing: pain. Now, in today's age, they have neglected their duties to protect us. I have decided, if they won't stop this world from burning, then I'll take matters into my own hands. I'll protect this world. However, I can't do it with my own power, I need to harvest the power of the Legendaries and make it my own."

"And that's your reasoning behind this?" I questioned the lucario.

"You may not understand our pain, but each of us have been through a lot in our lives. And through these hardships the same dream was born in all of us, a new world where pokemon don't have to live in fear, a world of peace not violence, but sadly, such a world is only attainable through violence. This is our reason, now I ask for your answer."

"Annie… what're you going to do?" Zylen asked me.

My hand rose to my chin as I thought of the whole situation. While I didn't feel comfortable doing this, I did owe Mandus, even if it wasn't much, but at the same time I was very curious what awaited in the mind of a Legendary being.

"I'll help. But don't get me wrong, I'm not really interested in your plan, sounds a bit crazy honestly… But, I am interested in what a Legendary knows, so for that, I'll help just this once."

"Very well, you two can begin when you're ready," Mandus nodded as he moved away from the Legendary and headed towards the edge of the cliff.

The albino espeon glanced at me as he gestured for me to come towards him, "I'm ready when you are, just be ready to exhaust your mind."

"Yeah-Yeah, I'm not exactly an ameteur," I said as I walked towards the serpent.

"I'm just curious, but how experienced are you at going through memories? Have you ever cracked the mind of dark types?" the espeon asked.

"Yeah, I actually used Zylen to practice on," Without looking, I pointed towards the zoroark behind me.

The espeon tilted his head. "It's different when someone just lets you, versus when someone doesn't want you too-"

"There was nothing consensual about it! She literally held me down and went into my mind, all while I was trying to throw her off!" Zylen snapped at me.

A smile crept onto my face from the thought of the memory of us two fighting, back when we were both unevolved. "Oh, you're still mad over that?"

"Yes I'm still mad! You learned every secret I had!"

"Tss, why are you so angry, not like you didn't get back at me or anything."

"Can you two just sto-"

"Yeah, and then you just gave me third degree burns after!"

"Hey, that's only because you took my form and went around embarrassing me!" I piped up, feeling this becoming more personal by the word.

"Enough!" Mandus's voice boomed through the air. "Do I have to separate you two like children?!"

"Zylen started it," I muttered as my arms crossed and I turned my head from the zoroark.

"I swear, sometimes you act like a kid," the zoroark snorted.

"Can we just start this already, I've got things to do." I turned towards the espeon, completely ignoring the moody zoroark.

"Yeah… I'd be more than happy to start if you're actually ready now…" The espeon replied.

"Okay, let's do this then."

"Alright, but I need to make it clear that you know your objective. We are looking for something on the location of Xerneas and any of the other Legendaries, is that clear?" The albino spoke slowly, as if I was hard of hearing or something.

"No… can you dumb it down a bit, I think you're asking too much."

"Are you seriou-"

"Yes, I'm kidding, I'll find info on your Xerneas Legendary, and what ever else I can on all the other Legendaries." Vincent stared at me with a serious gaze, but he rolled his eyes and turned towards the Legendary.

"Just please, for the love of Arceus don't screw this up."

"Oh the irony in what you said," my voice chimed as I sat down cross legged in front of Zygarde. The albino eeveelution sat down next to me, but kept arm's length from me. "Well, let's do this," I whispered to myself as I interlocked my fingers together and concentrated. Slowly, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. I searched for the Legendaries mind, and for a moment I didn't find it, but then my mind sensed my target. I inhaled a deep breath as I began to enter his mind, but then something felt like it was blocking me from intercepting it.

My teeth clamped down as I tried to break this invisible barrier that wouldn't allow me to get in. It was similar to the barrier that protected dark types, but this one was harder to sense, yet stronger than any mind I've ever intercepted. I continued to concentrate, until a migraine began in my head.

"This isn't working," I muttered as I stopped trying and opened my eyes, and they widened all the way as the scene I was in completely changed from what I remembered.

"What is this?" I asked as I quickly jumped to my feet and turned in every direction in what appeared to be a white void. I continued to turn back and forth in every direction, looking for something that wasn't endless white.

"Hello!?" I called out, but the only response was the echo of my voice. "Did… did I screw up my head or something… No… please, please don't tell me I did that!" I frantically spoke as my hands clasped my head and I fell to my knees. "I just need to find a way to fix this, maybe I'm… Arceus, I don't even know what this is!" My grip on my skull tightened as my head slouched down. My eyes met with a reflection on the white ground, mirroring myself in what looked like the reflection of something in water, but it was just an endless white void.

"Zylen… please do something."

"No one will hear your cries from within here," A deep voice boomed throughout the void. Quickly, I jumped up onto my feet and withdrew the stick in my tail. A flame lit at its tip and I stood ready for combat.

"Hey, don't be creepy, show yourself!" I yelled back at the voice.

"Many pokemon have stood where you are now, but all were mere tools for us to manipulate as we pleased."

"What are you talking about?"

"Braixen that dares to attempt to break into my mind, what business do you have with me?" the booming voice echoed through the white void.

"I was looking for answers," I told the voice, hoping that this would help me somehow.

"Who do you serve. the lucario, yourself, or another?"

"Who are you, answer my question or I have nothing to say," I demanded.

"Very well," the voice replied. A black sphere formed under the waterlike floor, slowly it expanded until it was huge, then it slowly emerged to the surface. The black sphere began to change its shape, into something like a snake.

"Zygarde…" I said to myself, as the darkness took on that form, but it remained black, and the darkness appeared to be somewhat inky, and his form appeared as if it was melting.

"It appears you aren't completely ignorant, for a mere mortal," the voice echoed.

"What have you done to me, and why are you doing whatever this is to me?"

"Your mind resides within mine as of now. It is a gift us greater beings posses. We can contact those we view as admirable."

"And what, I'm admirable in your eyes, 'great one'?"

"No need to be snide, foolish braixen. Throughout my existence I have met many wise delphox's, but even the most naive cubs knew their place when in the presence of a god."

"You talk a lot, and this endless plain isn't big enough for the both of our big mouths, so if you have something to say, say it."

While I couldn't make out the color of the creatures eyes, I couldn't help but feel a powerful gaze being shot towards me. "Foolish Braixen, I wish to ask a favor of you, if done your act against me shall be forgive-"

"I don't need your forgiveness, thank you very much," I piped up towards the serpent..

"Silence!" The voice roared so loud that my ears rang. My hands quickly moved over my ears as my head pulsed with a migraine.

"You will know your place," the voice venomously demeaned me.

"What do you want from me?" I nervously asked as I moved my hands from my ears.

"Burn the white espeon to ash, leave nothing."

"W-What?! I'm not going to kill someone, or at least not without a reason. If you want to be free fine, but killing him isn't the only solution."

"Foolish mortal, that espeon isn't what you think him to be. I didn't come to realize it until after my capture and being linked with him, but a dark fire lingers within the espeon. And if this fire isn't put out, it will one day grow and this world will burn to ash."

"Okay… I'm not really following, how is an espeon going to do all of this… I mean, maybe if Mandus keeps up what he's doing, but I doubt a puny espeon is a threat-"

"That lucario and his followers are all pawns of a much more heinous puppeteer. End the espeon. If not the consequences will be unimaginable."

"I still don't understand, why?"

"The less you know, the safer you are little braixen, now do what your god tells you," the serpent ordered.

"Hold on, I'm helping you, so you can help me," I sternly told the Legendary.

"Hmmf, and what makes a mortal think she has the right to make demands? Most mortals would be grateful that I found them worthy," The creature scoffed.

"Yeah, well I'm not worthy. Truth be told, I don't think you're asking me this because you have a choice, I think I'm your only candidate,' I quipped out. The creature remained silent, but a small sneer formed because I knew I was right. I was very quick to notice that this 'god' was very fast to make impulsive remarks and demean everyone at the first chance he got.

"You're quite the impetuous braixen," Zygarde grumbled towards me, "But there was truth in what you said, I do need you. So, what would a braixen want from a greater being?"

The sneer on my maw widened, "Where is Xerneas?" I bluntly asked.

"The Legendary of everlasting life can be found in a vast forest near the small town of Snowbelle. Deep within the forest she hides, in an area very few pokemon have ventured too."

"Wait, you're just telling me what I want just like that?!" I said in surprise as my jaw dropped.

"I have no love for the other Legendaries, and my duty is to protect the ecosystem. While Xerneas may be put in danger, it is a risk I will take to protect the world as a whole."

"So, wait, if you want the espeon dead so badly, why not just bring him in here like me?"

"It is already hard enough to keep him from accessing my memories, bringing him within my mind on this level would make it possible for him to permanently change me."

"I'm sorry, I still don't get this, what exactly is so dangerous about that espeon?"

"Child, the less you know, the safer you are. Now go, a deal is a deal."

I opened my mouth to say more, but suddenly a strong force pulled me back. Everything faded to black and before I knew it I fell unconscious.

"Annie, wake up, Annie. Arceus, what's wrong with her!?" A familiar voice echoed from above me. My eyes cracked open to see a zoroark cradling me in his arms above the ground.

"Annie?!" the zoroark shouted in surprise.

"W-what happened?" I asked Zylen as his grip tightened on my side, and the back of my head.

"We were hoping you would know! The espeon gave up on Zygarde, and then you wouldn't wake up afterwards." Zylen frantically spoke as his grip continued to tighten. "You really had me scared Annie, I thought maybe your head got messed up or something."

"I don't know what happened, I just passed out, sorry…" I lied to everyone, "But, I did manage to get what we needed."

"No way you one upped Vince!" the quilava piped up, his flames sputtering in outrage.

"Where is Xerneas then, we need to know," the espeon asked as he walked into the corner of my sight. My head slowly turned towards the white eeveelution and a frown formed… While my hands weren't exactly clean, I wasn't okay with just killing him for that small bit of info.

"Annie, it's important that we know," The espeon pried.

"Xerneas is hidden within the forest near Snowbelle, that's all I know," I dryly answered the espeon.

"You're positive?" the espeon asked. I gave one weak nod in response.

"Alright, sorry I doubted you from the start."

"It's fine," I said, before I looked up at Zylen, "Anyways, we need to go Zylen."

"Are you guys done with us now?" Zylen looked towards Mandus.

The lucario gave a nod towards the two of us and Zylen stood up with me in his arms.

"Hey, you know I can stand, right?" I acted up as I began to squirm free.

"Alright, I wasn't sure, sorry." Zylen released me and I didn't waste a single second on walking towards the cliff. Zylen walked up beside me and stared off towards the city below. I glanced at the zoroark for a second, before I leaned in close to whispering distance.

"Can you get us back to your hangout asap?" I whispered to him.

"Yeah, but is there a particular reason to why?"

"Seriously, just get us there fast," I urgently whispered into his ear.

"Alright," Zylen accepted, and then his body flashed a bright purple and his form morphed into a pidgeot. "Let's go," the avian said as he lowered his body towards the ground.

'I'm going to hate myself for this,' I thought as my stomach began to grow quessy from the thought of flying. I exhaled a long breath as I climbed onto his back and wrapped my arms as far as I could around his neck.

"Hang tight," he warned as he dove off the cliff side and headed straight down, gaining more momentum with each passing second.

'Arceus, please-please-please don't let me die!' I screamed inside my head. My eyes shut and my grip tightened around his neck as I felt myself being blown back from his body. Zylen continued to fall directly towards the ground, and I opened my eyes to see the ground below. I let out a high pitched squeal just as Zylen brought us both up and soared through the sky with bullet like speed.

"Can you not fly like a nut, please!?" I screamed as Zylen picked up his speed.

"You said asap, this is asap!" Zylen yelled back at me.

"You know I get airsick to begin with!"

"Hey, wanna see me do some barrel rolls?" Zylen asked as he looked back with a evil smile.

"No! Please, Arceus don't!" I begged.

"Hang on tight Annie!" Zylen shouted.

"Zylen noooooooooo!" suddenly I felt everything around me spin as a strong force tried to push me off of Zylen. My head grew dizzy just as Zylen ended his midair roll.

"I… I hate you so much," I cried towards him.

"Relax, I'm just having fun, besides, we're almost there," Zylen laughed as he flew in a straight line for once in his damn life. Despite the fact that I knew the view would be amazing, I refused to look anywhere near the ground, so instead I clenched my eyes shut and kept telling myself that it would be over soon.

After around three minutes, Zylen swooped down and landed on the ground. "Alright, we're here, you can let go now," Zylen told me. My eyes opened and verified that we were back on the safety of the ground. Slowly, I allowed myself to slide off of the avian and touch down on the ground. Upon first contact, I nearly fell down, due to my legs feeling like jello.

"Zylen…" I said out loud as the zoroark shifted back to his original form.

"Yeah?" he asked as he walked towards me to help me up.

"You're an ass!" I yelled as I sprang off the ground and kneed the zoroark in the gut. The dark type exhaled all of the air in his body as his let out a loud gasp and fell to his knees. His head hung low as he hugged his stomach.

"I… I had that coming," he panted out.

"Seriously, I wanted to talk about something important and you pull that?! No wonder you can't hold a girlfriend if you're constantly doing shit like that!"

"Oh just shut the fuck up! It was a joke, I'm sorry I didn't sense your mood! You said get back quickly, and I'm sorry I wanted to have a little fun with you on the way!"

"Yeah, well…" I began, but I just had to stop myself. "Listen, sorry I said that, it was uncalled for. I just don't like flying, and then I got something on my mind."

"Yeah, I don't appreciate the remarks about my personal life. As for the barrel rolls, I'm not sorry, it was worth getting kneed in the gut, you should have heard yourself scream," Zylen let out a winded laugh.

"Well… Alright, looking back at it, it was funny," I admitted. "Now, can we please talk somewhere privately?"

"Yeah, sure," Zylen said as he stood up off the ground. I turned towards the club to see a long line of pokemon staring at us, all frozen in confusion. I felt a blush appearing on my face, but I just nervously smiled at everyone as I flagged a small wave.

"Forget them, let's get inside," Zylen told me.

The two of us made our way into the club and headed towards Zylen's VIP room. Once inside the room, I locked the door behind us, and Zylen sat down on the couch and pulled out a cigarette.

"Hey annie, give me a light?"

I glanced towards Zylen as he held out the cigarette. I extended my hand out, and with a snap of my fingers the tip of it lit up.

"Thanks," he smiled as he proceeded to smoke it. "So, you mentioned an important talk, so what is it? Are you pregnant or something?"

"No… that wouldn't happen to begin with and you know that," I awkwardly answered. "Seriously though, can I have your more serious side, this is serious!"

"Okay, okay, what's up?" Zylen sat forward and gave me his full attention.

I inhaled a deep breath and began to frantically tell him what happened to me, "Okay earlier when I passed out I didn't really pass out, or something weird happened at least. That Legendary somehow sucked me into his head and began speaking all cryptically and I honestly don't even think the poor thing knew what he was saying. Then he starts demanding me to kill that espeon, he said something about a dark flame inside the espeon, which doesn't even make sense because he's a psychic, not a fire type! I don't even know what to make out of half of this, because he was the one who also told me where to find Xerneas, and I just told them where Xerneas-"

"Okay, just stop-stop-stop!" Zylen cut me off. "For one you're talking too fast, and I can't understand what on earth you're talking about. Secondly, did you say that Legendary talked to you?"

"Yes! That's what I wanted to tell you this whole time, Zygarde wants me to kill that espeon. He also said that espeon would be the end of the world or something like that, but he was talking so cryptically I couldn't tell if he's just trying to get me to free him or actually stop something bad from happening! I mean seriously, a Legendary just talked to me, or maybe I'm actually crazier than everyone thought!"

"Holy mother of Mew," Zylen replied as the cigarette fell from his mouth and onto the table. "And you're sure this happened?"

"Yes!"

"Oh Arceus… ummm, so are you actually going to kill the espeon?' Zylen nervously asked.

"Ummm, probably not honestly… I think Zygarde was just desperate to get out, but what if he was right and I should do it?"

"You want my honest opinion?" Zylen asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Alrighty, Zygarde doesn't know where you live… he doesn't know how to find you, and even then you'll have all of Genesis plus me to back you up. So, just mind your own business and go on living your life."

"Ummm… I don't know if that's the kind of advice I was looking for. I mean this Legendary could kill me if he's pissed off at me for ignoring him."

"Well, then you have two other options. A: you kill the espeon, B: you make sure that that espeon never loses control of Zygarde. Other than that you just keep your head low."

"Ughh… this is so frustrating, I really don't have time for this crap, like seriously I don't want to be involved with this stuff any further," I pouted as I walked towards the couch Zylen was on and fell onto it. Slowly, I allowed myself to slide to a laying position until my body rested against Zylen's side.

"Yeah… I say that every day," Zylen said with a yawn.

* * *

It didn't take long after Zylen's yawn for the two of us to pass out sleeping. I didn't awake till night, but I didn't have much time to waste once I woke up. I said my goodbye to Zylen and I made my journey back to the Genesis base. Zylen did offer me a ride back, but after last time I had to turn him down.

From the club Zylen hung out in it was around a six hour trip. It wasn't until dawn that I actually made it back to my base. I made my way in through the hidden entrance, the guards checked me and made sure I was who I said I was, and I was back in my temporary home. Silently, I walked down the halls of the Genesis facility. I made my way to the lower part of the facility and went to my room in the pokemon living quarters. I moved down a narrow hall until I reached my door. I held my wrist up to a scanner and the chip in my wrist confirmed who I was and the door opened.

I entered my small room, which had enough room for a mattress, a small mini fridge, and a separate room for a bathroom. Once inside, I walked towards the mattress in the corner and collapse on it. I buried my head in one of my fluffy pillows and I let out a loud groan that was muffled. Once I let that out of my system I reached my hand around the upper right corner of my mattress until I found the phone. Without looking I dialed the speed dial button for room service. The phone rang once before someone picked up.

"Yeah… can I get some chicken tenders, fries, and a cherry soda…" I said before the voice could even greet me. "Oh, and some honey mustard," I quickly added. "As for payment just use my account that is linked with this number," I said, before I hung up. Usually, I wasn't this pushy and rude to others, but at the moment I was just too stressed and tired to even try. While lying on my front side, I reached between the mattress and wall until I found a small hardback book. I crawled up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall with my knees up, and the book resting on them.

I opened the book to the first page and revealed the small photo album I had of my life before everything changed. It was at stressful times like this I skimmed through this photo album and reflected on my better days, back when I still had family.

While it was strange for a pokemon to have a camera, for some reason Mom had one. I held onto it because it was one of the few hobbies I had while I was with Flare. I remembered that I used to take the thing with me on missions and I'd take these cool pictures of the world to show Flare. While I enjoyed the hobby of photography while I could, I wouldn't want to take pictures now because I really wouldn't want to remember these days…

The first ten pictures of the album was before Flare was born. Most of the photos were of me and my Delphox Mother. Later, the photos were directed towards Flare and I, of course I didn't really pick up this hobby until I evolved and I had a set of hands to hold the camera with. Many of the pictures varied, most of which were dumb silly photos we took together on our spare time. I remembered he and I liked to take the dumbest photos possible and laugh at them… Yeah, my brother and I were pretty dumb when we were together, but it was fun.

Whenever I looked at this photo album, it made me wonder what kind of pokemon Flare turned out to be. Did he turn his life around, did he continue his life as criminal, or maybe now he fights against crime? Maybe Flare could be with a normal family. Every day my thoughts went towards Flare, it was something I wanted to know so insatiably, yet I'm forbidden to have contact or to know anything about my brother.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing.


	106. I want you to help you know who

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 106: "I want you to help you know who..."**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

My body shifted back and forth on the hard stony ground. An annoyed groan escaped me as I gave up on getting comfortable. After all those years of living with Alex, I got to used to the comfort of the couch. Carefully, I rolled onto my back, allowing myself to gaze up at the small lines of light entering the cave through crevices. No longer did I feel like I was on the brink of death, but with a sore body it would be a bit challenging to make the journey back. Amater...-whatever she called herself insisted on me resting, the vixen even gets fussy when I get up and move around too much, even though it's my body and I'll know when I'm damn well ready.

With a tired yawn, I rolled onto my front side and slowly rose off the ground. The muscles around my wounded shoulder were stiff with pain, but I managed with only a few pained grunts.

I decided it was time I got some fresh air, so I cautiously began walking towards the exit, trying my best not to trip on a rock or something. I moved with a small limp each time my left forepaw touched down on the ground, but I didn't waver from what I wanted. Down towards the end of the cave I could see light shining into the cave, but the intense brightness hid what awaited outside. As my paw stepped into the light, I felt warmth for the first time in days. For a moment, my eyes burned upon exiting the cave, so I kept my gaze mostly downward to avoid the stinging.

I inhaled a deep breath a fresh air as I allowed myself to sit down. I don't know what the hell she was thinking in keeping me cooped up in that cramped den, there was no better remedy for healing than a nice quiet spot outside, although somewhere other than a swamp would be nice. Feeling content with my rest from the walk, I stood up, it was time for me to figure out exactly where I was. While I appreciated the ninetales hospitality, I needed to get going soon, WPA probably has me marked as MIA…

I walked through the forest as I looked around in all directions. As I continued to walk, I neared a clearing from all the trees and swampy water. Inside the clearing I found the ninetales in the middle of a training session. I stood and watched as the ninetales let off a barrage of fire based attacks. The ninetales moved as if she was in a musical, and her flames danced along her. Her nine tails lit ablaze in a blue fire and the fox jumped high up into the air, and as she came down she spun forward, creating a wheel of fire, then landed on the ground. She breathed heavily for a few seconds, before she finally caught her breath.

"You know it isn't polite to spy?" Amaterasu said with her back turned towards me.

"Hmmf, sorry you looked pretty concentrated there," I lightly laughed.

"Well, seems you're fine enough to walk, but you should rest a bit more," Amaterasu spoke as she spun around to face me.

"I think I'll manage for now, but thanks," I said as I began to walk towards her, while trying not to limp. "Either way, I'll need to get back to my boss soon."

"Hmm, if you really think you're ready, then I'll make arrangements for you to leave, I'll just have to get you supplies for your journey."

"That's not necessary, I'm used to traveling with very little."

"No need to resist my hospitality, I'm also doing it so I can let you leave with a clear conscience," Amaterasu insisted.

I sighed as I felt myself caving in, "Alright, do what you need too." Amaterasu gave me a nod.

"Well, for now I will repose from my training, then I'll gather what you need and I'll send you off tomorrow."

"Sounds fair," I nodded. Without a word Amaterasu walked past me and headed back for the cave. I forced myself to follow along at her pace, but somehow she knew I was struggling and her pace slowed down to something manageable for me.

"Just curious, but why exactly are you training?" I asked from behind the fox, "With skills like that you'd send any opponent running for miles."

"No particular reason, but when you've been alive as long as I have, you learn to be prepared for anything."

"And how long has that been, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Quite old," she chuckled to herself, "why don't you try guessing, and if you're right I'll tell you?"

"I don't know, two hundred... wait is it true what they say, ninetales live for around a thousand years?" I asked, not sure if I just made an idiot of myself. I mean if it was true, then I guess two hundred would be like twenties in my life span, but she looks more like she's in her forties… I honestly had no idea how old she was.

Amaterasu turned back and smirked at me, "I wish I was still that young, but thanks."

"Alright, I don't know, how old?"

"Quite old compared to you normal pokemon. Too be honest, I lost track long long ago, when you're around my age, a year doesn't mean much."

"Okay..." I said without much of an idea of how to respond to such a statement.

* * *

**Point of View Annie**

"ughhh, what a long day," I quietly complained to myself as I walked down the halls of the Genesis facility. Along the walk many of the humans bumped into me, and increased my stress. For some reason it was too much trouble to ask them to watch where they were walking, so us smaller pokemon don't get trampled by them.

My stomach let out a loud grumble as I walked. "Shh, be quiet," I whispered to my stomach for some weird reason as I held my gut with one of my hands for comfort. After a twelve hour day, it was time to get some food in my system. While I am given opportunities to eat during the day, I get way too consumed in my work to really think about eating, or at least not till I get off. Plus, today was different, I had a lot more on my mind than usual.

Without any stops, I transversed the busy facility and made my way into the equally busy cafeteria. Once there, I got in a long line full of pokemon and humans. It took around thirty minutes for me to actually be served food. Once I had my tray I found a empty table and sat down. I glanced down towards my meal and frowned, today's entree was meatloaf... gross.

For about a minute I sat in place probing the meat with my fork, before my stomach let out a loud rumble. "Ughhh, I don't even care at this point," I mumbled as I took my first bite and slowly chewed with dissatisfaction. I would have done room service again, but it was far from cheap, I mean the prices were like three times higher than what they should have been.

For the next five minutes I ate at a very slow pace, thinking about something that has been on my mind since I got back to Techvivre , that is until a familiar face greeted me again.

"Hey... you're Annie, right?" a jolteon shyly asked me as she placed a bowl that was in her mouth on the chair next to me.

I paused for a moment as the name came back to me, "Yeah... Kana was it?"

"Yeah. Mind if I sit here for a bit, everywhere else is crowded and I don't really want to sit next to complete strangers."

I gave a weak smile, "Go right ahead, I don't mind."

The jolteon smiled as she jumped up on the chair next to the one she set her bowl on, and then she brought it up to the table. The jolteon glanced down at the food, but she didn't seem to have much of a appetite since she just stared at it with a blank stare.

"So, anyone else giving you trouble?" I asked, snapping Kana out of her staring contest with her food.

"Not really, everyone here mostly keeps to themselves. You're actually the only pokemon I've really interacted with during my whole time here." Kana nervously laughed as she looked away, as if she was embarrassed.

"Well, that's Techvivre for you. Everyone here is just here to make money and that's it. Not much of a social zone, just a twenty-four-seven work environment here," I told Kana as I opened up a small bottle of water. "Speaking of work though, what are you doing here? I don't take you as a mercenary getting work through Genesis, and I can't see you working in the labs either... and Genesis doesn't really hire quadrupeds for maintenance. So, that would leave guard duty... but, no offense, you seem a bit soft for that."

The jolteon frowned as her ears drooped a bit, "Actually... I'm just here with my human. The whole story is pretty complicated actually, I'm honestly confused about it myself. You're right though, someone like me doesn't really belong here," the jolteon spoke with a depressed tone.

"Oh... well I didn't mean to offend you or anything, I just wasn't sure-"

"No it's fine, really," Kana quickly smiled. "You didn't offend me or anything, and even if you did, it doesn't take long for me to bounce back from a sour mood," Kana smiled. "Just curious, but what kind of work are you doing here?" the jolteon asked as her frown disappeared, and her tone became a bit more serious.

"Well, I do lots of things around here. I actually work with the specimens-"

"You don't hurt them, do you?"

"No-no, if you're talking about experimenting, that's not my jurisdiction. I do work with specimens though. You see, after these experiments some of the pokemon don't come out okay... Some come out altered, traumatized, or messed up in some way that puts a lot of stress on them. Well, throughout the day I work with these pokemon to help keep them sane. Sometimes I work with them on adapting to their changes, sometimes I help with trauma, or I just help keep them from doing anything they'll regret. It's quite a busy job, especially when you have twelve hour shifts like I did today."

"Isn't... Isn't a job like that kinda depressing though, I mean don't some of these pokemon come out messed up forever, and you're there to deal with all the aftermath?" The jolteon asked.

A long sigh escaped me as this topic came up. "Yeah, my job can be depressing at times. Most pokemon I work with weren't bad pokemon, they were just unfortunate enough to be caught by Genesis. Sometimes I'll work with a pokemon for a long period of time, and sometimes I get to know these pokemon pretty well. They'll tell me about their families and how they were happy before all of this, or maybe how they regretted not being able to do things in life. Then one day I'll come in, and I'll never hear anything about that pokemon again... I do hate my job, but at least I know I'm doing some good in a way. Not all the pokemon die, but the majority of them do... Quite honestly, I don't get a lot of sleep because of it. Every time I close my eyes at night I just toss and turn with their faces in my head," I finished my story and stood up. "Sorry, I don't know why I told you all of that, I guess I just wanted to tell someone."

"Wait!" Kana called as I turned to walk away. I stopped walking and turned back just enough to see her. "If you're miserable then why don't you just stop. I mean-you don't seem like the type of person to be involved with this stuff, if that makes sense."

"I guess I surprise everyone with my career path, but there is a reason behind why I chose to come here, but maybe I'll tell you another day."

A frown formed on the jolteon's face, but before she could hold me up anymore I took my leave. Once I was alone again, I decided it was time to end my long day, so I headed to my room. When I reached my room, I collapsed on my mattress and released an exhausted scowl.

"Ughhh, I'm so freaking tired," I whined as I dreaded the morning that was going to follow when I woke up. 'Just got to make it till friday,' I told myself in an attempt to keep myself together for just a bit more.

For the next hour or so I tossed and turned on my bed, just between sleep and consciousness. Many thoughts ran through my mind as I watched my day replay itself over and over, or when my mind drifted from that I had Zygarde's words in my head. I looked towards the corner of my bed where my alarm clock rested, and saw that it was very late in the night. I let out a scowl as I tried to push the thoughts out of my head, but after I pushed one thought out, another problem entered.

'Am I making the right choices right now?' I questioned myself. 'Is doing all of this the right way to keep my brother safe? Yes, anything is worth it, it's just tough that's all.'

'Accepting my crappy life still doesn't fix the Zygarde thing though... What if Zylen was wrong, what if I should do what he tells me, maybe that espeon really is dangerous...' Thoughts continued to stir in my head, until I couldn't take anymore and I sat up and let out a loud groan.

"For the love of- can I just sleep?!" I yelled to myself, before something clicked in my head. "You know, I actually got a decent idea," I yawned as I reached around my bed for the phone, until I found it. I rose up my left hand as I held the phone in the other, and a small flare flickered into existence, giving off a faint candle like lighting. I dialed a number on the phone, and listened as the phone rung. It was around the third ring that someone on the other line answered.

"Do you have any clue how late it is right now?" Zylen asked from the other line.

"Yeah... I have to go to work in like four hours, so let me say what I need to so I can at least try to go to bed tonight," I said in a groggy voice.

"If you're having sleep problems why not use hypnosis then, instead of bugging me while I'm on a job?" Zylen scowled from the other line.

"Cuz' last time I used hypnosis I slept in very late... Not exactly effective when you use it on yourself."

Zylen let out a long breath, "I'm on a job now, so you got like ten minutes before I need to go."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point then. Do you have any jobs for this week?"

"No, we've been over this, I just take the jobs as they come in, unless someone wants to schedule a date and pay in advance. What do you need though, I really don't have much time to entertain you if that's what you want."

"No..." I sighed into the phone. "I want to hire you for something, if you're up to it."

"I swear if you ask me to bring you cheesecake again, we've been over this like five times, I'm a serious mercenary! Not some cake delivery boy!"

"Okay first off, not my fault Genesis doesn't have it here. Secondly, this is almost as serious as my request for cheese cake."

"I'm so close to hanging up Annie, what do you want," grouchy Zylen growled into the phone.

"Okay, I need two things from you, and yes I'm willing to pay."

"Go on."

"I want you to help you know who..."

"What?"

"I want you to help out the espeon on that hunt they were on... you know, the one we helped get information for..."

"Ohhhh," Zylen said understandingly. "Right, but you don't really want to help them... do you?"

"No, I want you to learn all you can about that espeon. I'm taking what the other 'you know who' said into consideration. If the espeon really is dangerous then he needs to be stopped, or something needs to happen. I'd go myself, but I already used a sick day and I can't risk missing anymore work."

"Okay, and your second request?"

"Yeah… I know you're going to hate me for asking, but is it possible for you to check in on my brother," I asked nervously, knowing that I was going to get Zylen's wrath from such a request.

"You know you'll be putting all of us in danger if I do that, right? The deal was pretty strict, they want the two of us to stay as far from him as possible. If I get caught, we could all end up-"

"I know!" I yelled into the phone and banged the wall with a fist. "I know it's selfish of me to ask, but Zy you're the only one I know who can safely do it. I just want to know a small bit, I can't stand not even knowing if he's alive. He could be a crack addict for all I know! I can't do this anymore, it's not fair to me in any way!"

"Annie..." Zylen began, but paused. "Fine I'll see what I can do, but if I feel uncomfortable in anyway then I'm not doing it."

"That's fair… I really appreciate this Zylen, but I just have one more thing to ask of you, if it isn't to much."

"What?" Zylen scowled into the phone.

"Can I please get cheesecake... I'm really-really stressed-"

"Are you serious?!"

"No, I'm just really stressed out and I'd like something sweet, Genesis doesn't have much down here and-"

"Okay, I'll tell you what! I'll get you your damned cheesecake, but after that you're to never ask again, and I'm charging you for my time and everything!"

"Fair enough... so how much is all of this going to cost?"

"Jeez, depends how long I'm gone on your first request. Then your other one is really risky as well, then the third is just flat out demeaning for me. For most it'd be in the ten-thousands for sure, but for you I'll charge the bare minimum, so maybe a couple thousand. Think you can manage that, I mean I know we're friends and all, I can do your brothers request for free since I know it means so much to you, plus I'd like to see what became of the little guy myself."

"No, it's fine, whatever it comes out to I can manage, not like I'm paid poorly or anything, plus I have very little living expenses down here. I just have to ask, on my weekends I'm enrolled in some online medical class, so do I get a student discount by chance?"

"A-a student discount for a mercenary?" Zy asked with disbelief.

"Ughh yeah... Most businesses do it. So maybe we can work something out, maybe like ten percent?"

"Okay, I'ma hang up now..."

"Wait! Are you going to help me?!"

"Are you a serious customer?"

"Yes, I really am."

"Okay, call me tomorrow when you're off work, we'll talk further then. I got to go now." Zylen hung up the phone instantly after his sentence.

"Okay... that kinda burned me out," I whispered to myself as I placed my phone on the charger and fell back down. "Time to sleep," I mumbled to myself as I felt a bit of relief.

My eyes closed and I began to fall asleep, until a loud knocking on my door woke me.

"Seriously?!" I shouted as I sat up in an angry manner. "What do you want, it's like really late!?" I yelled at whoever was at my door.

"Yeah, it is late, and all I hear is someone yelling in here like a lunatic!"

"Oh, whoops, sorry," I apologized to whoever was at the door, even though I was half tempted to argue back.

"Just shut it lady, I want to sleep," the voice snapped at me.

I didn't respond to the voice, and just fell back down on my bed to finally sleep.

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

All of Crimson, including myself traversed through a forest that followed along the northern coast of Kalos. The path we were taking to get to Xerneas was chosen yesterday. Our plan was to travel around the barren wasteland near route thirteen, then cut around Lumiose, which then we'd come across a river which we could follow or find someone to take us down the river till we're at our destination. Seemed like it was going to be a long trip, but it shouldn't have been too hard.

Around when we first started travelling, Kane finally decided to show back up, even though he was very late. Of course, the scyther never gave us a reason, he just remain silent as always, which really set off a creepy vibe. Still, I wasn't complaining, I knew Kane was capable of doing his part when the time came.

"So, how long should this trip take?" Merrick asked out loud.

"A week tops, maybe three to four days if we can find someone to take us down the river," I answered Merrick.

"Ughhh, I don't mind travelling, but I just wish there was a faster way to get to our destination."

"Yeah well, this is as good as it gets," I bluntly stated, as I kept up my pace while walking with everyone.

To be quite honest, I've been feeling a bit nervous about all of this. I had no doubt that all of us could take Xerneas on and win, but what Mandus was expecting me to do after may be too much... Holding Zygarde already put strain on me at times, I'm not quite sure how holding two Legendaries is going to work. All it may take is something very small to break my control if I'm influencing them both. Of course, it shouldn't be impossible, just difficult. Either way, I'm in this now, and I planned to fulfill my mission.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Sorry for the shorter chapters recently, but I just felt like that was a good stopping point for where this is going. Don't worry though, things will be getting interesting soon. Also, the Black Dawn cover has finally been posted on Deviant Art, so if anyone wants to see the full size BD cover just go to my profile and find the link. It's pretty easy to find.

Thanks to genericgamer207 for the usual.

**Fun Fact: **The name Amaterasu is a name taken from a sun deity, which is from the Shinto religion. The name Amaterasu has actually come up in a lot of animes, and even inspired a video game known as Okami (One of my personal favorites). Anyways, just a little background on the name, if any of you managed to stay awake through that.


	107. The Next Contract

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 107: The next contract**

* * *

**Point of View Gray**

The morning was young, and the sun was just now beginning to peak from above the tree line. I inhaled a breath of the cool morning air, and exhaled a misty fog. My body was still pretty sore from my injuries, but the trip was going to be possible thanks to Amaterasu's help. Despite me being a bit stubborn, I couldn't deny that I really needed the rest.

"Well, looks like this is it," Amaterasu spoke from behind me as she stepped foot out of her den.

"It seems so," I agreed as I turned back to her.

"Be careful out there, I'd hate find out you ended up getting injured like that again, but from the way you describe your work, it seems like it's bound to happen again somewhere down the line."

"I don't plan on letting this happen again," I sternly stated.

"Very well then. If you're ever in the area again, don't be a stranger. Out here it can get lonely at times, so it never hurts to see a familiar face."

"I'll be sure to stop by if I'm ever near. Thank you for the invitation," I slightly bowed my head to show some respect. "I know I've been somewhat of a stubborn bastard at times, but I'd like to thank you for all the help... Not only did you treat my wounds, you kept me from storming off and hurting myself again," I bowed my head again, feeling that I had no way to repay this debt.

"Well…" She said with a small chuckle, "it's the very least I can do. We pokemon need to watch out for each other." I nodded in agreement.

"Well, I guess I should get going, I have a long trip ahead of me."

"Take care Grayson, and may Arceus and all the other Legendaries watch over you." The two of us shared one final glance, before I began my journey back.

This trip was most certainly going to be a long one, especially since I wasn't fully recovered. It was truly a shame that I'd failed. I'd even admit to being embarrassed of the fact. Despite my hesitation of confronting Zack again, I did need to let him know I wasn't dead.

**Point of View Annie**

Quietly, I sat in a chair thinking to myself, while half asleep due to the two hours of sleep I got. It was as if Arceus let me get just enough sleep to make myself groggy, but not enough to restore my energy. One thing was for sure though, when I get off my shift, I'm dying on my mattress. That's if I'm not kept awake all night again.

"You're quiet today," a weak voice that was devoid of any real emotion quietly spoke from across the room. My eyes locked onto the vaporeon that sat in front of me.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit tired," I smiled at the vaporeon as I snapped myself out of my thoughts. The water type shifted in his spot, but was restricted due to the shackles that bound him to the ground, with very little moving space. To me it never made sense, if I told the guards that I trusted him to be unshackled, then let the kid be unshackled, he's already been through enough, plus he wouldn't even have the strength to fight. To make things worse, the vaporeon was just a kid, probably around twelve, give or take a year.

I rose up my clipboard to write as I crossed one of my legs over the other. "So, care to tell me how you're feeling today?" I asked the vaporeon as I always asked my patients, of course I never expected a good answer, but my job was to help with there problems.

"Like anyone cares about how I feel here." The vaporeon turned his head from me as he bit down and his claws scratched against the reflective white floor.

I frowned at the child, "I wouldn't have taken this job if I didn't want to help pokemon like you," I weakly smiled at him, even though it was a poor argument that was somewhat of a lie. I did want to help, but I wasn't here by choice.

"If you really cared you'd do something about this," the vaporeon spoke quietly, as each word became more heavy than the last.

I remained silent as I listened to the vaporeon's breath's grow louder, and soon the first tear fell. My throat tightened as I felt the need to speak up, but there was nothing I could say to him that wouldn't make things worse.

"I'm not even a pokemon anymore, even if I did get out I'd just be some freak!" the vaporeon broke out into sobs as he began to pull on the chains. "And you're just sitting there acting like you can talk me into a better mood?! I want my freedom back, I want to be with my family, I want my body back to the way it used to be!" the vaporeon screamed as he began pulling on the chains.

"Please, I need you to calm down, or I'll have too-" I froze as small embers came from the vaporeon's maw and then he crashed onto the ground holding his jaw shut. A red light flared up in the room, and the vaporeon broke into tears.

"I'm not a vaporeon anymore, just some freak," the vaporeon cried. I got up out of my chair to walk towards him, but right when I stood, the door to our room flew open. Quickly storming the room was one human, and three pokemon.

"Hey, this isn't necessary!" I yelled at the four, but they ignored me. One of the three pokemon was a jolteon, and it quickly sent a bolt of electricity at the vaporeon who was still crying on the ground. He let out a loud cry, before passing out unconscious.

"if you want to prevent this, then keep your damn pokemon under control!" a arbok snapped at me, as a machop grabbed the vaporeon by its hind legs and dragged him out of the room. I waited quietly until the four of them left.

"Damnit!" I yelled as I threw my clipboard on the ground, causing all my notes to scatter. "He was just a kid!" I yelled at the four that were no longer there. I inhaled a deep breath as I stormed out of my work station and headed down the hall. I stopped in front of a door and banged on it repeatedly, until it opened on its own. I clenched my fist as I walked into the room.

"You know your guards got some nerve barging into my sessions when I didn't buzz for any help!" I yelled at a xatu who sat behind a desk.

"Oh Annie," the Xatu said carelessly. "We merely do that to protect our workers, if we don't you can end up dead one of these sessions, especially someone who's careless like yourself."

"Excuse me? You got something you wanna say?" I growled at my superior, Russ.

"Take a seat Annie," Russ ordered, but I remained standing.

"I'm fine how I am," I replied back with a growl.

"Hmmf, fine." Ross snorted. "I've been observing your work lately. Not only are you the one the guards have to aid the most, you're also the one with the lowest success rate of actually helping our specimen stay sane," the xatu scoffed.

"So you're attacking my work now, this is very irrelevant to what I'm trying to address here!"

"I can tell you this Annie, if this keeps up, you may want to start looking for a new job." I paused as my eyes widened at the xatu.

"All the other therapists here do is drug them up or use psychic abilities to brainwash them into zombies, it isn't right."

"And you know what Annie, it works. These pokemon are quiet till there next lab date. Either way, what does it matter, they'll be dead in the end anyways, and those who do survive will have their minds wiped clean."

"That's not helping though."

"Well Annie, you can choose now. Do what you view as the right decision, or lose your job in a week or two. I could honestly not care less, there is a very long line of far more qualified pokemon waiting to get your job. Now, get out of my office."

Not wanting to risk my job any further, I quickly left his office without another word. While walking down the hall, I glanced up towards a clock and noticed I had a small gap of time between now and my next appointment. Taking advantage of my time, I went into the break room, which was empty at the moment. I shut the door behind me and locked myself in.

"Arceus, I really can't deal with this today," I stammered out as I leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to a sitting position and hugged my knees. My eyes began to grow heavy, and I rubbed my eyes with my arm in an attempt to hide any emotions. "I can't... not here," I told myself. "I just need to last six more hours, then I can be alone." I took a moment to calm myself, then I stood back up.

I went on with my work day from there, I saw all my patients, and I continued my usual routine. Luckily, none of my other patients had any violent outbursts, I could thank Arceus for that, I guess. Once my shift finally ended, I didn't waste time heading to my room. Once in my bedroom I collapsed onto my bed like I always did.

"Finally," I cried out in relief. For the next twenty minutes I laid on my bed half conscious, until I remembered Zylen. I reached for the phone, and dialed up the zoroark. I waited on the line for a few seconds, until he answered.

"Hey," Zylen answered.

"Hey, is now a good time?" I asked the zoroark.

"Yeah, I finished my work for today, so I got the night to myself for once," Zylen said.

"Oh, that's good."

"You alright Annie? You seem a little more quiet than usual, especially for this hour."

I remained quiet for a moment, I didn't know how to explain what was going on with work. "I... I don't want to talk about it, I really just can't think about it anymore."

"okay... So are you calling about what we talked about last night?" Zylen asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright, and?"

"And I want to hire you for what we discussed."

"Alrighty, I'll leave tomorrow morning then. Shouldn't take me long to track them down. As for your second assignment, I still can't promise anything, but I'll see what I can do."

"Okay."

Zylen sighed into the phone, "I'll also get you your cheese cake."

"Cool," I dismissively answered.

"Alright seriously, did something happen today?" Zylen rose his voice into the phone, which caught me off guard and I nearly dropped the phone.

"I said I didn't want to-"

"Yeah-yeah, I heard the first time. Seriously though, I'm not going to pry, but I can tell whatever it is, it's getting to you. I mean Arceus Annie, I just told you I'd bring you cheese cake... and you're like a zombie on the phone. So I'm assuming something big happened if you're bothered this much."

I slightly smiled, he knew me so well. "I just don't want to talk cuz' I'm scared honestly..."

"Scared, why?" Zylen asked.

I let out a hard breath, "Today I talked to my boss. I had something to complain about that I thought was unfair, I'm just trying to help the pokemon down here, but then he just starts criticizing me and verbally attacking me and stuff. In the end of the conversation, he tells me that I should consider looking for a new job, because if I don't change things I'll be fired within a week or two."

Zylen remained quiet as he consumed the information.

"I-I don't know how to respond to this. I'm trying my hardest to actually help them, and all he wants me to do is put them on drugs, or mess with their brain to make them emotionless." My eyes began to water as I explained things to him, but I tried my hardest to keep them in. "I really need this job, but I don't want to stoop down to that level. I know I'm already a horrible person, but I just can't do that to others, even if it means protecting Flare." Tears began streaming down my eyes, and I wiped them away as quickly as I could.

All I heard from Zylen was silence, until he finally spoke up. "If things really do get bad, then leave Genesis. We can find your brother and we can leave this region together. They won't follow us across the world over something like that."

"That's not what I want for Flare though! I agreed to all of this because I wanted him to have a good life, not one where we're hiding in the shadows our whole lives," I stammered out.

"I really don't have an answer you'll like, I'm sorry. It's either you do what your boss tells you, you do my plan, or you switch positions to something else."

"There is nothing else I can do here!" I shouted into the phone. "And I can't do what he wants either... I mean even if I could, then what? I'm just going to live a miserable life until one day I either kill myself from not being able to live with myself, or I drop dead from all the stress I'm under."

"Annie, don't talk about hurting yourself please... it's not really a pleasant thought for me."

"Yeah well none of this is pleasant for me either. I have had to deal with this crap for the past seven years, and I'm just reaching my breaking point."

"Alright listen, I'm sorry this is happening, but if you don't want to leave Genesis then you're going to have to be strong for a bit longer. I'm a busy guy, but if you ever need to talk just call me, I'll try my best when I can. For now though, I'ma do what you asked so you can at least feel a bit better, then when I finish that I'll see if maybe we can work something else out to get you out of this."

"Yeah... getting out of this would be nice," I admitted.

"Annie, I'm going to have to go now to get supplies for my trip. If you're still awake in two hours call me, if not, then hopefully you can get a good night of sleep."

"Alright, thanks for talking Zy. I at least feel like I got a bit off my chest... just please be careful while you're gone, I don't want you getting hurt over this."

"Heh, relax, I'm a pro at what I do. All in all, I'll probably come to the conclusion that the espeon isn't dangerous, but we'll see."

"Alright, well be safe."

"You do the same Annie." The two of us hung up and I was alone once again.

**Point of View Zylen**

Since the beginning of my new contract, I have mostly spent my time in the form of a mightyena. A mightyena was one of my favorite forms, not only is its species quick on its feet, but they're known for being relentless hunters that can track down anything. No matter how far you run, and how hard you try to change your scent, a mightyena will always sniff you down.

During my travel, I made my way from where I last saw Crimson, and I followed the scent for days. At first the scent was faint, even for a mightyena, but the smell of all those pokemon were hard to forget. My journey has taken me far, but it took me to the general area I expected to be, Snowbelle. Despite my thick fur in this form, it was so cold I couldn't help but shiver like mad.

Snow slowly fell from the sky, and added to a small layer on the ground that was no thicker than an inch. That was Snowbelle, early winters, late springs, but summers that weren't too hot.

"Ughhh, I freaking hate the cold," I scowled as I followed the scent. For the next few miles I followed the scent, until I found a small camp that was set up. Three tents were set up, all of which would probably hold two pokemon, and in the middle of all the tents was a camp fire. I cautiously approached the campfire, until a greninja jumped in front of me in a blur.

"What business do you have here, mightyena?" The greninja asked me as her arms cross. "Need food? Lost? I can help if needed, but I'm afraid my time is a little scarce."

"I'm here to speak to Mandus," I said, as my form shifted back to my original zoroark form. The greninja just barely flinched from the surprise.

"What are you doing all the way out here? You're a mercenary, I remember that, so are we on your list now?" The greninja asked. In the background I could see that quilava and a black scyther watching.

I smiled at the greninja, but it was a nervous smile, "I'm here on mercenary work, but I'm not here to kill you."

"Go on."

"Annie, the Braixen, I don't know if you met her, but she wanted me to assist you guys."

"And why would she send you if she had interest in us?" The greninja asked.

"Because, we have something we want to work out with you guys, and I think it's all in our favor. So, go get Mandus, and I'll talk it out with him."

The greninja stared at me, doing nothing but blinking every few seconds.

"Ummm, hello-:

"Wait here," She quickly replied. The ninja pokemon left, and the scyther and quilava kept their eyes on me until the greninja returned with Mandus and the albino espeon.

"Long time no see," I joked with Mandus, but the lucario didn't even break a smile.

"why are you here?" Mandus quickly asked.

I explained everything I told the greninja earlier to Mandus, down to the part where I mentioned a deal.

"A deal?" Mandus repeated with skepticism.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You see, Annie hired me to track you down and assist you if you'll agree to a deal. If you're really claiming the power of Legendaries as your own, then you'll be a force to be reckoned with. So, I'll help you capture your next target, and in exchange, you'll help us bring down Genesis," I told Mandus, even though it was a clever lie. Annie had no true intention of bringing Genesis down, but hey if Mandus really had the power to do it then I'd let him, far as I'm concerned he'd be doing the world a favor. "I think this is a fair trade though, your espeon will struggle to hold another Legendary, so I can help with that. Plus, I know you're doing this for all the pokemon that are mistreated by humans, and Genesis is on the top of the list of wronging pokemon. So, what do you think?" I asked Mandus with a smirk.

"Why would Annie want to destroy the very corporation she works with?" Mandus asked.

"Funny you ask, she's not actually working for them. Back when the whole Team Flare downfall thing, Annie and I got caught up in that, and in that whole mess was Annie's little brother. Long story short, we had a run in with an absol known as the White Reaper, and their was no way we were going to beat her... so, we struck a deal. They let us go, but they wanted Annie to be a spy for them. As for me, I got off easy and I just have to relay info between WPA and Annie.

"Annie also isn't allowed to contact her brother in anyway, and if things go bad they could kill him since he's a criminal just like us. So, problems are coming up now, Annie is having work problems and may lose her job, which will result in us being on WPA's bad side. So, if you help destroy Genesis we may actually live, and Annie can see her brother again," I finished and let the lucario absorb all that info I fabricated over the past few days.

"Tempting offer," Mandus commented, "I always planned on destroying Genesis once we have control of enough Legendaries."

"So, you'll accept?"

"I'll allow you to fulfill your contract, and tell Annie that I'll do what is in my power when I have the three Legendaries I seek."

"Excellent," I smirked.

"Just one question though," Mandus asked. "The White Reaper, how was she when you saw her?"

"Whoa, that was years ago Mandus."

"It has been a long time since I've talked to her, just the name White Reaper makes my skin crawl." A small smirk crept onto Mandus's face as he appeared to be drifting off in nostalgia of somesort.

"Well... From what I saw she was alive," I answered the lucario.

Mandus snapped out of his thoughts, "Hmmf, I didn't expect her to be any other way."

"You know her or something?"

"Nevermind that," Mandus dismissed and walked back towards the camp they had established. I followed behind the lucario, but I stopped following once I was by the campfire. I brushed the snow off a stump of wood, and I sat near the warmth and comfort of the fire. I reached my hand into my mane and withdrew a box of cigarettes and a lighter. Once I lit up my cigarette I began feeding my bad addiction.

"Sooo... you're a mercenary?" I turned to me side to see a quilava who appeared to be puzzled by my presence.

"Uh huh," I nodded at him with a cigarette in my maw.

"Don't think we won't have our eyes on you," the fire type stated, "But I'm just saying, names Merrick though."

"Shade," I answered.

"You know, I actually recall a different name back in Coumarine."

I blew a puff of smoke as I withdrew my cigarette from my mouth, "Let's just go with Shade, the braixen you heard using my real name is a very close friend, but I use Shade on my contracts."

"Kay..." Merrick's head cocked to the side as he observed me some more.

"So, I've never actually met a zoroark... Is it true your kind can make illusions and shapeshift?"

I just barely smiled at the question, but I tried to keep the mercenary face going, "It's true, our forms can change to match any pokemon we've seen in our lives, along with casting illusions."

"Cool, mind showing me? Maybe make the scenery around here a little less... gloomy?"

"If we're going to be fighting against a Legendary tomorrow, then I'd prefer to save my strength. Casting mass illusions on that scale can leave even a skilled zoroark exhausted." The quilava seemed to lose amusement in me, and found his own little corner on the other side of the camp fire.

Joining us at the camp fire moments later was the greninja. She sat down on a rock. Something about her seemed a bit mysterious, kinda how I viewed Mandus when I first met him , perhaps the two were kindred in some way.

"Zylen," a voice caught my attention. I turned to my left and met eyes with the albino espeon who blended in with the snow pretty well. It was actually kind of hard to think that he was possibly a danger. "If you're going to be helping us tomorrow, then I'll need to explain every detail to help you reach your potential against Xerneas."

"Alright, I'm all ears."

"So tell me, what do you know about Xerneas?"

I took a moment to think, and then I came up with a answer, "Absolutely nothing," I admitted.

Vincent shook his head in disappointment. "For future reference, look into your jobs before-"

"I don't need your criticism," I snapped at him.

"Very well," Vincent agreed. "I'll tell you everything then, but truthfully we don't know a lot ourselves. I guess I should start off with the legends of the goddess of eternal life. Xerneas is known to be one of the more powerful Legendaries, this is due to her ability of accelerated healing. In many stories, she is known for healing injured pokemon of their diseases, or fatal injuries. In some rare instances, she even shares the gift of eternal life."

"Ummm, so not only are we hunting a pokemon that does good things, we're also fight a omnipotent being that won't stay down..."

"I see you're skeptical about achieving victory. Well actually, that's where you and me will come in. You see, in order to defeat Xerneas we're going to have to deal a lot of damage really fast. You and I are both capable of creating illusions that can aid our teammates to safely deal damage. Not only that, we'll have a higher chance of capturing her if we're both psychics. You are a decent psychic, right?"

"I'm a jack of many trades, and a master of some, but psychic was never really my thing. Not saying I can't help manipulate Xerneas, I'm just not as good as you or Annie."

"I see. Well that's fine, we do have other tricks to use."

"Such as?"

"Our own Legendary, Zygarde."

"I nearly forgot about that thing... where is it?"

VIncent glanced down towards his paws, "Zygarde is easily able to burrow under ground, so I have him stay down there most of the time. Although, when we get Xerneas it'll be a bit more tricky since she can't burrow underground."

"Perhaps I can help with transferring her. I can cast an illusion where no one will see us, so long as they don't get close enough to disrupt the illusion."

"Hmm, you know Zylen, that may actually come in handy," Vincent smiled.

"It's Shade out here," I corrected. "My real name is for those close to me only, it's a business rule I follow."

Vincent nodded understandingly, "My mistake, Shade. Anyways, we have a lot to go over, not only how to fight Xerneas, but you need to have a full understanding of how our team will function tomorrow. So get comfortable."

**Chapter End**

**Author Note:** Well that's all for this chapter. Hopefully the small time skip wasn't jarring, but I had nothing to write that wouldn't be filler if I didn't do that. And God FFN is very difficult to upload a chapter from a phone, so hopefully nothing got screwed up that is ehat I did for this chapter.

Thanks to genericgamer207 for editing.


	108. Blood in the heavy rain

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 108: Blood in the heavy rain**

* * *

**Point of View Zylen**

Last night was like none other. After many hours of lectures from Mr Albino, I finally got to get some damn sleep, or a little bit at least. I spent most of the night shivering my butt off, it was so cold compared to many of the other places I have travelled to. Thankfully, I didn't freeze to death, and I made it to dawn.

Most of the area around me was now was well illuminated by the sun. All of the Crimson members took apart their camp, while I just sat quietly on a rock with my eyes closed in an attempt to get a few minutes of sleep back. I was still shivering from the cold, but it was better than last night. Arceus, what I'd give for some coffee or at least a blanket.

"We all set?" Vincent asked. My eyes opened to see that the camp was completely packed up. All of the Crimson members nodded. "Then we should get a move on, Xerneas awaits us."

With a tired yawn, I stood from my rock and joined them to begin the final step of our journey. The camp equipment was left by the campgrounds, so I guess they planned to come back for it. Without any further delay we began walking. For the next two hours we travelled through a snowy field, far off in the distance massive mountains could be seen, but thankfully we were not heading towards them. Every few minutes I couldn't help but glance at the espeon, despite him being a tad bit stuck up and a know it all type, he seemed decent... I mean he didn't seem like 'the world ending' type. I chuckled to myself on how ridiculous this was, I kinda felt bad that Annie felt so paranoid over nothing. Either way, I needed to make sure.

"So Vincent, what made someone like you join Crimson Dawn?" I questioned the espeon that was walking ahead of me. His ears perked up for a moment, before he glanced back with his left brow raised.

"Where did this come from?" he awkwardly asked.

I smiled at how sketchy that came off as, "I don't know, just passing the time," I shrugged. Vincent stared at me for a moment, before looking forward again with a scowl.

"It doesn't really concern you. You have your reasons for being a mercenary, so I won't question your reasons, and you'll do the same." I ever so slightly winced at his attitude.

"Fair enough," I nodded, even though it wasn't the answer I wanted.

Not wanting to blow my cover, I kept my mouth shut like a good mercenary. His silence was fine by me though, I had other ways to get people like him to talk, whether it be mind games, or getting them drunk out of their mind.

Eventually our journey brought us to a forest. Before we could walk any further, Mandus walked in front of the group and faced us. "According to Annie , this is where we will find Xerneas. Stay on guard, and remember everything we went over. Leave most of the fighting to Zygarde and myself." Mandus turned from us and began leading the way. Everyone including myself followed behind Mandus without any arguments.

As I walked through the forest with Crimson, I got a strange feeling. It was hard to explain, but something about this ancient forest felt so peculiar. The air here was so fresh, and while the trees were huge and obviously old, they looked so young and untouched by time. Many pokemon inhabited this forest as well, but none bothered us in any way.

"So, where exactly in this forest is Xerneas?" Merrick asked.

"No idea, just follow Mandus," Vincent simply answered.

Mandus slowly looked around the forest, before setting his eyes on an invisible trail, "I can sense a strange aura," Mandus began, "one that is similar to Zygarde's, yet very different at the same time."

"Hmmm, guess we're on the right trail," Merrick nervously smirked. To me it was kinda funny watching the quilava, he had such a quirky tough guy persona, yet I could tell he was getting more nervous by the minute. Well, at least he had a personality, unlike the greninja who seemed to be quiet most of the time, or the black scyther who has yet to say a single word.

As we got deeper into the forest, a heavy fog began masking our path. To make things worse, the canopy of branches above us were getting so thick that it was getting dark within the forest, almost like the time of day was just at the end of twilight. Also, the pokemon that inhabited this forest seemed to also grow scarce, actually, I couldn't even remember the last time I saw one at this point.

"So... are we lost?" Merrick asked.

"It's this way, the aura is growing stronger with each step we take," Mandus answered. I let out a sigh as I continued to follow the lucario without any arguments to this hunt.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened, or at least not until around a half hour passed. Our group stumbled upon a small shallow pond of water. It was no deeper than a few inches, and the ground below it seemed to be some non slippery rock surface.

"The aura... it disappeared..." Mandus stated with a bit of surprise.

"disappeared?" the greninja repeated.

Mandus crouched down low to the ground and placed his palm on the ground and concentrated. All of us just stood around and waited for him to finish, even after a few minutes passed Mandus still didn't move from his spot.

"Ahh, we're never going to find her!" the quilava pouted.

"We will," Scarlet replied as she sat cross legged in the water with her eyes closed.

Mandus finally stood up from his crouched position, and we all turned to see what he had to say, "This is very strange indeed. The aura just disappeared. A very unusual occurrence. Aura always lingers in an area, yet it is as if this aura never existed to begin with."

"So what does that mean then?" I asked. Mandus remained silent as he pondered something in his head for a moment.

"If I can't read the aura, then that would mean two things, it was completely erased by a method I don't understand, or its power is too great for me to even sense."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Merrick piped up. "Wouldn't it just be overwhelming or something then?"

"Not quite. I have to absorb at least a little of the aura to sense it, but if it's too much my body won't be able to bring it in at all. But if that is the case, then Xerneas is more powerful than we anticipated."

Out of nowhere, a strong breeze blew through the forest, Merrick was blown back, while the rest of us struggled to stay on our feet.

"Adversaries who enter my domain," a soft gentle female voice echoed from all directions. "Turn back now, or judgement shall be passed on all of you."

All of us looked around in every direction to find who was speaking, but to our surprise we were alone.

"Who are you?" Mandus spoke with seriousness.

"I am one who transcends the shackles of death, a giver of life, I am the Legendary you know as Xerneas," the voice spoke in a powerful gale of wind.

"Show yourself," Mandus demanded.

"Very well, if it is the path of a sinner you choose, then I cannot save you from your fate."

Suddenly, a massive ripple of water came from the center of the pond, and a massive four legged creature emerged from the water, forming waves all around it. The creature stood tall at around twice my height. My view of the Legendary was blinded by a variety of bright colors that came from the creatures antlers.

'So this is what another Legendary is like!?' I thought with astonishment as the light radiating from her anterlets dimmed just enough for me to make out the blue fur that travelled down her upper body, until it transitioned to black at her chest. The creature watched all of us with her bright blue eyes that had a glow to them.

"Glad you chose not to hide from us," Mandus calmly spoke to the moose.

"I've anticipated this day for many weeks, and at last we meet, Lucario. Many of my brothers and sisters have spoken of you, most wish you dead, but I find myself a bit curious in a mortal who defeated a Legendary."

"Is that so," Mandus replied.

"I have only one question for you, Lucario."

Mandus crossed his arms as he glared at the Legendary. "I'm listening."

"Life is such a beautiful gift, yet you waste such a gift on this path. Knowing that you will fail, do you regret your choice?"

"Never once did I think this plan would fail, but even if it does fail I regret nothing. I accept my fate, for I am the one who chose to walk down this path. If this path leads me to my own death then I'll accept that fate," Mandus answered.

The Legendary smiled as she stared at Mandus, "I'm happy for you then, but it won't remove the bitterness of taking another's life."

Mandus's arms fell to his side as his fists tightened, "Never once have the Legendaries showed care for mortal life. My whole life I've watched those around me suffer, I prayed every day to be saved from my hell, yet all I got in return for my faith was silence."

Xerneas paused in silence as she took in what Mandus said to her. "Lucario, there are rules in life us Legendaries must follow to keep balance. I cherish every life on this planet, yet it would be a mistake to save every life. It's natural selection, the weak die and the strong liv-" In a blurring motion Mandus dashed forward and slammed his fist between Xerneas eyes. The Legendary flew back into a tree and left her imprint on it.

"My my, so much fire burns within you, Lucario," Xerneas laughed to herself as she straightened out her neck, and a joint popped.

"Natural selection?" Mandus began as he threw his cloak into the air. "Their was nothing natural about what I saw, thousands of pokemon suffered day by day, and the world turned a blind eye to us," Mandus growled as he breathed heavily with rage. "When you watch everything around you burn to the ground and no one cares, then maybe you'll understand how horrible this world is. you Legendaries don't even know true pain."

"So it's rage that guides your fists?" Xerneas asked as a smile began to show on her face. "I will admit, I looked forward to meeting a pokemon that wanted change. It saddens me though, you're just a pitiful pokemon consumed by your own hate and anger."

"Mandus," Vincent called out, "We don't need to listen to her, what she has to say doesn't matter."

Mandus stopped for a moment and thought about what Vincent said,. "I suppose you're right," Mandus agreed. "In the end our battle in inevitable Xerneas."

Xerneas sighed as she stepped forward, "I wish not to fight any of you, but if this is your choice, then I'm afraid your end will be here."

Everyone in our group got into a defensive position as the lights on Xerneas anterlets began to radiate with bright colors again.

"Such a waste of life, you all could have lived if you made the sensible choice. I've expected you all to come for weeks now, but did you really think I planned on going against you alone?"

"Don't tell me..." Merrick spoke fearfully as a loud deep pitched howl could be heard off in the distance. In just seconds, three large canines came from above and landed in the water. All of us froze up at the sight of three heavily built canines.

"Hmmf, I was beginning to think he'd never show up," the canine in the middle snorted as he stepped forward.

"Are these things-" I tried to say.

"They're the three Legendary beasts," Vincent said in astonishment as he slowly back away. My eyes widened at the sight of the three creatures I've only heard of in legends. I recognized the middle one to be entei, the fire Legendary beast. I remembered this one the most from all the pictures I've seen in books as a child. It was scary on how close the books were, they captured his thick brown fur, they weren't even lying about his mane fuming freaking smoke! Accompanying the fire beast were Suicune and Raikou, two beasts I wasn't as familiar with, but I remembered them quite well.

'If they're here to kill us… then we're all dead.'

Entei smirked and a few embers came between his teeth, "Kill them all, leave no traces."

"Shit!" Was all I managed to yell before Suicune and Raikou both charged us at the same time. Both pokemon left a trail of mist and electricity in their paths as they moved in. Just as they closed in, all of us dodged their first attack.

'I'm going to die if I fight them!' I thought in my head as Suicune came straight at me with a torrent of water following him. 'Fuck, I gotta get out of here!' With all of my leg strength I lept into the air, and my form quickly changed into a pidgeotto. I soared as high as I could, until I reached above the canopy of trees. Once over the canopy, my jaw dropped at the sight of dark clouds swirling above, creating a vortex of bad weather.

Rain began to pour down from the clouds at an alarming rate, and in a flash a bolt of lightning struck me. My body lit up in agony as my form shifted back to my zoroark form and I fell. My vision became blurry, but I knew when I hit the ground I was going to be done for.

'Who would have thought it was going to end like this?' I thought as I fell into the canopy of branches and my body crashed through. On the way down I landed on a few larger branches. Each hit from the larger branches caused me to grunt violently, even when I had no air left in my body to exhale.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, and I never hit the ground. Whoever grabbed me broke my fall and leaned me against a tree. I looked up to save my savior, and I was just barely able to make out Scarlet. The ninja had her sword out and was scanning the area.

"On your feet Zoroark. Their is no escaping this fight, if you hesitate for a moment we're dead." Despite a few broken ribs and aching everywhere, I placed my hand on the ground and began pushing myself up. Mid way up, I saw something approaching me from the corner of my eye.

"Shit!" I muttered as Entei stood there and began sucking in a deep breath.

"Zylen, transform!" Scarlet yelled. Doing as she said, I quickly shape shifted into an identical copy of her. On sync, the two of us pulled down our tongue scarves and shot a concentrated stream of water at Entei just as he released a massive flame thrower. The two elements collided and neutralized each other into a thick steam.

Within seconds I lost sight of Entei in the steam. "Zylen!" I turned to my side to see Entei raising his claw at me. My form shapeshifted back into my zoroark form as I dodged to the side, then I sprang up and landed a kick in his snout. Entei just barely flinched back from the attack, but responded with a ferocious growl that made me back away.

'No effect, seriously!?' I thought as the beast lunged at me again. Quickly, I dodged to the side and planted a firm punch in Entei's hip as he flew past me. My fists pulsed with pain as I felt like I punched a brick wall.

"This guy is built like a tank!" I yelled at Scarlet.

"Just keep fighting!" Scarlet shouted at me.

I was about to yell something back at her, but a bolt of lightning just barely missed me and blew up a tree behind me. Without a second of delay, I ran behind another tree and looked in every direction for an exit.

'Keep fighting?! Are you crazy, we're dead if we fight them. One Legendary is one thing, but four is suicidal.'

As I stood in cover, I could see flashes of lightning and fire illuminating the forest. "If this keeps up they'll burn the whole damn forest down." Cautiously, I peeked out of cover to spectate the fight, but through all the blinding lights off in the distance I couldn't make anything out, but I could hear the sound of explosions and fire crackling through the air.

"Wait... Maybe I'm not so screwed after all, if I just take one of their forms I should be able to defend myself against them." A magenta light flashed around my body and I felt my body changing, but a quarter through the transformation my body reverted back. "What the-" Suddenly the tree I was hiding behind was sliced in half by a hydropump. The tree I leaned against began to fall, so I rolled to safety and spun towards my attacker to see Suicune.

When I faced the creature I was only partially stunned by fear, but I was more amazed by how stunning Suicune appeared to be. The way the pictures depicted her were so different from real life, but some of the key features like her tails that waved forward, to the crest of her head, and even the purple mane of fur that waved in the wind were so accurate.

"Ummm hi," I awkwardly meeped as she stared me down and lowered towards the ground. In a loud roar, Suicune charged towards me with a wave of water forming behind her and followed in her footsteps. I managed to dodge Suicune's charge attack, but I was quickly caught in the wave of water that followed from behind her. I was completely submerged in water as my body spun in every direction I could think of. Not only was my air getting low, but I was getting dizzy and I wasn't going to hold out much longer.

'What am I doing?' I thought to myself, which then I shapeshifted into a vaporeon. With my changed form, I swam with impressive speed through the current of water, and then I swam upward and jumped out of the wave of water and into the air. While in mid air, my form switched over to a raichu. Once at the peak of my jump, I spotted suicune coming in for another attack with at a blurring speed. An electrical field formed around my body, which then discharged into a bolt of lightning towards suicune. Suicune's let out a pained bellow as she fell towards the ground with twitching muscles.

Just as I landed on the ground, Suicune was already pulling herself back up onto all fours.

'She's really going to be mad now...' I thought as the Legendary began to snarl at me, "You know... we don't have to fight?"

Suicune glared at me as her muscles slightly quivered from the jolt of lightning, but I doubted that it did much to cripple her overall strength.

"Perhaps if we fought under different circumstances that would be possible zoroark, but Legendary hunters don't go unpunished." Suicune moved back as she shot a hydro pump at me. I jumped to the side as my form shifted to a jolteon and I ran from the hose of water that was slicing all the trees around me in half. I quickly weaved around the hydro pump as trees fell to the ground from behind me.

In one strong burst of energy, I turned in a sliding motion towards Suicune and sprinted straight towards her with electricity flowing through my fur. As I ran towards her, she responded with a barrage of hail. I quickly slid to a stop as I tried to find an escape, but before I could even mutter something I was being impaled and sliced up by shards of hail the size of knives. Unable to hold my form, I changed back to a zoroark and fell to my back.

"Well played Zoroark, but it's over now," Suicune spoke as she walked towards me. I tried to stand up, but the blades of hail caused my muscles to lock up, and I found myself unable to even roll over.

"I can't die like this," I whispered to myself.

"I will offer you one final moment to make peace with Arceus before your end," Suicune offered as she walked behind me.

'Looks like I'm down to plan B,' I thought in my head as I watched Suicune close in on me. I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a cough containing my own blood. "As if I'm going to pray to the god that's sending his dogs out to kill me," I muttered as I forced myself to my feet and used what little energy I had to jump away from Suicune. My fists clenched tightly as a magenta light discharged from my body and spreaded around the whole area, before slowly fading. "Sorry mutt, I don't have time to die, and quite frankly you're starting to piss me off."

"I'm surprised you can still stand with those wounds, but that makes for a more interesting hunt when you're fighting me with everything you have."

Slowly, the pain all around my body completely disappeared as I used my illusionary powers to change my sense of pain to numbness. It was a tactic that exhausted me quickly, but at this point I didn't have a choice, it was either I went all out here, or I wouldn't be making it back to Annie. Two magnetta flashes flared around me, and two identical zoroarks appeared on both of my sides, each sharing identical wounds as well. The three of us all grinned in unison as Suicune's eyes widened in surprise.

"Damn Zoroarks," Suicune growled towards us.

* * *

**Third person point of view**

All three of the Zylens glared at Suicune with wide grins and spoke the same words in unison, "What's the matter, not prepared for three on one?" In a quick blurring motion, the three zoroarks branched off in different directions with bullet-like speed that Zylen never had at the beginning of the fight..

Suicune quickly rocketed into the air as a vortex of water formed at her feet, then she came down towards the ground with the vortex of water growing in size. Right before Suicune touched down on the ground, one of the zoroark's flashed behind her and landed a solid kick with both feet on the back of her skull. Suicune's attack fell apart just before she touched the ground, and the attack never reached its true potential. Suicune quickly recovered back up to her feet, just in time for another Zylen to appear out of nowhere and kick her right in the jaw. The Legendary flailed to the left, and another Zylen appeared and slammed his fist right in her right eye, forcing Suicune to let out a loud cry as she moved back and clenched her right eye shut.

The three Zylen's all appeared at a safe distance from Suicune as they watched her with their arms crossed. "Had enough yet, because you're not as strong as I anticipated for a Legendary. So why don't you go home with your tail between your legs."

Suicune began prying herself off the ground. "Tricky zoroark," Suicune muttered as she fully stood up. "Don't assume for a single second that you're better than me, a god!" Suicune's voice boomed. "We Legendary beasts have lived for eons, do you think you're the first to challenge me?! I've destroyed armies of you worthless mortals!"

"An army of what, rattata?" All three of the Zylens snorted.

Suicune looked down towards the ground before she started to break out in a hysteric laughter.

"What's so funny?" Zylen questioned the Suicune as he began to feel a bit uneasy.

"Mortals, you're all the same. Always believing you can overthrow us Legendaries, thinking that we aren't that far apart. I'm going to show you a secret little fox," Suicune looked upward towards Zylen with a malicious glare. "Zygarde was actually one of the weaker Legendaries, while he is the guardian of the ecosystem, his powers aren't fighting, it's restoring and watching over the world. That is why he remained in hiding underground, he was a frail Legendary that could be overpowered by a few mortals. But what about a Legendary that was actually born with a natural gift of fighting?"

"What are you going on about?"

"Many of us Legendaries suppress our true powers. My very true nature brings rainstorms upon this world that would wash away civilizations if it pleased me. Now brave or very foolish Zoroark, show me how powerful you are against the true power of a God." Suicune bowed her head for a moment, before pointing her snout towards the sky and letting out a deep howl that made the three Zylens cover their ears. In an instant, rain poured down from the heavens and began to flood the ground within seconds. Torrents of water swirled by Suicune's feat as a blue waterlike aura flowed around her person.

"Oh what in the hell..." Zylen said with astonishment as Suicune's very presence caused the water around her to repel away in powerful ring shaped wakes.

* * *

Vincent, Scarlet, Merrick, and Kane all ended up in their own separate part of the forest. Each one of them surrounded Xerneas as the Legendary patiently waited for them to make their first move. All four of the Crimson members took small steps towards the Legendary, each slightly blinded by the colorful light radiating from the end of her antlers. Rain poured down on the scene, and off in the distance the sound of the other battles could be heard.

Just as the Crimson pokemon took one step closer, Xerneas released a strange thick mist into the air.

"Not this crap!" Merrick yelled before he blindly fired a flamethrower at the Legendary. Right at the end of Merrick's flame, Xerneas appeared from the mist with a blue energy charging in her mouth. "Oh... shit..." Merrick whispered to himself as the Legendary released the blue energy into a beam. Just before Merrick was hit by the attack, Kane jumped in on the scene and punted him like a ball. Merrick let out a yell as he flew to safety, and Kane weaved around the attack and went straight for Xerneas.

Scarlet came in from behind the moose and readied her sword for an attack. As the two closed in, Vincent stood off in the distance and got ready to bail the two out with an illusion, while Merrick was still recovering from being punted in the air. In a quick barrage, Scarlet and Kane slashed their blades at the fairy type Legendary in a fury of swings. Blood flew in every direction as Xerneas tried to get away, but both pokemon moved with speed she couldn't even process. After a few more seconds of attacks, Xerneas fell to the muddy ground and let out a cry, before her eyes closed.

"That's it?!" Merrick exclaimed as he limped towards the fallen Legendary.

Scarlet watched the fallen moose carefully, "She seemed so much more frail than Zygarde, last time I could barely even get my sword to penetrate him."

Vincent joined in on the scene, "We didn't even have to use Zygarde, but we can't linger here much longer, Zylen and Mandus are still fighting the Legendary beasts."

"Then get on with it," Merrick urged Vince.

VIncent walked to Xerneas and rose his paw up to place on Xerneas, but before he did his eyes widened in astonishment. The many deep gashes and cuts on Xerneas body were healing at a rapid rate, and soon they faded to nothing. A strong gasp came from Xerneas as her eyes opened.

"I am a god of life, did you really expect to defeat me so easily?" Xerneas asked as she got to her feet. Everyone around her jumped back from Xerneas as she got to her feet. "Now show me, what other powers do you have?"

* * *

In quick blurs Mandus quickly dodged Raikou and Entei as they chased after him in the heavy rainstorm that came from nowhere. The lucario jumped from tree branch to tree branch as the Legendaries both took turns jumping up at him and destroying the branches he used as jumping pads. Mandus jumped on another tree branch and used the branch to leap high into the air. Two aura spheres formed in both of his palms and he chucked each at a separate beast. Both of the canines dodged the explosive spheres with ease, before they went back to pursuing the lucario.

"Quick bastard!" Entei snapped as he picked up his speed and shot a torrent of flames up into the trees at Mandus. Mandus propelled himself down to ground level as the flames ignited the trees above him, but the flames quickly died out in the rain storm.

Both Mandus and the two canines stopped and faced each other in defensive positions. Both of the canines snapped and snarled at the lucario as he just watched them with two aura spheres forming in his palms.

The Legendary beast Raikou glanced up towards the stormy sky for a moment, before glancing at Entei. "Was Suicune's opponent really so great that it was necessary for her to release her divinity?"

"Hmmf, doubtfully," The fire beast snorted. "Suicune has always been rash and compulsive. Although, I do grow tired of these mortals."

Mandus continued to watch the two pokemon talk amongst each other as he devised a plan in his head.

Entei scoffed towards Mandus "No matter, released divinity or not, we will eradicate every trace of these blasphemous mortals."

The two beasts directed their attention back towards Mandus and charged at the lucario. Both Legendaries zigzagged around all of the trees as Mandus did the same to keep his distance from the two. Raikou went in for the first attack with a thunder fang as he bolted towards the lucario. Just as Raikou closed in on Mandus, the lucario allowed himself to fall flat to the ground and the beast missed and passed over Mandus. Just as Raikou soared over, Mandus slammed one of his two aura spheres into Raikou's underbelly. The electric type let out a pained roar as he flew upwards. While Raikou was still airborne, Mandus launched himself at the canine and extended his other aura sphere out towards the beast. But, just as Mandus neared Raikou, Entei tackled into Mandus and forced the lucario down onto the ground. Entei clamped his teeth down onto Mandus's shoulder and lifted him up.

"Weak, very weak," Entei spoke as he bit down harder, causing Mandus to yell out as the bones in his shoulder were crushed. Mandus concentrated his aura and slammed his left palm into Entei's neck, causing a powerful explosion that forced entei to fly back, but in the process he ripped off a section of Mandus's shoulder.

Mandus let out a loud grunt as he used his left hand to try and stop the bleeding on his shoulder.

"Why you little!" Entei snapped as he charged back at Mandus. With a pained moan, Mandus jumped back up into the trees and began to retreat. The movement of the lucario became very sloppy and much slower than before, and around the fourth branch he jumped onto, it snapped and the lucario plummeted to the ground.

"You coward!" Raikou snapped as fresh blood poured from a stomach wound. "Just die!" he shouted as he shot a bolt of lightning. Mandus just barely moved away, but he tripped and fell onto his hands and knees while evading the attack.

Mandus slowly pushed himself up and faced towards the two Legendary beasts. His fists tightened as he glared at the two, but then he clapped his hands together as if he was meditating. A blue aura flared around Mandus as his body radiated with a white light, and his form changed to his mega state.

"Hmmf, been holding back, Lucario?" Entei scoffed as he moved towards him.

"I'm far from done!" Mandus rose his voice as he bolted towards the two Legendaries. Both shot their own affinities at Mandus, but the lucario weaved around each attack with ease as Aura began to surround his fists. Both Legendaries jolted back in surprise from Mandus's speed. Before they could even process it, Mandus was in front of the two landing a barrage of punches and kicks that sent both of the Legendaries tumbling to the ground.

"This ends here!" Entei snapped as he clawed his way up off of the ground. "Raikou! Release your divinity!" Entei yelled at his comrade.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for the three of us to go all out in the same area, we'll leave nothing left of this forest," Raikou questioned Entei.

"Do it, I want this lucario to realize how small he is compared to us," Entei grinned.

"Very well," Raikou nodded. Mandus froze as he tried to figure out what the two pokemon were talking about.

Both of the Legendary creature lowered their heads before raising their nose to the sky and letting out a loud howl that sent tremors through the ground. In mid howl both Legendaries flared up with a powerful aura that matched the color of their affinities.

Just as both of their howls were ending, Raikou was shocked by a powerful bolt of lightning that left electricity circuiting through his fur, while flames rose up from Entei's back and the ground at his feet began to crack as smoke rose up from the ground. Rain continued to pour down from the sky as bolts of lightning frequently came down from the sky. The cracks in the earth around Entei's feet continued to expand at an alarming rate, until they were going as far as Mandus could see. From within the cracks small flames and many embers spewed out and illuminated the forest, along with adding a smoke effect to the already chaotic battleground.

"Brace yourself mortal!" Entei roared as the flames on his back rose in size, sending embers everywhere. "Bare witness to the true power of a God!"

Mandus readied himself for an attack from the two amped up Legendaries. Raikou was the first to move, but Mandus didn't even see the attack as the Legendary just flashed in front of him with a loud crackle of lightning and left three bloody streaks down his chest. Mandus tried to jump back to safety, but Raikou continued to flash in front of him, each time leaving three more bloody streaks on his body.

Entei came in from the side as a blazing ball of fire that distorted the air around him. In a desperate attempt not to die, Mandus avoided the charging beast. As Entei ran past Mandus, the ground around him was burned up to a charcoal, even the trees were being scorched, and the only thing keeping this forest from setting fire was the pouring rain.

Just as Mandus finished dodging Entei's attack, Raikou came again and tackled into Mandus. Mandus managed to take most of the blow with his arms, but the force of the attack sent him flying into a tree, leaving an indent of his form. Mandus coughed up his own blood as he fell to his rear. Blood poured from the many wounds covering Mandus's body, and the lucario knew he was going to bleed out at any moment if this continued.

Just as Mandus tried standing back up, Raikou flashed in front of Mandus again and swiped his claws downward at Mandus's face. Blood splattered into the air as Mandus let out a loud yell and covered his left eye with his hand. Mandus didn't waste a single second getting back to his feet and getting some distance between him and the Legendaries, but his strength was fast to dwindle and he fell to his knees.

"Looks like he's all out of energy," Entei laughed as he began to calmly walk towards Mandus.

Mandus remained on his knees as he clenched the giant gash that travelled down his face, and through his left eye.

"You've endured enough pain Lucario, consider this an act of mercy to you, a release from your suffering."

Mandus glared at the Legendaries with his one remaining eye. "This pain is nothing," Mandus snapped as he tried to stand up, but fell back to his knees and had to catch himself with his hand. But Mandus looked up with a flame of newfound energy in his eye, one that didn't show a single sign of giving up. "True pain is more than being torn to pieces. True pain is the pain of having everyone around you die, true pain is hurting those you love, true pain is losing everything that defined who you were!"

"What are you rambling about?" Entei laughed as he smacked Mandus with his paw and sent the Lucario tumbling to the ground.

Mandus rolled onto his stomach and began to push himself up, while panting. "Very few could say they've experienced what I have, yet I can only name one in this whole world besides me..." Mandus quietly spoke as his blood mixed in with the rain. "I'm no longer even a normal lucario, my very body has been tampered with. let me show you what I have become, Legendary beasts, let me show you what you've brought upon yourselves," Mandus spoke as a resolved smile formed on his face.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Heh heh, I've been really looking forward to writing this battle for quite sometime. I'd have to say though, if three Legendary beasts came at me at once I'd probably just lay down on the ground and just let them get it over with... Also, don't forget that I'm always open to criticism.

Special thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter.

**Question:** Do you think Crimson will manage to beat the three Legendary beasts and Xerneas?


	109. White Aura

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 109: White Aura**

* * *

Heavy breathing ensued through an empty room as a riolu sat with his arms chained to the back of a chair. Hoarse breaths came from his mouth as he struggled to breath with the blood that was dripping from the empty sockets of where a few of his teeth used to be. The riolu attempted to pull on the chains that bound him, but his bones ached too much to try after many previous attempts. Scarred fur and ripped skin on his wrists showed it. A dim light above the riolu gently swayed back and forth as it flickered off for a moment every few seconds. Many gashes and other injures covered the riolu, along with a few claws that had been recently yanked out from his hands.

A steel door opened at the end of the room and a large man entered. The pokemon's head snapped upward as his eyes widened in fear at the sight of the human that towered over him. By his side was a female espeon with fur that was fading to white from age. The human wore black all around his body, and had a trench coat on that held many tools. The humans face was rather boney, while he lacked any hair on the top of his head he did manage to grow a beard that went down a few inches.

"Still awake, are you?" the human spoke in a deep voice as he kneeled down in front of the riolu. The pokemon only met eyes with him for less than a second, before he clenched his eyes shut and flinched as far away as possible. The human scowled as he reached out and tightly grabbed the riolu by the jaw and forced him to meet eyes.

"You look at me when I'm talking, little pokemon." The riolu's eyes dialated as the human continued to hold him. After a few seconds, the his grip released and he said "Last night our soldiers moved in towards the location you mentioned, most of your comrades died quickly, some didn't even see the attack coming."

The riolu gnashed his teeth together and let out a whimper as he tried to look away, but the human grabbed him by the jaw once again and forced eye contact between the two. "You're a traitor to your own kind now. I suggest you remember that. There is no going back from the coward's path you've chosen."

The human released the riolu as he stood up to his feet and turned towards the door. "In twelve hours, you'll be transferred to another facility, there we'll provide you a chance for a new beginning under our terms. Of course, you can make this much harder on yourself and resist." The human began to walk towards the door as the espeon followed behind him.

"Hey!" The riolu called at him. "We had a deal! My friends, what did you do to them?!"

The stone on the espeon's head emitted a small light as she translated the pokemon speech to the human.

"The zorua and absol are alive, you have my word, they won't suffer as long as they tell us what we want," the human answered as he went out the door he came from, and the door slammed behind him, leaving the riolu in silence.

* * *

**Present time**

Blood poured down onto the ground as Mandus used a tree to slowly pull himself off the ground. The lucario's muscles and wounds burned with a pulsing pain. When Mandus managed to stand he had to prop a hand on the tree to keep himself from collapsing. Both Entei and Raikou swapped glances, before they returned their gaze to the dying lucario.

"Foolish mortal, dying so pathetically," Entei snorted. "Should have taken your chance to run, at least then you would have had a chance."

Mandus's muscles shook in exhaustion as he removed his body weight from the tree and stood on his own. Mandus fell forward and barely managed to catch himself and retain his balance.

"It's not happening," Mandus barely managed to speak, "I won't cower away." Mandus rose up both of his hands and pressed his palms together as if he was praying. "I refuse to ever back down from my enemy again." Just as Mandus finished his sentence, a black and white aura flared up around his person. The powerful energy burned around the lucario like a smoldering flame, and with each passing moment, the aura grew larger in size and began to push the dirt around the lucario away forming a crater.

"I don't like this, something is different about this aura," Raikou commented as the fur on the of his neck stood up.

Entei sneered at the sight of the lucario, "The aura feels just like Mew's, although it's an entirely different force at the same time. How peculiar."

The aura around Mandus continued to grow in size and the lucario became nothing but a shadow in the mass of blinding aura to the Legendaries, until all of the energy imploded towards the lucario. As the energy sank into Mandus, his blue fur faded to a snow white color. Mandus's eyes opened, revealing two red eyes that burned with power.

The sneer on Entei grew as he took in the transformed mega lucario. "I had my suspicions about you lucario. The real question though is who committed the taboo of bringing an abomination like you into this world."

Mandus held up his paw and stared at his changed fur color. "My birth was no taboo, this evolutionary state was something I acquired at a young age when I was a naive. Also a result of being neglected by the gods I once looked to for protection."

"Liar," Raikou sharply rose his voice, "To think someone was foolish enough to let this happen again!" Raikou disappeared in a flash, and came as a bolt of lightning towards Mandus. Mandus extended out his hand just as Raikou appeared in front of him and slammed his palm into his forehead. The ground near Raikou's feet split apart as the beast flew back almost as fast as he came at Mandus and didn't come to a stop until he took down a tree in his flight.

"This may be interesting yet," Entei laughed as he crouched low towards the ground, and sprang towards Mandus, leaving an indent of his feet. As he soared through the air towards Mandus. Just as Entei reached the peak of his jump. he opened his maw and a tower of flames extended towards Mandus. In a white blur, Mandus ran from the attack. The ground exploded upon contact with the flames, and as Mandus came to a stop, he stumbled to the ground from not being able to control his speed. Almost as quickly as he fell, Mandus pushed himself off the ground and flew into the air and landed on his feet.

"Very interesting," Entei commented. "It seems like the others who were like you, you inherited the raw power of a Legendary. Tell me, is the white espeon like you as well?"

"I don't owe you an explanation," Mandus responded as he dashed towards Entei. While charging Entei, a bolt of lightning came from his side, but Mandus flipped over it with ease and continued towards Entei.

"If you won't answer me, then you can burn like the rest of them," Entei snarled with anger as the flames on his back grew in size.

All three of the Zylens panted hard with hoarse breaths as they all dodged the unending onslaught from Suicune. Suicune's body dematerialized into the water that drenched the battlefield, and she'd appeared behind one of the three Zylen's.

"Oh shi-" The zoroark yelled as he turned. The Legendary lunged towards the zoroark and clamped her teeth down on his neck. The zoroark yelled in pain as he tried to open her jaw up with his hands, but the force only increased until a loud snap echoed through the air. The zoroark's limbs fell limp as his body flared a bright pink and faded away.

"Troublesome illusions," Suicune muttered as she turned into a liquid and fell to the ground.

"Crud, this isn't good," one of the zoroarks shouted as he jumped onto a tree and climbed up. In mid climb, Suicune came out from the side of the tree and tackled the dark type off. The bipedal fox let out a loud yell when he landed on his back on the ground. Suicune fell from the air and landed full force on Zylen. All the air was pushed out of the fox's body as his body flared a bright color and he disappeared.

"And that just leaves you," Suicune glared out of the corner of her eye towards the last zoroark.

"Don't think I'm finished yet!" Zylen yelled as he shapeshifted into a luxray. Suicune sank into the ground again and got ready to make her next attack. Zylen's eyes burned with a golden light as he scanned the area. With the eyes of a luxray, he was able to spot things most pokemon couldn't, even a pokemon with similar powers to a vaporeon wouldn't be invisible.

Zylen turned in all directions until he set his eyes on a specific spot, "Found you," he excitedly stated as electricity circulated through his fur and he shot a bolt of lightning. Suicune's body began to reform into its solid state just as the bolt of light neared her. The Legendaries eyes grew wide just before her whole body lit up with electricity. Suicune screamed loudly as she flailed around, but unlike before she kept her ground this time.

"You damned mortal, I'll obliterate every trace of you!" she screamed as her eyes clamped shut and she struggled to stand.

Zylen smirked at the sight of his progress in the battle as a cocky fire burned in his ego, "God or no god, you still bleed like the rest of us, and lightning seems to have its effects." More electricity ran through Zylen's fur as he shot another bolt towards the Legendary.

"I won't let you win!" Suicune screamed as she jumped into the air and avoided the bolt. In a quick blur the legendary rocketed towards the ground. Zylen evaded to the side just as the Legendary splashed into the ground and went to her liquid state. Zylen scanned the area all around him, but found nothing. Then, he realized where she was, his eyes beamed down just in time to see Suicune emerging from the ground. Her mouth opened wide as she bit down on the luxray's side and forced him back to his zoroark form. Zylen flew back from the Legendary and smacked down onto the muddy ground. The dark type panted heavily as he gripped the large section of flesh missing in his side.

"Shit, I really screwed up," Zylen cringed as blood seeped from the wound. Suicune spat a chunk of the zoroark's flesh out of her mouth as walked towards him with a loud growl.

"Don't do this," Zylen pleaded as he flipped onto his stomach and tried to pull himself away, but a firm paw on his back kept him in place.

"That's not going to happen," Suicune snarled at him as her claws ripped into his back.

"Please, I just did this because I needed the money, if you show mercy I'll not say a word to anyone!" Suicune responded to the zoroark's pleads with silence as she lowered her maw towards the back of his neck. Zylen felt her teeth break his skin and he began to fight harder to break free. "For the love of arceus don-" Zylens pleads were silenced by the sound of bones snapping. The zoroark laid on his stomach motionless as Suicune licked the blood off her teeth.

"I really wish it could have ended differently zoroark, but I have no choice in the matter," Suicune spoke to the dead body. Just as Suicune was getting ready to seek out her comrades, the zoroark's body exploded in a bright pink light and no trace of his existence was left.

"Wait!" Suicune yelled in shock, "Don't tell me!"

"Crap, my last illusion is down..." Zylen whispered as he ran through the forest on all fours. "Definitely made the right choice on not fighting her," the zoroark laughed to himself. "Now, I just need to find my way out of here."

Zylen came to a dead halt as a bright light off in the distance temporarily blinded him. The zoroark shielded his eyes with both his arms, before a loud explosion went off that was followed by an intense shock wave that forced the zoroark to be pushed back. A white blur moved across Zylen's squinted sight and the zoroark quickly snapped his sight towards whatever it was he saw. Zylen's eyes followed a trail in the dirt that led to a strange white and black bipedal pokemon, one that resembled a lucario.

"M-Mandus?" Zylen called out towards the panting lucario as he pulled his feet out of the ground and walked back towards the way he was thrown. Mandus didn't speak a word to Zylen as he walked past him. "Hey, What's going on, what happened to your fur-"

"Leave," Mandus demanded.

"Yeah, I was in the middle of doing that, but if you have half a brain you'll turn tail and run too."

Mandus's fists tightened as a white aura flared up around his body, "Not until they pay," Mandus growled, "Not until I have vengeance!" Mandus finished just as a spark appeared in front of him, and with a loud boom Raikou teleported in front of him. The Legendary mauled his claw downward towards Mandus, and the lucario caught it with both of his hands, and threw the mighty beast off of him, and then lunged forward with his fist cocked back. Mandus and Raikou both moved in a blur that Zylen couldn't even comprehend. All around Zylen trees exploded into pieces from the attacks, until a tower of flames came towards all of them.

"Arceus!" Zylen yelled as he dove to the side and felt the intense wave of heat passing by. Smoke began to rise from the destruction as Zylen turned back to see that their was a giant path cleared out from the flames.

The Legendary Entei joined the battle going on around the zoroark and repeatedly shot towers of flames at the lucario while evading Raikou at the same time. Zylen's body trembled at the sight of all the destruction, his mind couldn't comprehend the power that the three pokemon had. As the two opposing teams collided, Zylen pushed himself off the ground and began to ponder an exit strategy. He knew if he wasn't careful he'd be killed in the chaos, and he knew he was already blessed by the fact that neither legendary paid him any attention.

As Mandus continued to dodge Raikou, he got an opening and landed a solid kick in the side of his neck. For a moment the two froze as the force created what sounded like a gunshot, and right after the ground split near Raikou and the Legendary went flying. An explosion from the impact could be heard off in the distance, and just as the explosion went off Mandus shot off like a bullet towards Entei.

"Burn!" Entei rose his voice as the flame on his back grew in size. Soon the Legendaries entire body was consumed in flames. In what was a split second, Mandus slid to a stop so fast he tousled to the ground and went past the Legendary just as the flames around him exploded in a blinding white light. Zylen only managed to catch a peek at what was going on for a second before he was forced to turn away and seek cover behind a tree. In an instant everything near Entei was scorched to nothing, leaving nothing but burning cinder on the ground.

A smirk formed on Entei's face as he turned around to face Mandus who was lying on the ground, just barely out of the vicinity of the burned area.

"Barely survived that one lucario. The real challenge here isn't killing you actually," Entei snorted as he began to walk towards the injured lucario. "I find more challenge in not destroying everything around me. My flames are the flames of Hell, and if I truly desired too I could produce a flame that would annihilate this entire forest in an instant."

With very little strength, Mandus looked up towards Entei. Mandus extended his left arm outward and used it to push up, but the instant pressure was applied an intense sting stopped him. Mandus froze at the sight of his left arm, all the skin on it was burned off, and what flesh he had was severely burned.

"Facing me was the equivalence of playing with fire, it was only a matter of time until you got hurt, and now here you are, on the brink of oblivion."

Mandus let out a loud moan of pain as he used his other arm to pull himself to his knees. The rain that poured down from the sky managed to sooth the severe burns on Mandus's arms, but at the same time stung with with the force from each rain drop.

"You fought hard lucario, you have a gift much stronger than any pokemon. You almost even compared to an umbreon named Synn from long ago. Now, I'll ask one last time mortal, who committed the taboo, I'm not stupid, I know full well how pokemon like yourself get divine power. Answer, or I'll slowly burn you till you'll beg to answer me."

"I refuse to answer anything you say," Mandus feebly answered as his fur began to fade back to its original blue color.

"Hmmf, your fur is changing back, and I've never seen a pokemon that can choose when to have divine powers, but I know that the moment you revert back all the pains and injuries will hit you at once. If you were in pain before, the worst is yet to come."

"I'm not done yet..." Mandus panted out as his body completely went back to its normal color, and then his body brightly shined for a moment, before he turned back into a normal lucario. All at once, pain entered Mandus's body. All the shattered bones, lacerated flesh, and burns set in all at once. The lucario let out a loud cry as he fell to the ground.

Zylen watched this scene roll out from behind a tree. It was clear to him that if he didn't do something now Mandus was going to die.

"Damnit, I can't watch this happen," Zylen yelled at himself. "I can do this, I know I can," Zylen pepped talked himself as he dashed towards the Legendary. As Zylen ran, Entei turned towards him. Just as he did, a magenta light light surrounded the area near Zylen, and two other zoroarks spawned behind him. "Please let this work," Zylen prayed as Entei opened his mouth for an attack. The two clones around Zylen both shapeshifted into different pokemon, a greninja and a vaporeon. The real Zylen readied himself just as Entei released flamethrower at them. Both clones shot a hydro pump in unison, while the real Zylen ran out of the way. Steam filled the air as the two attacks collided, but with a moment the two water types were overwhelmed and annihilated. Zylen ran through the thick mist towards Mandus, and once he reached the lucario he picked him up in his arms and held him over his shoulder. Mandus let out a loud grunt of pain as Zylen carried him off through the thick steam.

"We... We can't leave, we can still wi-"

"Oh just shut up!" Zylen snapped at Mandus, "I can touch you and you'd die in your state. You're going to die very fast if you don't get treatment, and their is still the chance you'll die before we get far.

Mandus was about to argue with Zylen, but the pain in his body reminded him that he wasn't invincible. "Alright," the lucario agreed. As Zylen continued to run, a loud howl echoed through the air, one that sounded like it was from Entei. Zylen looked behind him, and saw that no one was pursuing him yet.

"Those howls, they're used as signals most of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if they're regrouping to hunt us down, I'm sure they view you as the biggest threat right now." Mandus didn't respond to Zylen, but the zoroark didn't pry for a response. Knowing that the Legendary beasts were probably hot on his trail, Zylen picked up his pace and continued running with Mandus slung over his shoulder.

* * *

**Point of view Zylen**

Repeatedly, I breathed in and out as my lungs and legs burned from all the running. At this point, the only thing keeping me moving was the adrenaline pumping through my veins. It didn't help that Mandus weighed a lot to be carrying in this situation, if I was to leave him it'd possibly be the difference of life and death, but my conscience would never allow it.

"Arceus, I need a smoke," I complained as one thing offered some relief from all this stress, but stopping this early wasn't an option.

Off in the distance the loud sound of thunder boomed through the air, shattering the constant sound of rain pouring down. Luckily, the rain would offer some cover in the night, and hopefully it'd wash my trail away, but if the beasts were anything comparable to a mightyena then I'd be screwed.

After I covered a bit more ground, I chose to take a minute to repose. I lifted Mandus off my shoulder and leaned him against a tree. The lucario was unconscious, but his faint grunts showed that he was still kicking. Taking my chance, I reached into my mane for a cigarette. I pulled out the stick and held it up, but to my dismay the cigarette was drenched beyond use.

"My luck," I huffed as I threw the cigarette on the ground. Feeling that I had no other reliefs, I leaned against a tree and slid down to allow myself to recover a bit. 'I can't keep going like this, I'm going to pass out from exhaustion.'

For a moment I allowed myself to close my eyes, despite the shitty conditions I felt as if I could fall asleep right here. Suddenly, the rain pouring down around me ceased and everything fell dead silent. My eyes opened to see it for myself, but instead I found myself in a change of scenery. The support against my back disappeared and I fell flat to the ground in this bizarre place.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" I asked as I looked off into the white void. Feeling that something could happen, I stood to my feet and looked around. Everything here was nothing but a white void, and the ground was like water, and even made ripples as I moved.

"Did the Legendary beasts kill me without me even realizing it? How else would I be here?"

"You're not dead young zoroark."

"Who's there?!" I yelled out as I got into a battle ready stance.

My eyes caught a glimpse of something moving above me, and my eyes panned towards the small creature above me. Slowly levitating down was a small catlike creature with a long tail that slowly swayed back and fourth. The feline stared at me with two blue eyes that glowed like embers coming from a fire... except blue.

"I'll ask again, who are you, and if I'm not dead where am I?" I demanded with urgency.

"You have many question, and I will give you answers young zoroark Zylen."

"You know my name... my real one on top of that," I tensely commented.

"I know many things most don't. The place you stand in resides within my mind, while you were brought here without consent I believe it is in your better interest to adhere to what I am going to say," the feline said. Her voice wasn't hostile nor demanding, but I still kept my guard up. "It seems you're unfamiliar with me Zoroark Zylen, perhaps you're familiar with the ancestor of all pokemon?"

"Mew..." I whispered below my breath.

A smile formed on her face, "Good, it pleases me to know I won't have to waste valuable time on introductions. Right now time is potent after all. Now then, I won't waste our time, I have a proposition for you to hear."

"The last proposition I heard from a Legendary got me in this situation..."

"And I'm going to get you out of this situation, I just ask one thing of you, Zoroark Zylen," the Legendary spoke. Talking to Mew felt strange, she was far less condescending than the other Legendaries I saw.

"Alright, I'm listening. Dying isn't really on the top of my list right now."

The Legendary smiled, "Excellent. Right now you're being pursued by the three Legendary beasts. The three beasts are all experts at tracking, in these conditions you'll be found in less than ten minutes, and in a straight up fight you'll die."

"Great..." I scowled.

"It's not looking good for you, unless someone more powerful was to intervene."

"You'd do that... but why for me?"

"That lucario you're carrying, it's very important he doesn't die. In exchange for you keeping Mandus alive until he recovers, I will make sure the Legendary beasts don't find you. They may be experts at tracking, but with my powers I can throw them off without them realizing what's going on."

"So all I have to do is keep Mandus safe, you'll get me through this?"

"Essentially," Mew nodded. "You don't have long to decide though, is it a deal?"

"Easily a yes. I have to ask though, why do you care about Mandus's safety?"

Mew's smile turned to a straight face, "Doesn't concern you. The final terms of the deal are that I'll keep you alive, and in exchange you will get Mandus to safety and keep him alive, you'll also keep silent about my existence, and lastly you will not pursue the white espeon Vincent any further."

"Wait, you know about him?" I urgently asked. "If so, what's the deal with him?"

"Enough questions Zoroark Zylen, While I understand you're confused and have questions, I will not answer. Nurse Mandus back to good health, and if you know what's good for you you'll keep your distance."

I hated the fact that this Legendary was making me her puppet, but I knew my hands were tied. "Alright, just do your thing and I'll fulfill my side of the agreement."

"Good, when you awake, run. Don't stop until you're out of this forest. You won't truly be safe until you're somewhere public, somewhere where the Legendaries won't travel. Now go."

Before I could even open my mouth, Everything around me was moving fast and the white void faded to pitch darkness. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the forest getting poured on by rain. I let out a moan as I stood up off the ground, feeling very well rested like I didn't just go through Hell.

"Did that really just happen, or am I losing my mind?" I asked as I glanced at Mandus. Not wanting to waste my opportunity, I grabbed the lucario and did as Mew told me to do, run.

* * *

**Point of View Vincent**

The four of us all panted in exhaustion as Xerneas lied on the ground covered in bloody gashes, burns, and others wounds that would kill any pokemon. Just like all the previous attempts though, her eyes opened after dying and her wounds healed in a matter of seconds.

"How are we going to beat her?" I asked out loud. 'We can keep hitting her and hope she exhausts herself, but that doesn't sound like a reliable plan, we have no idea how long that'll take, on top of that everyone is exhausted.'

"Gahh! Will you stay down, please?!" Merrick piped up. Out of all of us, he'd been the least useful due to the heavy downpour of rain, not that any of us would have predicted this scenario... With these conditions, the quilava could only manage light flame attacks that did almost nothing to Xerneas.

At this rate I knew we only had one chance of taking Xerneas down, and that was using Zygarde. "Guys, we're running out of choices. I'm resorting to our plan B."

"Are you sure that's the only way?" Scarlet asked as her muscles trembled from overworking herself.

"I believe it's our best chance," I answered. Scarlet gave me a nod before jumping back away from Xerneas. Merrick and Kane followed her lead as they cleared away from Xerneas.

"What are you planning now?" Xerneas asked.

"You'll see soon enough," I replied as the gem on my head radiated with light. A few seconds went by of nothing but rainfall, but then a crack formed in the ground, and then the ground exploded as a mighty serpent god emerged from the ground and let out a loud roar.

"So this was your fate, Zygarde," Xerneas said as she stared at the serpent with a hint of sadness in her voice, "I'm truly sorry."

"Kick her ass Vincent!" Merrick yelled from the sidelines of the battle that was about to take place.

Today I was going to truly test the limits of Zygarde with Legendary versus Legendary. The gem on my head radiated even more until the ground around me was illuminated with red.

Xerneas continued to stare at Zygarde with a pitiful glare, while Zygarde remained an emotionless puppet to my will.

"Forgive me for this, Zygarde," Xerneas whispered as the colorful lights on her antlers glowed more brilliantly than before, blinding everyone around her.

The first one to make a move was Xerneas, the chital created a thick fog in the forest the lowered visibility significantly. I manipulated Zygarde to slither towards Xerneas and charge up his dragon pulse attack. The serpent shot a purple beam aimlessly through the fog that sliced trees in half. Xerneas faded into the mist as the attack neared, and appeared behind the serpent. seeing the fight from my perspective, I saw Xerneas approaching from behind, and as the chital approached Zygarde from behind, I made the serpent move in a circle and slam his tail into Xerneas. The chital let out a cry as she fell to the ground. Then in a quick motion, Zygarde coiled his body once around Xerneas. The chital's movement was restricted as the serpent tightened his muscles around her and sunk his teeth in her for grip.

"Scarlet, Kane!" I yelled out. On command, both Scarlet and Kane came out from behind there cover and dashed towards the immobile Legendary. Both pokemon rammed their blades into the open spots on Xerneas torso. The fairy type let out a loud cry, before she fell unconscious again.

The problem with taking control of her mind, I couldn't actually do it while she was dead, her body had to resurrect for her mind to be accessible, but when she was her body healed too fast for me to get a edge on her mind. If that was the case then, I'd have to find a way to keep her weak long enough for me to actually capture her head, and I think with Zygarde I'd have a way to do it.

"Scarlet, Kane, move back!" I yelled at the two, and the responded in an instant and moved away from Xerneas. The gem on my head radiated brighter as I tapped even deeper into Zygarde's abilities. The ground near the two Legendaries cracked as rocks began to levitate up into the air and surround the two.

My head began to throb and my brain felt as if it was going to burst any moment. My eyes clenched shut as I tried to keep my concentration. Within moments, the ground split into pieces and the two Legendaries lifted up into the air with hundreds of rocks of all different sizes levitating around them.

"Please work," I prayed as I made Zygarde let Xerneas go and quickly slither off the rock that was levitating in the air. By the time Xerneas got to her feet it was too late, my attack was in motion. All the rocks levitating around the chital in every direction went towards her like she was a rock magnet. Xerneas tried to move as rocks smashed into her body, and soon the larger rocks that were around half her size smashed into her, completely encasing her in a rock prison. Within seconds Xerneas was lost in the rocks that trapped her, and a sphere of rocks imprisoned her with very few air holes. Using Zygarde's powers, I made the rocks around her crush her body just enough to slowly suffocate her, but not enough to actually kill her.

"Please work," I said again as I readied myself to capture her mind. I concentrated with everything I had as I felt the Legendary's mind weakening enough for my opening. Using what little mind power I had left, I began the process. Almost immediately I felt my mind reach its limit. I let out a loud grunt as my mind felt as if it was on fire. Xerneas mind resisted my influence as I tried to take her free will away.

The battle of our two minds continued on for around one minute, until Xerneas weakened enough and the capture was a success. My breaths became short as I struggled to breath, and my brain began to pulse.

"Vincent?!" a voice called out as I fell to the ground. "Vincent?!" the voice called again as two arms wrapped around me and lifted me up. My vision began to darken as I looked up to see the shape of a greninja.

"I'll... I'll be alright," I spoke in a faint whisper.

"Are you going to be able to control them, we just need to extract them from this forest," Scarlet asked. I weakly nodded as I looked towards the two Legendaries in the ruins of the area around them. Using Zygarde's power, I removed the rocks that surrounded Xerneas. As all the rocks fell to the ground, the chital did the same.

Doing what little I could with the two Legendaries, I moved Zygarde first. Having two powerful pokemon under my influence felt so strange, controlling both at the same time was going to prove a challenge.

Using my mind, I commanded Zygarde to burrow underground and make us a tunnel so we could safely exit the battle area.

"Let's go," I told everyone as Scarlet held me.

"What about Mandus?" Scarlet asked.

"Let's just focus on extracting Xerneas, it's what Mandus would want," I responded to Scarlet. "Once we extract her we can come back for Mandus.

"Alright, you're weak though, so I'll carry you so we can move as quickly as possible. I gave a weak nod in agreement and Scarlet jumped down the tunnel Zygarde created.

* * *

**Third person point of view**

Off in the distance the roars of the Legendary beasts could be heard as they hunted for Mandus. Silently waiting in the shadows the whole time unnoticed by anyone was a severely scarred jolteon with red eyes. He watched the tunnel Crimson left through for a moment, and then turned away into the darkness of the night.

"The path is clear for Mandus," a voice spoke from above the jolteon.

"Seems Crimson managed to capture Xerneas, in other words I didn't have to step in. Now all we have to do is wait," the pokemon known as Skull Face said.

"It will take some time for Crimson to learn where Yveltal actually is, I'm sure we'll have to pull a lot of strings to actually get things to work out without getting our hands dirty," Mew stated.

"In the meantime, I'll need to find Ryder and finish what I started. Crimson interrupted last time without realising the damage that could be done to Ryder's mind. I can only imagine what kind of effects he is having in his head now... So the sooner we find him the better."

"I've been using my connections to search for him, but since that night in Shalour he's been unseen by anybody, hardly any traces even remain of where he went either."

"Hmmm, I'd doubt he disappeared like that without help. Either way, I'll look into it myself."

"Do as you please, we'll have some time before we can continue the final steps to our plan."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Alrighty, managed to get this one done. Heh, this chapter ended up taking longer than usual due to a game I've been waiting for, for 3 years came out and I wanted to play it nonstop XD. So sorry it took a bit longer than usual :/ On an even worse not for you guys, I'm going on another hiatus after next chapter... Yeah, after next chapter will be a good stop to take a break for a month or two. I'll add more info on that next chapter.

Thanks to genericgamer207 for putting in some hard work on this chapter. For some reason my writing skills decided to flat line me at some parts D:

**Question:** Do you think Mew is good or bad?


	110. The Impending Era

**Book II: Impending twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 110: The impending Era**

* * *

As far as the eye could see a great forest rested below a range of mountains that reached out towards the vast heavens. The sky was twilight, leaving the sky with a complexion of many bright oranges mixing in brilliantly with the cool blue sky. On the edge of a cliff, two friends sat together, both at the peak of their youth and everything ahead of them.

A small blue furred pokemon sat with his legs hanging from the cliff as he stared off towards the twilight with a freshly picked apple firmly in his hand. Accompanying the young riolu was a white four legged creature that was only one year shy of the fighting type's age. Both sat in silence watching over the forest as the twilight darkened over the mountains.

"You're quiet today," the riolu carelessly broke the silence, before biting into his apple and slowly chewed it.

"Oh, sorry," the absol blurted out as she awoke from her pensive state. "I've just been thinking a lot, that's all."

The riolu turned towards the absol and gave her a long stare, "Daaaaaawn. What's on your mind?" the riolu smiled.

The absol shyly turned away "Nothing…"

The riolu's smile turned to a fake frown, "You literally just said you were thinking," the riolu playfully rose his voice as he stood up from the edge of the cliff.

"Well…" Dawn started nervously as she averted her stare from the riolu, "Agghh, I'm not ready to tell anyone yet!" she squealed in embarrassment.

The riolu's eyes widened as he nearly jumped up in shock, "Dawn, do you have a crush on-" before the riolu could even finish his sentence the absol punched her paw into the riolu's gut, causing him to fall to his knees with a cry of pain. "Arceus, why did you just-" the riolu coughed as he looked up towards the absol who was quietly laughing to herself.

"I really didn't mean to hit you that hard," She said while trying to control her laugh.

"Yeah, well you did," the riolu grunted as he slowly got up off the ground..

"Alright, the truth then?" Dawn nervously smiled, "Just promise to keep quiet, kay?"

"Sure," the blue jackal agreed.

Dawn inhaled a deep breath, "I've decided I'm leaving," Dawn shyly told the riolu. The young fighting type stopped breathing for a moment and stared at Dawn in a frozen state as if his heart stopped beating.

"L-Leaving?"

"Yeah," Dawn confirmed.

"Why? You have so much here, family, friends, a home, memories, and what about me. You're my best friend, I don't know what to do without you," the riolu frantically spoke as his throat began to swell up from the inside, making it hard to produce proper sentences.

"Mandus, it's a big world out there, I've had twelve years here, I've gotten an education, I met you, but something inside me yearns for much more. Like a voice is whispering in my ear, telling me that there is so much more to this world, so much more to enjoy."

"Yeah but, what about your family and me?" Mandus quietly asked with disappointment.

"I don't know honestly… I mean I will come back to visit from time to time, I can promise that. You know, I never said you couldn't come with me though. I honestly think the idea sounds fun." Dawn laughed to herself from the thought. The idea of the two learning about the world just sounded too perfect in Dawn's mind.

Mandus flinched back from the suggestion as he sputtered words out of him mouth, "Wha- I can't leave everything behind, I feel attached to this place, it's my home!" .

"I guess it really depends on your definition of home, in my opinion home is where you choose to make it, while it may not have memories it should be somewhere you're happy, and that's what I want to find."

"Are you implying you're not happy?" Mandus cocked his head to the side as he casted a curious glare towards her.

"No, I am happy, I just don't feel content here is all… If that even makes sense. But, if you're happy then please stay, I just have to do this for myself."

"When are you leaving, I mean we still have time together, right?"

"Winter is around the corner, I figured I'd wait for that to pass. Which means I get to start my journey during my favorite season," Dawn smiled.

Mandus's head lowered towards the ground as he tried to take in the fact he was about to lose his best friend, the one person he truly trusted with his feelings.

"Now don't go feeling sad." Mandus was about to reply, but he was silenced by Dawn nuzzling up against his chest. The absol gently rested her head on the riolu's shoulder. "I know this probably isn't what you want to hear right now, but I know you'll be fine without me. Who knows, maybe one day you'll feel what I feel and you can join me."

Mandus felt himself choking up from this inside as he wrapped his arms around Dawn's neck and held her as if he was never going to let go. In the comfort of the moment, Mandus's eyes slowly slid shut. Dawn wrapped her neck around Mandus's neck and the two embraced each other like family. As the moment between the two continued on, Mandus felt his arm go through Dawn as if she was a phantom. The riolu's eyes shot open as he saw that his friend was gone.

"Dawn…?" Mandus whispered as he frantically turned to look around, but as his eyes went over the cliff he completely pushed Dawn out of his mind. "Arceus," was all he managed to get out as he stared off towards the burning fires that were scattered all throughout the place he called home. Crackles similar to thunder echoed through the air, as a few screams could be heard.

"What's… What's going on!?" Mandus yelled as he quickly spun around to run, but froze at the body lying in front of him.

"D-Dawn?!" he cried out as he saw the absol lying in front of him, gashes covering her entire body. Her head just barely moved to meet eyes with him.

"M-Mandus," was all she managed to say, before her body fell limp on the rock ground.

"No-no-no-no, Arceus don't let this happen! This can't be happening!" the riolu screamed at the top of his lungs as he closed his eyes and grasped his head in tears.

* * *

The fully grown lucario let out a hard breath as his eyes shot open and a blinding light pierced his eyes. The fighting type squinted as his eyes slowly adjusted, until he could make out the white ceiling above him with a bright light blinding him.

"You're awake," a voice excitedly spoke from Mandus's side. The lucario barely turned his head to make out a large figure standing over his bed with two gleaming blue eyes.

"Whe-" Mandus began, before he was interrupted by his own coughs. The lucario finished coughing and asked his question, "Where am I?"

"Where do you think? We're at a pokecenter in Snowbelle."

In an instant all the memories came flashing back to Mandus, the hunt for Xerneas, the battle with the Legendary beasts, and the wounds that were inflicted on him. "Where are the others?"

"Shh, relax. I'll catch you up to speed on what happened, just take it easy. You honestly barely pulled through your injuries," Zylen gently spoke. "After you and I ran, I managed to shake the Legendary beasts, it was tough but somehow they didn't catch us. You were in bad shape though, so I had no choice but to bring you here, your condition was far beyond my medical skills so we really had no choice. As for the others, I honestly don't know, I'm worried if I go search for them I'll be attacked."

Mandus remained silent as he took in the info. Zylen moved back from the lucario and gave him some breathing room.

"Your injuries were pretty rough. Your collarbone was crushed, I believe they had to replace the bone with something else. Your rib cage was also pretty banged up, about four broken. You received a blood transfusion, and most of your wounds are stitched up and will heal… except two."

Mandus turned towards the zoroark and waited for an answer. "Your eye… the wound they left on it will never heal, you're permanently blind in your left eye." At that moment Mandus noticed the pressure from the bandages over his eye and the lack of vision. Mandus began to raise his left arm to feel it, but before he could he felt a strong sting burn in his entire limb. The lucario let out a loud yell as he bit down and looked at his bandaged arm.

"That's the other wound…" Zylen began. "You have severe burns all over, most won't fully heal, but your arm is by far the worse. You barely got to keep it according to the doctor, just a bit worse and they would have amputated it… I didn't hear much on how it'd heal though, but I can guarantee you'll lose some of your nerve functions in the arm."

Mandus allowed his head to lean back on the pillow and he just gazed up towards the ceiling in complete silence. Zylen watched the lucario for a moment and came to the conclusion that he probably wasn't in the mood for company.

"I'll give you some space, just promise you won't do anything to further hurt yourself?" Zylen asked, but Mandus remained silent. The zoroark exhaled a long breath as he exited the room.

**Four days later**

"Still no sign of any of them," Zylen told Mandus as the lucario lied in his bed. "I've asked a number of pokemon and I even tried tracking them down myself, but nothing."

Silence came from Mandus as he stared up at the ceiling, almost as if he was an empty vessel with no soul.

Zylen crossed his arms as his patience grew thin. Despite the deal with Mew, he still was getting annoyed with Mandus's somber mood. "I'll be back later with some dinner, just tell the nurse if you need anything.

Zylen left Mandus to himself and went out into the hall for some privacy. The dark type turned in both directions down the hall to make sure he was alone. Once he was sure he was alone he reached into his mane and grabbed a cellphone. He flipped the device open and scowled at the sight of no missed calls or messages from Annie.

"Dammit Annie, call me already. We need to talk." Zylen growled as he snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his mane for storage.

It was due to some Genesis base thing that calls were only able to go out and not come in. Zylen always found this to be annoying, especially when he needed to talk to Annie about things.

**One week later**

Zylen let out a tired yawn as he opened the door to Mandus's room. At this point the zoroark was burnt out from babysitting the lucario day and night, and flat out furious towards Annie for dead silence. When in Mandus's room, the zoroark saw that the lucario was wide awake, despite it being late at night.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Zylen questioned with a scowl.

"I've had enough rest," Mandus bitterly replied.

"You sure about that? You still look damn near dead in my eyes." Mandus lightly growled from the remark, but instead choose to prove himself by pulling himself out of his bed.

"Hey, take it easy, that wasn't a challenge!" Zylen snapped as the lucario's feet touched down on the floor and he stood up on his own. His form was poor, and Zylen could easily see the pain in his expression.

"Sit back down, you're not ready, I can see your muscles quivering from the pain."

Mandus growled at the zoroark as he took his first step forward, but Zylen quickly grabbed the lucario's right arm firmly.

"Sit down, you're getting there but tonight is not the night," Zylen spoke sharply. Mandus opened his mouth to respond, but before any words could leave someone knocked on the door to their room.

"Not now nurse!" Zylen snapped, but the door opened regardless, revealing someone who was not a nurse.

"Whatever you want I really don't care, get out," Zylen snapped at a taller man in a thick black winter coat with fur lined around the hood that casted a shadow over his face. The older human removed his hood, revealing a middle aged man with a well trimmed beard and a facial scar that appeared to be from some kind of accident. Following in behind the human was a well aged zorua with graying fur.

Mandus's eyes grew wide as he stared at the two that were standing in front of him.

"Now why would I leave when I came all this way?" the human spoke. Zylen's heart nearly stopped beating from the shock of having a human talk back to him.

Mandus's right fist tightened as a aura began to flare around his body, "Ghost, Rhys," he hissed at the human and the zorua.

"Mandus, it's been a while," the zorua stated nonchalantly.

"Wait, you know these two, and how the Hell did he understand me?!"

Mandus took a step forward as he cocked his good fist back and all the aura around his body channeled into his fist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ghost told Mandus. The lucario paused in mid attack and watched the human with an untrusting glare. Ghost reached into his pocket and withdrew a photo. "Maybe you'll be more obedient after this." The human handed Zylen a picture to pass off to Mandus. The zoroark glanced at the photo and nearly dropped it in shock.

"Go on, show him," The human ordered.

Hesitantly, Zylen handed Mandus the photo and the lucario held it with his one good hand. The lucario stared at the photo of his comrades being held hostage by armed guards. Mandus's grip on the photo tightened, but then he dropped the photo and it slowly fell to the ground.

"One of them is missing," Mandus stated, "Kane, what'd you do to him?" Mandus demanded.

"Nothing," a deep raspy voice spoke from outside the room. Stepping into the scene was the black scyther Mandus spoke of. Both Mandus and Zylen paused in utter confusion as the scyther stood before them with his bladed arms crossed.

"You see," Ghost began with an arrogant smile, "From the beginning Kane was with us, he was an agent we inserted into your ranks to spy on you. He executed his role perfectly, leading to the capture of your friends and the two Legendaries we searched for insatiably."

Mandus's glare turned towards the black scyther who appeared unphased by the reveal. "Kane…" Mandus whispered, "We trusted you," Mandus bit his tongue as he tried to control himself for the sake of the others, but he found that his anger was overflowing though his body and soon it'd be impossible to contain his wrath.

"There is much I have to show you," Ghost said as he turned his back towards the group. "Follow me, Mandus," Ghost ordered as he took the lead and exited the room. Kane gave both Zylen and Mandus a head gesture to follow Rhys and Ghost. The two complied and followed behind Ghost and Rhys, while Kane followed from behind. Mandus struggled to keep up with the human's pace, but the rage burning in his chest numbed all feelings in his body that would stop most.

Ghost continued to walk without looking back at the humans, but began to speak, "From the beginning this was just a smaller fragment in a much grander scheme. Genesis has always hunted for the Legendaries, but such peculiar pokemon are rare."

"While the formation of Crimson was something we never anticipated from you, in the end you merely aided us in our own goals. All along the way we watched your every move, holding your hand like a child, making sure you had everything you needed to do our work. Unknowingly, you were our greatest asset, yet also our greatest adversary."

Mandus and Zylen both remained silent as they neared the lobby of the pokecenter. Once they entered the wide open room, they were shocked to see that the entire pokecenter was vacant. Ghost led the group towards the door, where two armed humans opened the dual doors for Ghost and everyone else. A whip of cold air hit the group as flurries of snow entered the pokecenter.

"You'll be in the company of your friends soon enough," Ghost stated as everyone walked out of the pokecenter and onto the dark streets of Snowbelle city.

The group was silent for a minute as they walked through Snowbelle, until Ghost began to speak again. "Mandus, through this quest for revenge you've truly damned yourself. You've provoked the Legendaries, became a criminal, and an enemy of the world. Everybody wants you dead now, and while you were out making enemies of the world, Genesis was pursuing new research. It took much longer than I anticipated, but our finest scientists managed to give birth to a fourth kind of pokemon and a key that will change the world."

Zylen glared at the human and didn't understand a single thing he was saying. "Just what in the Hell are you going on about?"

Ghost chuckled to himself, "I suppose you're completely in the dark about what the three kinds of pokemon are. Regardless, I see no point in explaining to you, this conversation is strictly between me and Mandus. But I do have my reasoning for bringing you along, zoroark." Zylen bit down from the human's response, but kept his mouth shut.

Mandus's response to all this conversation was dead silence. His eyes stared off with a blank stare, not even fixated on his mortal enemy. From time to time Zylen would glance at Mandus and try to piece together what was going through his mind, but the zoroark couldn't figure out a single thing.

"With the dawn of the fourth kind of pokemon coming, Genesis will no longer have a need to hide in the shadows. With the power of pokemon far superior to normal pokemon, Genesis will be an unstoppable force. Our goal is just within our grasps, the only thing that is left is to wait."

The night fell dead silent, before a strong wind blew through the air. Without further words, the group followed Ghost's lead, until he lead them to a helicopter that was parked in the middle of a opening in the city. Ghost was the first to board the military grade helicopter.

"Get on," Kane ordered as held up one of his blades. Mandus turned towards the black scyther with a defiant glare, but did as he was told. Zylen entered in behind them and they both took a seat on a bench across from Ghost and Rhys. Kane on the other hand leaned against the wall as the two soldiers went up front to pilot the helicopter. Within seconds the flying machine's wings came to life and rose up from the ground.

"Very soon, Mandus, close to this very day, your kind will become obsolete in the eyes of man, the fourth kind will be the beginning of a new dawn." Ghost reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangular steel case. "Inside lies the key to the success of this new dawn." Ghost clicked a button and the case slowly cracked open. A smile formed on Ghost's face as he slowly brushed his finger along the contents, before turning it to show Zylen and Mandus.

Both pokemon stared at the large syringe in the case. "It's a new strain of nanites we've been developing for the past decade. Only recently has the project reached perfection, a level where we can truly depend on it."

"What does it do?" Zylen asked.

"Nanites that controls the subconscious of pokemon," Ghost answered as he snapped the case shut and held it with both hands like his own child. "With this strain we can change how any pokemon thinks, we can change their very mind to follow a very specific function, or even trick them into living a lie without even knowing it. Similar to a psychics mind control, but studies have shown many flukes in that method. This method though is immaculate, all test specimens have proven to be under our complete control."

Mandus gnashed his teeth together as he clenched his eyes shut and tightly gripped the edge of the bench. Disgust began to build up in the lucario, all he wanted to do was to violently kill that abomination, Ghost.

"So what's your endgame with this?" Zylen asked, "Why go through all this trouble?"

Ghost mischievously smiled at the zoroark, "You'll see when the time comes, the best surprises are kept for later."

Zylen sat uncomfortably as he stared at the human, there was no questioning his evil intent. Zylen and Mandus both waited in a deep thought, until the helicopter touched down on the ground. Ghost stood up and slid the door to the helicopter open and stepped out.

"Follow me," Ghost ordered the two. Zylen and Mandus both stood and walked out of the helicopter and into the opening of a forest. The area around was heavily fortified with trenches and barricades, giving it the look of a fort.

* * *

**Point of view Zylen**

"Arceus, I feel like he's leading us to a grave dug out for us," I muttered, but just as I finished my comment, a spotlight on a tower turned on, revealing all of Crimson and those that were holding them hostage. In the group of hostages were also the Legendaries. In the middle of the group was Vincent. The espeon panted heavily as blood dripped from his nose and Scarlet had to hold him up. Then in the back of the group, a pokemon forced her way to the front of everyone, revealing herself from the crowd of hostages. In an instant the entire situation just went from bad to absolute Hell in my eyes.

"Annie!" I exclaimed as I took off running towards her, but in seconds all of the humans had their guns pointed at me and all the Genesis pokemon were ready to attack me. I came to a grinding stop as I analyzed the entire situation.

"Zylen don't!" Annie yelled towards me as she tried to pull her cuffed hands from behind her back to free herself, but a sandslash with blue eyes forced her on her knees before she could cause a bigger fuss.

"You bastards, I'll kill all of you!" I snarled. Ghost turned to face me and walked towards me. The human stood and stared at me with a victorious smile and leaned in till his face was inches from mine.

"It was my informant, Kane, who also told me of the braixen's connection to you and Crimson, and I am most disappointed in the fact that she's a spy from WPA. I don't tolerate liars, it's an ugly trait that can turn a man black, inside and out," Ghost said as he rose his finger up and touched the scar on his face. "I learned firsthand what a lie can create, it creates monsters, both in ourselves and others." Ghost turned to shoot a glare towards Mandus.

"Do what you want with me, just leave Annie alone."

Ghost backed away from me, but redirected his attention back towards me. "I had my men do their research on the two of you. You're quite some ways from Unova, Zylen."

I flinched back at the use of my true name and homeland, "How do you know that?" I growled quietly at him.

"I have eyes everywhere," the human answered. "I have very little interest in the backstory of a runaway like yourself though, more importantly it's your potential I care about. Zoroark's are some of the most skilled killers known to man." Ghost reached into his pocket and pulled out the case from earlier. The human opened the case and my heart began to pound in my chest. "Fret not though, I didn't bring this here for you, this is reserved for much more important pieces to my plan." Ghost turned his head towards the two Legendaries that remained unphased by the situation.

The soldiers working for Genesis pointed their rifles at Crimson and forced the three pokemon to make a path for Ghost. The human pulled the syringe out of the case and tossed it in the snow as he walked towards the two emotionless Legendaries. Once he reached the two, he held the syringe up in the air, "Tonight marks a new beginning, a beginning where man rules over gods!" The human rose his voice excitedly before he injected the serum between Zygarde's scales. The Legendary flinched for a moment, before he withdrew the syringe and moved onto Xerneas. The chital's eyes grew wide for a brief second as she was stuck by the needle, but within seconds her eyes relaxed.

Silence filled the air for a minute, until both Legendaries looked towards Ghost and bowed. "Behold, on their own they bow towards me, now without any influence from a psychic."

"This is bad," I whispered below my breath as Ghost walked towards Mandus and both Legendaries followed behind him, until Ghost stopped in front of Mandus.

"You have done well for me Mandus. A new era is dawning now, but first dark times of war will come after twilight, but through the change over night, a new dawn will come forth and this world will be born anew. Change will come from the spilling of blood, the very meaning of Crimson Dawn.

"You have lost in every way possible. You've done your part. And now I have acquired everything you have worked so hard for, and now you and all of your followers stand at the brink of oblivion. Yet your followers look up to you, they believe even now you will be able to defy me and save them from their fate.

"I'll ask you once, and only once. Surrender against Genesis, and join us. Together the two of us can change this world, make it a place for both pokemon and humans to coexist in a society free from pain. I know you've known pain, similar to the pain I bare every waken moment of my existence. Like myself, I know you too constantly carry this weight. It's because of this, you and I are the only ones who can truly see this world for what it truly is. We see beyond black and white, we see the true colors of humanity, a darkness darker than the blackest abyss in this forsaken world." Ghost finished, leaving Mandus in a pensive state of mind.

The lucario stared downward as he considered what Ghost said to him. Silence followed as Ghost allowed the lucario a chance to think his words over, but in Mandus's mind the decision was already made.

"I refuse," Mandus said as his head rose up and he extended out his right fist towards the human. In a swift motion the human dodged to the side as he pushed Mandus's hand away from him.

"A foolish mistake!" Ghost yelled as Kane jumped in front of him and swung his blades in an X motion. The lucario stumbled back, but before I could even watch what happened I turned towards Annie and ran towards her. On quick feet, the braixen ran towards the humans and hopped on top of one, and jumped off his head. While in mid air, Annie rose up her legs so she could move her cuffed hands under her leg and have them in front of her, instead of behind.

A mixture of gunshots and elements flew through the air and the forest quickly turned into a battlefield. As I ran towards Annie, a luxray moved in front of me. My form quickly turned into a marowak and I grasped a bone club in two hands as I slammed it into the blue eyed freak. The luxray let out a cry as it flew to the side, just barely conscious. After the luxray, my form changed into a dragonite, one of the fastest pokemon I could think of. The wings on my body flapped as I quickly soared towards Annie. The braixen let out a scream as she turned to see my picking her up in her arms.

"Hang on!" I yelled as I rose her up high enough to climb on my back.

"What about the others?!" Annie questioned.

"I'm worrying about us!" I quickly answered.

* * *

**Point of view Annie**

As I got situated on Zylen's back, I rose up my cuffs and turned them away from Zylen. I blew a small blue flame at the steel as the metal slowly began to change to a bright orange. With all my strength I pulled the cuffs apart until the metal gave out and the chain broke.

Zylen flew low towards the ground as he quickly weaved around trees. While in mid flight, I reached out my hand and pulled off a small branch from a tree, replacing the stick Genesis confiscated from me.

As Zylen continued to weave around all the trees with an accelerating speed I began to feel my stomach turning. "I'm gonna be sick," I whined as I wrapped my arms around Zylen's neck. Just as I began to sink into my spot, a wave of air cut through the branches in front of Zylen. Zylen and I both turned to see the black Scyther from before, leaping from tree to tree as his wings assisted in accelerating his speed.

"Great," Zylen growled, "Annie-"

"I'm on it!" I interrupted as I aimed at him with my stick. I shot out a torrent of flames as the scyther was in mid jump, but he used his wings to redirect is projection and he avoided the attack. "Can't you go faster!?"

"I never thought I'd hear those words from you, but no!" Zylen replied as he spun towards the scyther and and shot out a twister of wind towards the bug. The scyther jumped straight towards the attack and swung his blade at it, sending a wave of air. Both attack collided and cancelled each other out. The scyther continued towards Zylen and he tried to fly up, but before Zylen could escape the bug collided with him. From my position I couldn't make out what happened, but I felt Zylen's body fall limp and we began to fall towards the ground.

"Zylen!" I cried out as I held on tightly to him. My eyes clenched shut as we began to spin towards the ground, until we crashed down and I was sent flying to the ground. I rolled along the ground and my body was cut and bruised over the forest ground. I let out a cough as I came to a stop.

"Zy-Zylen," I coughed out as I looked to see a magenta light flash through the air. "Zylen!" I yelled out as I got to my feet and ran towards the unconscious zoroark. I fell to my knees immediately once I reached him and I turned him onto his back. I gasped at the sight of the stab wound on his torso, while it wasn't deep, it was still serious.

"Zylen, you need to get up, please!" I cried out as I placed my hand on his cheek, and his eyes slowly cracked open.

"Annie?" he whispered, "You're alright, that's good."

I was about to reply to Zylen, but before I could I saw the scyther approaching from the corner of my eye. I quickly spun up as I reached for the twig in my tail, but I was quickly reminded I lost it in the fall. Before I could even come up with a plan B, I felt a cold blade push against my throat. I swallowed the saliva in my mouth and felt the blade even more against my throat.

"Don't you dare!" Zylen snapped as his hand firmly grabbed the Scyther's ankle. I inhaled a deep breath for a flamethrower, but before I did I felt the blunt side of the scyther's blade slam into my temple. My head rung as I fell to the ground, but I used my momentum to roll on the ground and sprang back up to my feet in a swift motion. I then sprayed off an ember towards the scyther, forcing the bug to jump back to safety as he shielded himself with his blade.

"C'mon, just get lost!" I yelled at the scyther as he charged towards me again. The black bug jabbed his blade towards me, and I dove to the left as I shot a flamethrower at him in mid air. The bug jumped over the attack and towards me as he raised his blades. I let out a cry as I rolled out of the way of his attack and got to my feet. Just as the scyther came in for another attack, Zylen came from behind him and wrapped one arm around his neck, and used the other to restrain an arm. The insect flailed around as he fought Zylen for air, until his body fell limp in his arms.

I let out a sigh, before I noticed Zylen holding a bleeding wound firmly. "You going to be okay? That looks like it hurts."

Zylen gave a weak smile towards me before he fell onto one knee, "No, I don't feel anything. I can block out pain, it's just wearing me down."

Zylen and I both waited in silence. My best friend panted as he caught his breath, and all I could think about was all that he was going through because of my problem. If I never asked Zylen to leave to help Crimson then he would have never been in this situation. This is a result of me being selfish and thinking he's invincible. My thoughts continued on, until a crackle of gunshots broke me out of my thoughts.

I just barely whispered, "I'm sorry."

Zylen turned to look at me, "Why?"

I looked my friend in the eyes, "I'm sorry you ended up like this because of me. If I didn't ask you to do all of this stuff you wouldn't be hurt. It was selfish, you're always risking yourself for me and-"

"Alright that's enough," Zylen rose his voice as he stood up. "I'm not blaming you for this, I chose to go on my own. Besides, I learned some interesting things I'd never learn anywhere else."

"And now we're on Genesis's bad side, they'll hunt us down."

Zylen gave a small smile, but the look in his eyes was more somber than happy. "Wouldn't be anything new for me. Now let's go, Genesis isn't going to stop looking for us here, we need to cover a lot of ground by sunrise, and even more after."

"Right," I nodded as I went by Zylen's side and helped support him as we walked through the snowy forest.

* * *

**Third person point of view**

It didn't take more than a matter of seconds for the area where Genesis fought to become a smoky battlefield. Ghost emerged from the smoke unscathed as he pulled a cigar out of his winter coat pocket. The human crouched down next to a struggling quilava with multiple wounds covering his body.

"Heh, so you chose Mandus over us," the human spoke in a cold voice as he used the dying flame on the quilava's back to light his cigar. The injured pokemon glared up at the human. Ghost barely smirked at the sight of the fearful pokemon, but not from the pleasure of another's pain.

"We haven't forgotten you. All those years and this is what you have to show. What wasted time and effort. Still, there is much benefit to having you as a card in my hand. Your friends have abandoned you, and now you're at my mercy, traitor.

"So I'll give you a choice, call it a chance for reconciliation if you will." the human smiled as he stood and turned his back from the quilava. "Take him as a prisoner, I'll see him when I feel the time is right," Ghost rose his voice to the surrounding soldiers. Ghost walked towards the helicopter as Rhys joined by his side.

"No one has managed to capture any of the others, the quilava is all we managed," Rhys informed the human.

"That's fine. All we need is the quilava."

"And what about Mandus?"

"What about him?" Ghost questioned the fox as he entered the helicopter and took a seat on the bench. Rhys hopped up on the parallel bench and looked Ghost in the eyes.

"You're really going to go through with killing him, even after all those years?"

Ghost inhaled some of his cigar and let out a puff of smoke. "Even an eternity of working together wouldn't remedy the years of bad blood between us. Besides, what do you care about him?" the human inquired as he leaned in close to the fox.

"Honestly, nothing. All I hold are invalid memories, can't say any of it ever meant much to me."

"Hmm," the human began as he leaned back, "Just a little longer, our game will be coming to an end very soon. Then this charade can come to an end, everything will be as I envisioned it."

Rhys didn't respond to Ghost and turned towards the window of the helicopter. The old zorua questioned whether what he was doing was what he really wanted, or what he was made to want. Rhys shook the thoughts out of his head as two soldiers entered the helicopter to pilot it. Ghost and Rhys both sat in silence as the helicopter blades spun to life and they lifted off the ground.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well that chapter came out pretty good in my opinion, but onto something more important. As stated in last chapter, I decided I am going on a hiatus for a month or two. I'll be back at the beginning of Nov or the beginning of Dec. This isn't because I'm burnt out or anything, I just have other things I wish to work on for a bit, I'm actually very excited to continue on. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys the next month or two.

Special thanks to Genericgamer207 for editing, and thanks to The Melody of Space for catching some of the smaller errors we missed *Round of applause*


	111. An empty shell

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 111: An empty shell**

* * *

The air was silent tonight. The world around me was nothing but a vacant void filled with a light mist. Without a sound, I walked through an open field of grass, the only light being the moon's reflections off the misty air. At one point through my journey the mist around me began to clear up, revealing the clear skies above. With the illumination of the moon watching clearly over me, I glanced up and caught a glimpse of something curious. I allowed myself to come to a rest and stare, puzzled at the movement of white streaks soaring through the air, shooting stars. I watched in complete silence as a fleeting memory came to my mind, reminding me of a life that once was. I could see the picture so vividly, yet it felt like something from another life, like I never experienced the memory with my family to begin with. I could still remember the expression on my brothers and sister's face when we watched the shooting stars years ago in awe.

"Do you regret the path you have chosen?" a voice asked me from behind. My ears rose up as the voice sent a tremor through my spine. I turned around to see a vaporeon sitting on the grass with her lips radiating into a comforting smile. She let out a snicker from the shocked expression I gave her.

I remained in place as I eyed my sister, too startled to respond properly, "Casey…" was all managed to whispered as I realized that this was all just another dream, similar to the ones I had of Kaz. Still, the face of my barely older sister was comforting, even if it was a painful reminder. The vaporeon patiently waited as her finned tail slowly swayed back and forth along the ground, pushing the blades of grass flat against the dirt.

"What do you mean, do I regret my path?" I repeated in confusion.

"I mean do you regret your choices?" the water eeveelution reiterated.

"I don't want to discuss that," I bit down as I pulled my stare from her and continued walking through my dream like I was before.

"Okay, then let's talk about your new friends if you don't want to discuss that." Casey caught up to my pace and walked a few steps behind in my tracks. My pace increased as I tried to escape the topic. "Do you miss them?"

"Does it matter how I feel?" I responded to Casey, "And I don't want to discuss that either."

"Okay, what about Vincent, do you still love your brother?"

"I especially don't want to talk about him."

"Then what about Dad, would you like to talk about him?"

"Just lay off it."

"How about Kaz, come on everyone loved that jolte-" my sister mused enthusiastically before I cut her off.

"No."

"Mom?"

I let out a scowl as I continued walking to wherever this dream would take me.

"Okay, how do you feel about yourself then?"

My pace came to a stop as I was caught off guard by that question.

"What about you, Ryder, how do you feel about who you are?"

My heart began to pick up from the thought of the question, but I felt the same about this topic as I did all the others, "Pass," I spoke as I went back to aimlessly wandering.

"So this is who my brother is now?" Casey continued on as she stayed behind me, not bothering to chase me any further. "Just a hollow shell that resembles him?"

* * *

**Two months before the events of chapter 110**

I walked through the silent night with no one by my side, no Flare, no Kana, no friends, no one but myself. Since I left Shalour I put a lot of ground between me and everything I knew.

I glanced upwards into the canopy above me and stared at what little I could see of the cloudy sky. The sky above was beginning to lighten up a bit, meaning dawn would be arriving shortly. As I continued to walk I felt a pulse of pain in my head and I grunted as I came to a halt. For almost ten seconds my head rang with an intense pain like my brain was going to rupture at any moment, until my mind went numb and the feeling spreaded throughout my body. Almost as quickly as it came, the numbness began to subside and I was able to resumed my journey through the darkness of the lonely night.

Ever since earlier this night when I talked to Gray about leaving, I wanted to turn back and say it was all some stupid lie. I really wanted to be nowhere else but by their side right now, to be in the comfort of those I love. The void growing in my chest was far worse than any stab I've endured, worse than the feeling of breaking my arm. This pain was something much deeper than the greatest of physical afflictions an umbreon could endure.

As I continued on, my ears perked up from the sound of a twig snapping from behind. I turned around with happiness as I hoped to see my friends chasing after me, but those thoughts were quickly ended at the sight of a zorua. I gave the fox a glare of hatred and he watched me with a more somber expression, one of loss I was all too familiar with.

For a while the two of us just read each other in the silence of the night, until Rhys was the first to speak. "Ryder, it seems we both lost something dear to us through these events," the zorua spoke. "As much as I want this hunt for you to end, I have my mission."

I let out a hard breath as my head lowered to the ground. at this point I was tired of all the pain weighing over my shoulders and I just wanted everything to come to an end. "Do what you're going to do," I quietly asked, accepting whatever fate he had planned for me.

"You want to die?" Rhys asked with bewilderment

I gave him an incomplete nod. "I don't have any fight left in me. I've harmed everyone around me enough, at least if I'm gone everyone can have a chance to be happy."

Rhys frowned at the response I gave him, "Two years back I didn't save you so I could do this to you. I did it because I wanted you to live, and never once did I want to kill you, even when I was trying."

In a melancholic voice I responded to Rhys. "You weren't supposed to save me from that blizzard, I wanted to die that night, I just wanted to prevent myself from experiencing more pain. If I did die Kana would still be alive. By saving me, her life was taken and so many others were hurt because of me. Was my life really worth all of theirs?"

The zorua's ears flattened as he shook his head, "I really wish we could have met under different circumstances, this really isn't what I wanted," Rhys told me as he walked towards me and a purple energy began to form around his right paw. I stood in place as the old zorua rose up his paw and reached out towards me, with the touch of his paw against my nose I felt an extreme drowsiness enter my body like a drug. Within seconds my legs began to shake from my own weight, before it all became too much and I ended up on my side. I watched as blurs of Rhys standing over me could be made out and with each second my eyes grew heavier. I didn't bother resisting the drowsiness, and instead I succumbed to my fate, allowing myself to fall into a deep slumber that I hoped would bring peace in the end.

* * *

**The following morning**

A bright light pierced through the cracks of my eyes. For a few minutes I fought off the outside lights, until I stirred awake. Quickly my head rose up and I got up onto all fours as I looked around the room I mysteriously ended up in.

I cleared my throat as I realized that Rhys didn't kill me and somehow I was in a pokecenter. "Hello?" I called out as I jumped off the bed I was on, and upon landing I felt a sharp pain in my left forepaw. I bit down as I glanced down to see the fresh bandages wrapped around my wrist. Memories of what that servine almost made me do came flooding back to me, haunting my thoughts relentlessly.

"Flare, Alex, Kana?!" I called out, before I realized the last name didn't hold the same value as it once did. My head drooped down at the memory of the jolteon, another victim of my cursed existence. As much as I wanted to reflect on her memory, I didn't let it consume my thought process. Right now, I needed to focus on figuring out what's going on.

Just as I was going to find a way to open the door, it cracked open on its own. As the door cracked open I felt a strong feeling of hope, but those emotions were quickly shredded as a sylveon entered in the room. Her figure was very lithe, almost like Naomi's body, which added to the sway of her hips as she walked in.

"Good morning, I know you must be in quite the haze right now, but would you please follow me?" the random sylveon asked.

"Who are you, and where am I? This is a pokecenter, right?" I asked skeptically, not knowing what kind of bizarre situation I ended up in.

The sylveon chuckled in response to my words, but I just stared at her with seriousness, not seeing what was so funny. The sylveon let out a sigh as she caught onto my mood, "My name is Lily, as for your whereabouts I was instructed to leave all of that to my superiors. Now, would you follow me?" Lily asked again, losing a bit of the politeness she originally had in her voice. I stared at the fairy type with uncertainty for a moment, I doubted that this was a pokecenter at this point, but if I wanted answers I had to follow her or face the consequences. Doing all I could, I gave Lily a single nod of my head.

"Follow me." Lily began leading the way and I followed behind her out the door. When outside I was presented with a long hallway that was actually similar to a pokecenter, but not identical. This place seemed just as obnoxiously bright with the lighting, but had a lot more traffic flow with bigger halls to accommodate for it. Humans and pokemon both travelled throughout the broadened halls. Even with the heavy traffic in the halls, none of them were able to get near me due to the pokemon guards that joined us. The escorts were made up of two affinities, bug and fairy types. It was a very obvious strategic move, but I couldn't fathom why they'd go to such lengths to have escorts like this. Did they really expect me to cause trouble?

During the walk to wherever they were leading me I kept my silence, and everyone else did the same. It wasn't until halfway down the third hall that we finally stopped in front of a door.

"Head on in, our boss told us to wait outside for when you're finished," Lily told me. As I approached the door it slid open on its own and I entered. Inside was some kind of fancy office with luxurious things throughout it. I may be a wild at heart, but it was obvious that all the paintings and artistic things in the room were pricy. And at the end of the room full of the frivolous items was a kadabra, one that I never thought I would encounter again.

"Good morning, please take a seat." the kadabra gestured for me to sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. I stood in place as I stared at the kadabra with an untrusting glare, there was no way I was trusting him after what happened last time.

'If he's here, then that means…' I thought to myself as the memories of my last encounter with Genesis played out in my head.

"As I said before, you may sit," the kadabra pointed his hand towards the chair. I couldn't bring myself to listen, not without an explanation.

"You're the kadabra I met at the genesis base in Ambrette. How could I trust you after all that shit?" I let out a low growl towards the kadabra, I wanted him to know we weren't on good terms.

"Still sore over the past, that would be expected," Zero nonchalantly spoke as if it was nothing. "Listen, we can be hostile towards me if it eases your anger, but that won't get you anywhere. Right now you're deep underground within one of Genesis's bases, which is heavily guarded. One wrong move and you'll have no escape; you'll be dealt with accordingly. Deep down here, I'm one of the closest things you have to a friend, and so is Rhys. I would consider being more thoughtful about that, you're lucky."

"If I was lucky in the first place I wouldn't be here in the first place," I spat out. "Fine, whatever you wanna discuss, let's get it over with." As instructed earlier, I hopped up onto the chair and took a seat on the soft-cushions.

"If you don't recall my name from earlier, you may address me as Zero, and today I'm talking to you on behalf of Rhys. So, tell me, do you know where you are?"

I shook my head.

"Excellent, that's just how we wanted to keep things until we could converse in person. As of now you are in a facility known as Techvivre. Also one of Genesis's more established bases."

The fur on my body stood up as a chill coursed through me as those words rolled off the kadabra's tongue. It became clear that I was beyond the point of return from my previous life.

"You're supposed to be dead right now, but for some reason Rhys found other uses in you. Either way I don't question my superior's motives, but I was supposed to explain your current situation to you due to Rhys's busy schedule today. Anyways, I respect your time just as much as I respect my own, so I won't burden you with information that'll be explained in greater detail later. So, let's get straight down to business." Zero spoke as he reached down onto his desk and held up a photo. The picture was from a distance and somewhat unfocused, but I could make out an older lucario with some kind of cloak over his torso.

"It seems the leader of Crimson Dawn is much stronger than we anticipated. As of now we are assembling a team of pokemon to track him down and assassinate him. Rhys believes with you being who you are, you're very capable of standing a chance against him, with the help of the right pokemon. Rhys told me he'd set the terms and conditions with you around this evening when he has the availability." The kadabra placed the photo back down onto the desk, and reached out for a red button on his desk, "Lily, please escort our guest back to his room. Keep an eye on him."

The doors behind me slid open, and Lily entered the room. "Follow me, I'll take you back to your room."

Even though my better judgement told me not to trust anyone here, I still allowed Lily to take me back to my room. When I was returned to my living quarters, I heard the sound of the door locking me in. Now that I was finally alone, I could allow myself to unravel a bit and think over things. I jumped up onto the bed in my room and got properly situated for what could possibly be a long wait.

'Is this really happening?' I asked myself. 'Why would Genesis need me, what could I possibly do against their leader, Mandus?' I thought. It was true though, if the leader of Crimson was strong enough to hold off an army then what would a umbreon like me do? I mean sure I had my gift, and if they planned to utilize that then they better plan this attack on a full moon so I can actually use it. Still, I can't even control this gift well. I've sparsely used it in the past, I've already gotten enough crap for being a shiny with red eyes, I couldn't even begin to fathom what they'd do if they found out about my abnormality.

Hours passed by as I waited in my room in a deep trance with thoughts clouding my mind. From time to time Lily would come in to check on me, and at one point she offered me a meal, but I turned it down due to a lack of appetite. It wasn't until around the evening that the door to my room slid open a sixth time, but this time it wasn't the sylveon, it was the pokemon who brought me here.

"Good evening," Rhys tipped his head towards me. I sat up in my bed as I grinded my teeth together at the sight of him. While I sat with discomfort the zorua jumped up onto a chair so the two of us were as close to eye level as possible. "I'd recommend you stop looking at the man who's going to help you like that. It's quite rude," Rhys stated, and I just looked away from him, not able to bare the sight of him any longer.

"I suppose my colleague, Zero, informed you of your situation, what I want from you. More importantly I hope you took the day to consider what I wanted instead of sulking over your luck."

Rhys's words rubbed me off in the wrong way and I began to feel a burning anger surfacing from within my chest, "Don't test me," I snapped my teeth at him. "I thought you were supposed to kill me, not this."

Rhys shook his head at me yet another time, "I was supposed to kill you, and maybe I still will if you don't quiet down and listen for once. Last night was an act of mercy. Seeing someone like yourself broken to the point where you're submissive towards your fate is something I don't find pleasure in. I see this as an opportunity for you, a chance for you to set things right, and because of that, I think I can use you. Consider it a win for both sides.

A growl began to emit from me as my claws began to tear into my bed sheets, "I'm not some damn puppet for you to manipulate, you hear me?!" My words echoed throughout the enclosed room.

A few seconds passed and Rhys scoffed at my response, "As Zero told you, we want to hunt down and eliminate Mandus for good. With the help of a pokemon with your gift, it may be possible if we play our cards right. The whole day I've been planning out and analyzing many of our finest fighters, we're going to assemble a team to take him out and I want you to be a part of this team. Think of this as a chance to set things right in your life, I know you have a burning hatred towards the lucario Mandus."

My glance went back towards Rhys as I thought of what he was saying carefully. It was true I really wanted to see Mandus pay, but I couldn't just help the people who were trying to hunt down and kill my friends.

"I refuse."

Rhys laughed to himself for a moment before retorting my response, "How typical of you to be stubborn. Of course you wouldn't want to help us with nothing in exchange, so I'll offer you something no one else can. Answers to every question you have ever wondered, what you are, the origin of your kind, who are The Crimson Dawn and what they want with you."

My heart nearly skipped a beat, I couldn't believe that him of all pokemon would be the one to offer me the answers I've been searching so long for. "You really know of all that?" I questioned him with an edge of excitement in my voice.

"I know a lot more than most pokemon in this world, you'll never get an opportunity like this again. Think carefully about your answer Ryder, you want this and you know it."

I knew that the zorua wasn't wrong, I really did want these answers ever since I was a child. I had to know what I am, why I have always been an outcast, why my eyes were blood red since I was an eevee, but I couldn't accept his offer when he was going to kill my friends.

"I'll help you, but only if you accept one of my terms, and if you turn down my term then I refuse to lift a paw for you."

"I'll hear you out, shoot."

"For a long time Genesis has been hunting my friends, if I help you, you have to swear to me that you will leave them alone once and for all."

"So you want to protect your friends?" Rhys grinned, and I nodded yes in response. "Very well, in exchange for your services I will allow Genesis to to turn a blind eye towards your friends just this once, but should they ever cross our paths again I will not be able to protect them. Are we clear on that?"

Without hesitation I nodded my head in agreement "Y-Yes."

"Good, I will have that dealt with as soon as we're done talking here. There is much we have to do before we can send you out to kill Mandus. First you are going to undergo special training that'll help you unlock your potential. I'll tell you now, if you don't take this training seriously you'll regret it fast. This is different from what you and your trainer did to prep for gym battles, this training will help you learn to deal with far more intense things. That'll be explained more later though, I don't expect you to start today. Next you'll also need to get well acquainted with the team I will form, you will all need to act as one unit. Now, are there any questions, Ryder?"

I took a second to allow my brain to process all that info, but in the end I had everything I needed besides my answers. "No, but I want to know of these answers you promised me."

"Yes, yes. I know you're eager to learn of these things, so for now I will allow you one question. The rest you will have to earn through proving yourself to me, when I know you're truly devoted I will tell you what you want to know. So, one question to hold you over till your next chance."

I paused to think this over, if I had one question I had to make it count. While I was interested in knowing of Crimson Dawn and who this Mandus person was, I really couldn't help but want to know of who I am. "Okay, What am I?"

"Well, you already know that Ryder, our psychic checked your memories, oddly your mind was almost impossible to see into, and we could only access certain events, but we managed to get a glimpse of someone, Skullface. I'm curious to see who this pokemon is, but I also saw that he told you some truth in what you are."

"You went through my mind?!" I yelled out at Rhys as I nearly lunged off my bed to kill him.

"Relax," Rhys rose his voice, "There isn't much we already don't know of you, and besides it's better that we know of this Skull Face."

"Don't ever go through my mind again," I growled at him.

"Do as you're told and we won't have too. Now back on topic. What this Skull Face figure told you wasn't a lie, you are infact a being known as an eon. If you're wondering you're still an umbreon, just much different from a normal umbreon. This alteration you have that allows you to absorb and use other affinities is from a rare gene in your family tree. Although, your kind is only one side of a coin."

"What do you mean by that?"

Rhys smirked at me, "That was your one question Ryder. If you're able to impress me with your training results I might just throw you another bone." Rhys jumped off his chair and headed straight for the door.

"Oh come on that barely counted as an answer!"

"And now you know to choose more wisely Ryder. Till next time," Rhys tipped his head at me as he exited out the door. The door closed behind him and left me to myself again.

I waited a few moments before I cursed under my breath for him acting like that. If Rhys was to ever lie to me or wrong me in anyway then I'd kill him with my own fangs. I don't care if it's wrong, what would it matter if I fell any lower, I've already fallen this far, which is also how I'm able to go with this.

Time passed by in my room as I lied in silence without any attention. The visits from Lily ceased until many hours later. She offered me a meal once again, this time I accepted. About an hour later my meal arrived and I ate, surprisingly the food wasn't bad, but something about the taste of food felt so bitter now… It's a hard feeling to describe, it tasted good, but it was like I wasn't enjoying a simple pleasure of life, like I've been stripped of enjoying the most basic of things.

I didn't ponder the meal for long, I just figured it was due to all that was going on. Today was really a lot to take in, and I wouldn't have been surprised if I woke up any moment only to discover that it was just a dream. The thought of this being a dream was amusing, but of course I knew this was as real as anything. I just wondered what kind of monster Genesis would make me into, or perhaps what monster in me they'd bring out. None of that mattered to me though, if I had to light myself on fire to keep my friends warm then I'd do it, my well being means nothing, they mean everything.

* * *

**20 hours later**

The whole night was a struggle to sleep, this place didn't feel like a home I could settle into, it felt even more unsettling than my first time in a pokecenter. Even more oddly enough I've grown used to having others near me when I slept, but all night it was just dead silence, and I was trapped in that room all night.

Around when I was finally beginning to fall asleep an alarm went off and the lights to my room flicked on. Almost instantly my eyes burned as if I was looking into the sun. I tried clenching my eyes shut to fall back into my empty dreams, but the constant beeping of an alarm ripped me from my dreams and managed to fill me with rage. I jumped up onto all fours and stared at an alarm clock I never noticed until now.

"Shut up!" I yelled at it as I shot a shadow ball at it, causing the device to explode into pieces. Just as the pieces of the device flew around the room, Lily walked into the my room with a startled expression. The sylveon's mouth hung wide as she looked at the darkness that was lingering on the counter from my shadow ball, slowly eating away at the surface.

"H-Hey, you can't just do that, that costs money you know, and I'll get in trouble if you trash this room!" Lily yelled at me.

"Well it wouldn't stop," I replied in annoyance as I realized this was going to be one of those morning.

"You just hit the button on top, didn't your trainer before this ever teach you anything!?"

"Yeah, he always dealt with the alarms, and usually he let us sleep in until we were ready to get up."

Lily glared at me, before turning her head from me, "Right, you're still a wild at heart, I remember now. Well umbreon, you aren't allowed to go around destroying things without permission, if so we'll have you put somewhere more solitary where you won't have any rights. I'll let you choose."

I rolled my eyes in response to the sylveon.

"Anyways, now that that's out of the way, you have a long day ahead of you. So, let's get started, Rhys wants you to start your training right away."

"Don't I get breakfast?" I asked as she began to lead me out of the room.

"Rhys instructed me not to feed you until lunch, he said it'd just slow you down."

I didn't bother arguing with her, because I'm sure it would have worked wonders for my current situation. Instead I just followed behind her. This time instead of our location being on this floor I was taken into an elevator and we switched floors. I was hoping I'd get to leave this facility for the training, but to my dismay we just went to a lower floor of the underground base.

Lily lead me to a private room that had some strange machine in it… It was kind of hard to describe, but it had all this computery technology stuff. The room was like the rest of the facility, shiny white with a mirror-like floor. I glanced at the computer technology as I tried to understand what it was for.

"This is a private training room we'll be using to train you for your mission," Lily stated. "This is a VRTM machine, virtual reality training machine."

"Virtual reality?" I repeated in confusion.

Lily just sighed, "So uneducated… Virtual reality is a fake computer world, it is literally the same as the world inside a pokeball, are you familiar with a pokeball?" I glared at Lily from her attitude, but gave her a small nod. "Like I said, this is similar to a pokeball, except this technology is now used to train pokemon. Inside you will be put in certain scenarios with virtual enemies. No these enemies aren't real, but you'll think they're real. Inside the virtual world your five senses, touch, smell, sight, hearing and taste will change as well, it'll be as if everything is real. Now, know that you will be put in situation where you'll be getting hurt, so remember that. So, if you get impaled by a scyther up the butt, you're going to feel like you really got impaled up a scyther up the butt, you follow?"

"Ummm, yeah, but can we disable any attacks like tha-"

"No," Lily quickly interrupted. "Pain will teach you to learn how to fight fast, you won't really take damage but while you're in the simulation it'll feel that way. Simple solution to not getting hurt: learn from your mistakes. believe me when you're getting seriously injured in there you'll learn to not make the same mistake twice. Literally, this is one of the most effective training methods science has made without brainwashing someone. Now, do you have any questions?"

'Questions?' I thought in my head. I mean where would I even begin, I mean I was about to jump in a machine that was going to kick my ass repeatedly...

"I'll take your silence as a no," Lily said as she walked towards the machine. "Now, stand in front of machine to my right," Lily ordered. Hesitantly I did as she told me, and I stood to her right. A part of the machine opened up, revealing a core with a big ball in the middle that was glowing red with white whisps coming from it.

"Try not to freak out too much, this machine has more pull than a master ball," Lily commented as she stood up on two legs and used the computer for support. I was about to ask her what she meant before she pushed a green button. The whole room flashed white and I felt an intense pull suck me in. My head spun and I couldn't see a thing, until I tumbled to the ground.

My eyes opened and to my surprise I was in a completely new setting. "Wha-What is this place?" I asked as I got to my feet and looked around. The room I was in stretched out for a half mile, and then the ceiling went up quite a ways as well. The floor was a dark blue, and on the floor was a glowing grid that was glowing like my rings on a full moon. The walls looked as if they were made of steel, and lines ran upward along the wall that were like the grid, but they didn't make a grid pattern. In all honesty this looked like something out of one of those game videos Alex played on his phone.

"Is this the virtual reality?" I asked, but I got silence. "Hello?!"

"Loading AI" A robotic female voice spoke from all directions. "Model: lucario. Level: five. Mode: lethal," the female voice continued on and I became more confused. The voice honestly reminded me of that feature Alex's phone had, the one with the women that answered his questions.

In front of me I saw the ground flash blue in a small spot, and then a bunch of small blue blocks began to stack up and make a model of a person. The model flashed a few times and with each flash the figure became more and more real, until I was looking at a lucario.

"What in the actual hell?"

"Match starting in three, two, one, begin," the robot women spoke, and once she said begin the lucario ran towards me.

An aura sphere formed in his palm as he charged straight at me. He extended out his palm, and I dodged to the right avoiding the attack, but then he turned towards me and threw the aura sphere. In mid jump the sphere collided with the ground by my feet and created an explosion that sent me higher into the air. My head spun in all directions and just as I came near the ground the lucario stood below me and extended his paw out towards my gut. I came to a stop mid fall as I landed on his palm. I gasped all of my air out, and then I felt a strong force explode against my stomach. My stomach felt as if it torn open and I flew into the air and onto the ground with blood coming from my mouth. When I hit the ground I couldn't move, everything was cold, every muscle on my body was strained.

With the little energy I had I looked towards my stomach wound and saw that my guy was ripped wide open with my internal organs hanging out. My eyes grew wide for a second and I tried to cry out in pain, but there was no wind in my voice, instead everything faded to black faster than I could process what was going on.

Within seconds I awoke on my feet, but I felt just fine. The lucario that killed me before stood in place, just staring at me.

"I'm alright?" I said as I tried to move around.

"Battle failed. battle commencing in thirty seconds."

"I-I just died though, my stomach was ripped wide open!" I yelled at the AI voice.

"Scenario paused" The AI said to my surprise.

Then out of nowhere I heard Lily's voice speaking, "Alright listen up umbreon, you're obviously not grasping this well. The lucario is your opponent, he's the same species as the man you're going against, so it's best you get used to fighting this kind of pokemon. Now, you just died in the simulation in your first attempt, that's fine, but he's not even on a hard difficulty yet. This lucario AI goes up to level twenty, so you're three quarters from the hardest difficulty. Now, You're going to stay in this simulation and fight the level five lucario over and over until you can get a flawless victory, meaning you won't take a scratch. After that we will work you up to harder difficulties until you're able to take on the level twenty lucario. From time to time we will be doing other scenarios with other pokemon to help you be adaptable, but for now this is your training. So beat the lucario and you'll be allowed out for a break." Lily's voice stopped and I was left on my own again.

"Simulation commencing in thirty seconds," the robotic women spoke.

I bit down from the thought of this whole situation. In no way did I feel comfortable fighting this lucario in these conditions. The feeling of dying from a moment ago was terrifying, it was unlike anything I've ever felt, and this lucario was only a quarter through the difficulty according to Lily.

"Battle starting in three, two, one, begin!" On command the lucario charged straight at me like before with a aura sphere in his hand. I knew if my plan didn't work before I'd have to try something new. Instead of dodging to the side I jumped away from him with a shadow ball charging and launched it straight at the lucario. The fighting type slammed his aura sphere into my attack and the two forces collided, creating an explosion. The lucario emerged from a cloud of smoke with blood dripping from the torn skin on his right arm.

The fake pokemon didn't even hesitate before his next charge. I realized that he was very aggressive in a head on way, he left many opening through his brute attacks. I repeated the same thing as last time and shot a shadow ball at him. This time the lucario dodged to the side and jumped into the air towards me. I stepped back as the lucario slammed his fist down onto the ground, creating a strong wave. Seeing my opening I tackled onto the lucario and sank my teeth between his shoulder and neck. The fighting type didn't even scream but began punching me in the side. My teeth sank in deeper as blood began to pour into my mouth, filling my taste buds with the sticky metallic flavor. Immediately my grip on him released and I ran back from him and began to spit out the red liquid. I felt as if I was going to throw up, but before I could I felt a strong kick knock me to the ground.

I let out a loud cry as the lucario jumped on top of me and placed both of his hands over my neck and began pushing. The pressure from his strong grip strangled me and I could feel the bones in my neck being crushed. I tried to claw at him, but as I did I was just saw a flash of when I fought the riolu Sam. I remembered being pinned to the ground helpless as he strangled the life out of me, I remembered the fear of almost dying.

Feeling a flash of anger in me, I forced myself up just enough to bite down on the lucario's injured hand. As I bit down on him I felt myself snapping more from the thought of that monster having me pinned to the ground helpless again. The lucario tried to pull back from me, but I kept my grip on his arm as my bite tightened. I didn't care about the blood anymore, I just wanted to kill that monster! The lucario slammed his left fist into the side of my head and sent me away from him, but I quickly jumped to my feet with dark matter forming around my paws.

In a mixture of anger and fear, I charged at him with a battle cry. The lucario through a kick at me as I closed in, but i weaved around it and slammed my right paw into the lucario's gut. My paw went inside his stomach and I felt the soft innards of his body tear and the blood spewed out and soaked my paws. The lucario stopped as his body began to tremble, My paw remained in his gut as the lucario stood in place. I just stared at what I did. The lucario fell on his own and my paw withdrew from his stomach as the lucario fell on the ground lifeless. I looked at my bloodied paw, and then the dead pokemon. My stomach began to feel sick, and within seconds I vomited onto the floor.

"I… I killed him."

Lily's voice came back on, "Black, it's just a simulation, none of this is real. Calm down, you're going to have to learn this if you're going to work for Genesis."

Tears began to fall from my eyes and onto the floor, and as I continued to stand in shock I felt an intense pull yank me from the virtual reality. In a flash I was back in the same room with lily. The sylveon let out a scowl as she looked at me.

"Seriously, what in the Hell does Rhys see in you? If you want to work for Genesis you're going to have too get your paws dirty, it's just the business."

"I know… but-"

"But what?" Lily demanded.

"I don't want to hurt anyone else, ever again."

Lily let out a frustrated sigh, "Follow me, you managed to kill your target so I'll allow you one hour to get a grip on yourself. But you're going to have to get back in there and complete the training Rhys wants, their is no way around it."

"I know…" I admitted as I wiped my eyes, "I'll do what I promised, I'm fine with doing this for my friends, I just never said it'd be easy for me."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note: **Well, that hiatus was refreshing somewhat. Good timing I guess, life got busy, still is, but I took care of some business and now I'm good to go. Well, I hope everyone enjoys the last arc of book II, I've put a lot of thought into the plot for this. Thanks for reading.

Special thank you to genericgamer207 for editing.


	112. Snapped

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 112: Snapped**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

**Two weeks after chapter 111**

Ever since I was brought to the Genesis base I lost sight of time, the days felt longer than usual, but at the same time my life felt like it was moving too fast. Since my agreement with Rhys, life has become somewhat of a tedious chore as well. Wake up, fight to the death in my training, eat a meal, continue training till dinner, then go to bed and repeat the next day. Even with all the time I spent in these simulations I could never get used to the feeling of murdering the artificial beings. It felt awful, it did nothing but bring up painful memories I wanted to keep buried deep within. Not only that, ever since I began my training I felt different as a person, like an empty husk of the umbreon I once was.

I laid in my bed and listened to the sound of silence while staring at the alarm clock resting on the nearest counter to me. It read five o'clock, which would mean it would be ringing in the next hour at six. During the past two weeks sleep became a joke to me, something I sparsely got the pleasure of enjoying. The lack of sleep was taking its toll on me, making me very sluggish throughout my day, making life all the more difficult.

As I sat in the silence of my room I tried to fall asleep by forcing my eyes shut. But as my eyes remained closed all I could see were the memories of what I left behind for this life. There was no turning back at this point, my life belonged to Genesis, and to the day I died I'd be there toy.

Time continued to fly by as I recollected the life I once had firmly in my paws. It felt like ten minutes passed by the time my alarm sounded throughout the room. The bright lights within my room beamed on, and forced me to fully awake.

Like everyday, Lily came to get me and took me to the VR training room. I entered the virtual world and commenced my training for the day. This training didn't come to a stop till many hours later and I was panting in exhaustion with my muscles pulsing in pain. Lily then took me to get lunch and I had one hour to recover before I continued for the rest of my day. By around six PM I was finished with another day of hard work, and with whatever energy I had I could do what I wanted in my room. Lily offered to get me a TV or something to entertain myself with, but I declined all offers. The less I owed Genesis the better, besides I just didn't feel like doing much besides thinking. If Genesis really wanted to keep me happy they'd take me out of my solitary confinement and let me at least go outside or something.

Regardless of how I felt, it didn't matter. All that mattered is that I did what Genesis told me to do, and I'd happily play along to protect what little I have left.

**Two months later**

The day was early, but to my surprise today didn't start off as it usually did. Instead of starting right away with my training, Lily was taking me directly to Rhys's office.

"Go on in," Lily told me as I waited in front of the door to his office. I took my first step towards the door and it opened on its own. Inside the office I found that it was actually quite empty compared to the office of the kadabra I met two months back. Actually, as I continued to look around I noticed that there was only a desk in the room and not much else to it. I tried not to show a reaction, but the lack of decoration was a bit surprising, especially in contrast with Zero's office.

I walked towards Rhys desk and climbed up onto the chair sitting in front of his desk. Rhys patiently waited for me to get situated, and the two of us swapped stares.

"You look awful," the zorua commented. I just scoffed at the remark the zorua made. to the core of my soul, I resented this man with a passion. If I could kill him like I did to the pokemon in my training I'd be one happy umbreon.

"Well, I've been looking over the results of your training over the past two months. You're much slower than most of the pokemon who went through the same training. I'd say you're about halfway to where you need to actually be right now, which is quite disappointing to say the least. Then again, from where you came from, I'm not the least bit surprised by the results of your training. You weren't raised to be a fighter after all."

"What are you getting at?" I bluntly asked with spite towards the zorua.

"Well I'll get straight to the point. We're getting close to making a move, soon you'll be assigned to a team that will be hunting Mandus down. So, since you'll be starting the next phase of your training soon, I'd also like to give you more background on your mission and team."

"What I want to know is what you promised me," I sharply muttered.

"Yeah, I'm aware of what I promised" Rhys cleared his throat, "So today I will be telling you about your target, Mandus."

"You don't get it, do you?"

Rhys let out a hard sigh, "Get what?"

"I'm not emotionally invested in this mission like you think, I wanted answers on who I am. I don't care about Mandus, I care about my origin."

Rhys scoffed towards me in response, "Hmmf, perhaps you should mind your tongue Ryder, I brought you here to discuss things on my terms, don't make me regret my choice of sparing you. Now, be a good umbreon and be quiet." Rhys's words bit into me, stirring up my temper, but I sat quietly and bit down as hard as I could to help control myself from doing anything stupid.

"Now, you'll be teaming up with three other pokemon in total. First is Raiden, a skillful raichu, for a trained killer he's very kind and reasonable, a very rare trait for someone in his line of work. Next is Lily, I'm sure you two are acquainted enough for me not to explain who she is. The third and final member we still haven't retrieved yet, he seemed to have run off around the time you joined us. You can meet him in person when the time comes, I know you two share a small piece of history together, but the two of you will be working together, so I expect you to behave. Along with all of them you'll also have an intel team that'll guide you during your missions, you'll get acquainted with them when the time comes to actually get some work done."

"Wait, if this pokemon you spoke of is someone I knew, then why hide it from me? I don't want any bullshit Rhys."

"I believe it's best for the both of you to discuss these matters face to face. When the time does comes I'll expect you to be on your best behavior, so deal with it. Now, changing to the subject of Mandus."

"What about him?" I asked as I rolled my eyes in response of Rhys complete control of this conversation.

"Well, why don't we start with telling me what you know about him, then I'll fill in what you don't know."

I let out a scowl, "He's a lucario that fucked up my life multiple times, that's all I know."

"And that's all you know? Rhys asked and I gave a single nod. "I figured as much. Mandus has done a good job at hiding who he is. Mandus has a long history that goes back to when he was just a young child. He was born in a foreign region from here, in a large mountainous forest that was cut off from the modern world we know. He wasn't even aware of what a human was, and when he did see humans he saw the worst of them. One day, war broke out, and caught in the middle were the pokemon in Mandus's homeland. The pokemon that inhabited his home were captured and forced to fight in this war for reasons they didn't understand. Eventually the pokemon that were tormented by the humans had enough, they fought against both human sides to take back their homeland. Mandus was just a child in that resistance, or maybe he could have also been worded as a child soldier in Hell. It didn't take long for all hope to be crushed for the resistance. The pokemon never stood a chance against the modern world. During that year Mandus lost everything, his family, his friends, his homeland, his culture, even his pride as a pokemon. All that did remain was his wrath, which created the pokemon he is to this very day. He loathes the human race with all of his being, he'd do anything to exterminate the human race for revenge. Truthfully, it's sad seeing the remnants of someone who went through that Hell."

"What does this matter if I'm just going to kill him?"

"Truthfully it doesn't, but it's wise to know your enemy. Mandus and you aren't that different when you really look at it. Both you and him lost everything you ever knew, and to this very day you're both tormented by your pasts. The main difference would be that Mandus wants revenge against the world for taking his homeland. He believes that if he achieves his goals he'll be able to bring out a true era of peace, but to do that he needs two more things . Yveltal, a powerful Legendary known for its destructive powers, Xerneas a pokemon with eternal life, and lastly, you." Rhys pointed his paw at me.

"And what exactly does Mandus want with me, if I'm so important then why put me on the front lines?"

"Simple, we can use you to lure him out if we choose to. You're pivotal in his final plan, and also useless to him if he can't acquire the last piece, Yveltal and xerneas."

"You still haven't answered why Mandus wants me though?" I asked impatiently as I stared the zorua down with a menacing stare.

"That's a story for another day Ryder. But, there is one more reason I brought you here, I'm sending you out on a mission to see if you truly can apply what you've learned through your training."

"Wha-a mission?"

Rhys nodded, "Yes, that's why I brought you here to talk about your team. You're going to be working with them to capture your fourth team member. Don't worry, you won't be killing anybody for this mission, but there are some strict rules you will follow," Rhys emphasized the end of his words. "You'll be wearing a harness on you throughout this mission. It'll monitor wherever you go and it'll also allow us to contact you at any time. Should you disobey us we will also put you down on the spot after a fair warning. You'll also listen to Lily and Raiden, they're your superiors in this mission and at all times. Should they have anything bad to say you'll be hearing straight from me, which is not a good thing. Any questions?"

"No," I answered with dread.

"Good, you'll be deploying in an hour to begin your mission. Lily will be briefing you on everything you need to know. Run along now Ryder." Rhys waved for me to go, and I left the room as he instructed without looking back. Lily greeted me outside of Rhys's office in the halls of the Genesis base.

"Alright come on Ryder, we got some things to do in the next hour before we'll be leaving. Don't even think of stalling."

"Tff, yes ma'am," I snorted as I followed behind the sylveon. We walked through the facility and traveled up some floors before we entered into a large room that had equipment filling every corner. To my surprise there were guns lined up on racks, pokeballs of all kinds filling crates to the brim, and anything you'd really need to pass as a heavy duty mass killer. Leaning against an empty spot on the wall was a raichu that nearly caused my heart to stop beating momentarily. I let out a low growl as the electric rodent opened his eyes and beamed me a friendly smile, one that was all to friendly since he tried to murder me and my friends.

"Of all the umbreon's, I never thought we'd be working together," Raiden laughed.

I didn't reply kindly to the raichu and held my ground as my growls grew louder and I showed my fangs, "I knew that name sounded familiar, just what the hell is this?" I snapped at him.

"Ease up kid, I'm not here to fight you. Back in Cyllage, that was just business, I harbor no ill feelings towards you or any of your friends, even if I did get a nice scar on my leg." the raichu stuck his left leg out, revealing the burned up limb.

"You tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, I'm a mercenary. I do lots of messed up things because it's my job. You can resent me all you want, it doesn't change the fact that you're working with me. We don't have to be friends, but that doesn't mean we have to be at each other's throats all the time," Raiden extended his paw out towards me.

I eyed his hand for a good minute before I responded, "Fine, I knew I'd be putting up with people like you when I took this job, but I refuse to shake hands with you." I turned from the raichu and towards Lily, "Okay, what do we need to do? I want to get all of this out of the way."

"Well, we mostly need to get your harness so Genesis can keep track of you. Other then that we just need to go get our ride," Lily answered before she turned to Raiden. "Raiden, help Black with a harness, neither of us have hands so you'll have to assist him."

"Sure thing," the raichu nodded as he went to the back of the room and opened a steel wired door, revealing the harnesses they talked of. Raiden grabbed one that was black with a few details of red on it and walked towards me. "This looks like your size, just let me help you get this on."

Despite my better judgement, I allowed Raiden to help me get into the harness. The raichu used these belt like things to tighten the chest piece of the harness, to the part of the harness that went along my upper back. The fit was a bit snug and felt very unnecessary.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it, promise," Raiden spoke as he gave me a strong pat on the back, triggering me to snap my teeth towards him with a snarl. Raiden just let out a nervous laugh as he avoided my fangs.

"Is this thing really necessary, I feel flat out ridiculous with this on," I grimaced as I looked into a mirror on the wall.

Lily let out a sigh, "You look fine Ryder, besides no one is going to be judging you. I mean it's either the harness vest or nano implants. And once nano implants are in they're in, so I would just be happy with the vest."

"I'm Surprised I even have a say between the two then," I muttered as Raiden and Lily lead me towards the door.

"C'mon, let's get moving," Lily ordered.

I followed the two pokemon to one of the higher floors of the facility, which is actually the highest I've ever been in the Genesis facility. The next room we entered in the facility was actually a wide open room, and contained a helicopter in the center.

Waiting on the left side of the room on a small platform were three pidgeots. Lily and Raiden led me to the platform that we had to take a ramp up to. Raiden waved a hand at the three birds.

"We're ready to head out. You know the destination, right?" Raiden asked.

"Of course," the middle avian spoke. "We're ready to depart at a moment's notice."

"Ryder, have you ever rode on the back of a flying pokemon before?"

"Ummm, I can't say I have" I gulped as I imagined the image of me falling from the sky in mid flight...

"Well this'll be an experience then. Just hop onto a pidgeot and hang on tight. Just try not to look down or use your claws for grip, they'll make sure you won't fall off. Okay?"

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing this," I admitted as I could already feel the air sickness.

"Relax, it's going to be fine. Who knows, you might even enjoy the view."

"I'm not getting on that thing," I lowered my tone as I glared at Raiden.

"Come on, it's not that bad, I promise."

"I'm not falling off that thin-" In mid sentence Raiden extended his hand out and tapped me on the forehead with his finger.

"Shh, it's going to be alright," He spoke in a hushed voice as I felt a surge of electricity travel into my body. Just as I began to fall towards the ground Raiden caught me and began dragging me towards one of the birds that was crouched down. I tried to move my muscles to resist, but my body wouldn't respond.

'Shit, paralysis!' I yelled in my head as I tried to regain control of my numb muscles. 'I'll kill you when this wears off, I swear!'

"Be extra careful that he doesn't fall off," Raiden said as he stationed me on the avians back.

"Understood."

Both Raiden and Lily got onto the back of their own pidgeots and the birds began to flap their wings before they lifted off the ground. As I barely managed to look up I could see a giant hatch on the ceiling opening up enough for us to leave, and with quick speed the pidgeots flew outside of the Genesis base. I hung limply on the pideot's back as I wanted to scream my head off from how high and fast we were moving. Within seconds we were hundreds of feet off the ground, and soon I got a bird's eye view of the world below me.

My heart was racing and I felt the urge to cry as I felt so helpless and like I was going to fall off at any second. As the bird soared through the sky, my eyes drifted downward and scanned the ground below. The whole area we were in now was like some rocky barren wasteland, almost like a desert. While I continued to stare down towards the ground, I felt my breakfast rising up from my stomach, but it never did come up and I was stuck feeling like I was going to throw up.

It took around twenty minutes for my paralysis to wear off enough for me to move again, and when it did I held onto the pidgeot as tightly as I could, and that included using my claws for grip. The bird constantly kept yelling at me to stop using my claws, but I felt no reason to comply. Our trip went on for many hours, and for a matter of fact by the time we were nearing our destination the sun was setting on the horizon. Over the course of our long flight we flew over many forests, rivers, towns, and just about anything you'd expect to see on the way. My uneasiness only slightly went down, but I felt sick most of the journey.

I looked out towards the horizon, and I could see that the sun was setting over a massive city with a giant tower at the heart of the civilization. The memories of the city came running back to me as I remembered my time in Lumiose city. Soon we were flying over the city, and I could see everyone going about their days since we were flying just a bit above the buildings.

"We're landing," the pidgeot I was on said as he dove towards the ground. I clenched my eyes as I felt our speed increase, and within seconds the bird smoothly landed on the ground as he straightened himself out.

"Arceus umbreon, I swear you left some deep marking on me from all that clinging."

Without a second of hesitation I jumped to the ground. To my surprise my legs felt very wobbly like jello and I collapsed to the ground. Lily and Raiden landed on the ground with their own pideots and dismounted them.

"Man, I hate long flights, my back is always stiff from them," Lily complained as she stretched out and popped the joints in her back. Raiden joined us on the ground and collapsed down to his rear on the hard building top.

"That… that was just horrible," I muttered as I stayed on the ground, never wanting to leave its presence again.

"You'll be fine," Lily stated

I was about to make a snide remark about not being fine, but instead I had something else on my mind, "So, what exactly are we doing in Lumiose city?"

"Well, if you paid attention to Rhys you'd know we're here to capture the fourth member of our team," Lily harshly answered.

"I did… but who exactly is this pokemon, Rhys said I knew him, unless he was talking about Raiden?"

"No," Raiden joined in, "You actually do know this pokemon, as do I." Raiden turned his back from me, "Or supposedly it's who I think it is, I honestly just have to see it for myself."

"You're losing me, what're you talking about?"

"Ehhh, nevermind," Raiden sighed, "I'll explain it after all of this is done and over with. Anyways, one of us needs to go check in with our source on the location of our fourth member. Till then you two can do whatever, just leave it to me."

"You sure about that, Raiden?" Lily asked.

"Sure, I got nothing better to do," Raiden shrugged. "So, I'll get started with that now, you two just be ready to meet up somewhere when the time comes."

"Alright, I'll be on standby then," Lily nodded. Raiden gave her a thumbs up, and the raichu headed towards the ledge of the building.

"Hey," Raiden waved to one of the pidgeot, "Mind giving me a lift down to the ground?"

"Sure thing," the bird smiled as he flew over to Raiden and the rodent grabbed onto the avian's leg and was carried down.

"Well," Lily broke the silence, "We'll have a couple hours to kill, give or take."

"You guys can contact me through this harness thingy, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, there is a small microphone and speaker so we can communicate."

"Well, since you guys can get ahold of me, am I allowed to look around the city…? I used to live here and it just kinda brings back memories before a lot of things in my life changed and all," I nervously asked the sylveon, knowing that she'd shoot me down for asking.

Lily gave me an untrusting stare before she answered, "Just don't wander off to far. I'm technically supposed to have you in my sight at all time, but I understand how you feel. Go."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," I smiled towards her.

"Get going, you won't have long, Ryder."

* * *

The sun set from over Lumiose and the street lights all around Lumiose lit up, along with the rings on my body. I walked down the empty streets of an older condo complex in silence as I held my head low. Most of the homes were a bit worn down, but still managed to stay in use. The rings on my body emitted a blue light, lighting the ground near my feet. As I reached the end of the complex I stopped and looked up towards a condo that was familiar to me. I watched it from across the street with a gaping hole growing where my heart once rested.

Only a few lights inside the condo remained on, but on the most part it was dead. I continued to watch in silence as I wondered what everyone was doing. I wondered if they were even home, or if it was just Alex's father occupying the condo.

"I miss all of you so much," I whispered below my breath as I continued to watch.

* * *

**Point of View Ebony**

The night was just beginning and I was already feeling exhausted. I rested on a window sill in a dark empty room. Everyone else in our home was watching TV in the back room, except Flare who was already asleep for the night, or he at least pretends to be asleep at this hour. It was painful watching Flare these past two months, it was obvious he was hurting on the inside. While there has been small steps of improvement, over all he was still very broken over Kana. I too missed Kana. I never did talk a much to anyone, but I still felt that kana was someone who'd listen to me if I needed someone too, she seemed very accepting and thoughtful. I wish I would have been more social with her while she was around, I really wanted to know her, I just felt so shy and like I'd be bothering her. Deep down I knew it wasn't true, but I just still couldn't help but convince myself that I would have annoyed her in some way.

I let out a sigh as I sat up on the window sill and looked outside and towards the sky, until I caught sight of something fading into the darkness, a pokemon emitting a blue light. My eyes grew wide as I watched the pokemon leaving my view from the window, but their was no doubt that it was indeed a shiny umbreon.

"B-Black?" I whispered to myself as I tried to see him, but the window was obstructing me from seeing him down the street. "It can't be… no, it has to be him," I excitedly said as I jumped from the window sill and headed towards the front door. Using some psychic tricks I trained very hard to learn, I managed to twist the knob of the front door open as the gem on my head radiated with light. When the door clicked open I heaved heavily from the strain I caused on my brain. Being a psychic may have had its perks, but for a novice like me it caused a lot of strain and often led to serious migraines if I pushed myself.

Using my paw, I slowly pulled the front door open and escaped without anyone noticing me. I just barely closed the door so I could easily push it open again when I needed to sneak back in. Once I was outside and ready, I ran off in the direction after the umbreon that had to be Black. I knew it was naive to assume any shiny umbreon could be Black, but their was always that small chance that it really was him. And if it really was true then I had to convince him to come home with us.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"That was a lot faster than you said it would be!" I yelled out towards the harness on my body.

The voice of Raiden responded from the other end with the sound of static mixed in, "Well it turns out that I was able to get a precise location of where our target is. Just meet me at the location I mentioned, we'll be meeting you there asap."

"Alright," I grumbled back towards the rodent as I kept up my running pace towards the location he mentioned. When I did reach the street Raiden told me to go to I found them waiting in front of the entrance to a subway system.

"Come on, we'll miss them," Raiden waved for me to move faster.

"They're in a subway?" I asked as we all moved down the stairs into the metro train system.

"Usually we could track him with the nanotechnology in him, but since he's been staying in certain areas we couldn't get a signal on him till recently. We couldn't track him even though he was here, he must be sticking to areas with bad reception. Our source said he spotted our target waiting down here for a train. Apparently he's waiting till a night train so he won't be spotted as easily. And the train he's taking is estimated to be here any second," Raiden urgently answered as we reached the bottom of the steps. The three of us ran below the feet of the few humans in the metro, and snuck right past the area we were supposed to pay for our entry to the subway.

"There he is," Lily growled as she caught a glimpse of our target entering the train, but I just missed what she was looking at. "After him!" Lily yelled as she took off sprinting towards the train. Raiden and I both followed behind the ambitious sylveon and entered in the train cart behind the one our target went into.

Upon entry of the subway cart the two humans inside stared at us with a confused gaze. "We'll wait for the train to start up, we'll get him when he's trapped in here with us," Lily began, "And Ryder, our target is a white umbreon, should be easy not to confuse him with anyone else. Just be careful, this guy can be dangerous."

"Wait! White umbreon!?" I exclaimed in disbelief. I knew Rhys said I knew this pokemon, but I didn't expect it to be this guy out of all pokemon. This is just what I needed though, I still owed him for what he put me and Ebony through.

* * *

**Point of View Ebony**

I fell far behind Black. I managed to stay on his trail, only managing to catch glimpses of him at a time, mostly due to the fact he was a bit faster than me. Luckily it was night, so the streets were a lot less crowded which made it easy to sight him as I chased after him. My chase eventually led me down into a subway system, I just barely managed to catch sight of him departing with two other pokemon on a train. I ran down the stairs of the subway system and towards the bottom where humans paid for entry to the subway. Ignoring the fact I had no money, I ran past it and into the area everybody waited for the trains to arrive.

"Black… I couldn't have lost you," I whispered below my breath as I felt my eyes growing heavier. "No, I can't give up here, I know it was him, it had to be," I said with confidence as I looked around for a pokemon, until I spotted a fletchling sitting on its owner's shoulder. I walked up towards the human with the fletchling.

"E-Excuse me, where did the next train leave to?" I asked.

The avian turned its glance towards me, "I think the next stop is to Elm street avenue."

"You wouldn't have happened to see a shiny umbreon, would you? It's important, please," I nearly begged the fletchling for an answer.

"No I didn't. Is everything alright, did you get separated from your parent or sibling?" The fletchling asked with concern.

"He's my friend, and how far to the next stop?"

"I think it may just be a five minute ride by train, but I'm not exactly sure" the fletchling answered.

My head lowered a bit from the answer he gave me, "That's a bit of a walk…" I whispered before my head rose back up towards the fletchling, "Thank you so much for your help!" I yelled as I ran towards the tracks and jumped down onto them.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" The fletchling yelled as a few humans yelled at me as well to get off the tracks.

'I know this is so stupid, but I can't let him get away. If I keep going maybe I can find some kind of clue at the next station.'

As I ran down the tracks my pace quickened and my muscles began to burn deeply, but I refused to stop when I was this close. And luckily there was enough space between the track and wall to allow a human to squeeze by, so I didn't have to worry about getting ran over if another train did come by.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

The three of us waited for about a minute in the train before Lily spoke up. "It's time, just remember not to kill or cause permanent damage. It's important that we can use him after this." Raiden and I both nodded, and Lily was the one to lead our group. The sylveon used the weird fleshy ribbons on her body to force the door to the next cart open, and on the outside was a very short bridge leading to the next cart. Lily opened the next cart and stormed in as Raiden and I followed behind.

"End of the line, traitor!" Lily rose her voice, catching the attention of a white umbreon lying under the train bench in the shadows.

"It really is you," I growled as the umbreon pulled himself out from the shadows, revealing another pokemon that was resting by his side, one I did not expect to see as she popped her head out of the shadows in utter shock.

"B-Black, R-Raiden?!" Naomi rose her voice as she quickly pulled herself out. "What are you two doing here?"

"You two know her?" Lily shot us a sharp glance, but I didn't worry about her question.

I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing here, Naomi laying right next to our target, practically in each other's personal space. "Naomi, what are you doing here, why are you with him?"

"I guess we both owe each other an explanation, but this is Stark and he's my boyfriend I guess you could say…"

The words 'boyfriend' instantly plucked at my heart strings, and I just stood in complete silence as the world around suddenly felt like it was growing smaller by the second. "Wh-What do you mean boyfriend?!" I yelled out as fury began to pulse through my veins and I wanted to murder that albino demon on the spot.

Raiden was the next one to have an outburst, "Everybody just shut the fuck up for one second!" The raichu lost his cool as his fists tightened to the point that his hands were shaking, "Stark, Naomi, how are either of you two alive, you both died, I know you two died! What is this crap!"

The white umbreon replied to Raiden's question, "Naomi and I were saved by Genesis, and now they want to manipulate us."

"I had to see it to believe it," Raiden spoke with insanity as he grasped his skull with his right hand. "I thought this was all some kind of ruse when I accepted the job, but I went along with it because I was stupid, but you're really alive," Raiden smiled towards Stark and Naomi. "I'm happy, don't get me wrong, this is just a lot to take in all at once."

"That still doesn't answer what I want to know," I growled towards Naomi and Stark. "Just why in the Hell are you with him of all pokemon?!" My voice rose at Naomi as I stomped my paw onto the steel floor.

Naomi froze as she stared at me, unable to form a single word.

"Answer me dammit?! he's a murdering scum that deserves to burn in Hell!"

"Black," Naomi began, but she was still half frozen from my reaction to them. "Stark and I share a lot together, I always mentioned to you that I always had that somebody I loved but never told. Well, Stark was that person this whole time. I thought he was dead this whole time until recently," Naomi quickly spoke in an attempt to defend herself.

"I can't believe you… I… I actually just can't believe you'd see something in him of all pokemon."

"You sound just like my brother," Naomi quietly spoke as her head lowered towards the ground, but she still kept watch over us.

"What do you see in him?" I asked again.

"Black, I don't have to justify myself to you!" Naomi screamed.

"Yes you do!" I yelled back at her, my voice silencing the train cart. "I… I actually cared about you Naomi for a long time. I'm not good at expressing these kind of emotions, but I really do care about you as something more than a friend. So when I see you with a monster like him, it just makes me feel so lost and confused."

Naomi's head lowered along with her ears, "Black. I really don't know how to respond to that, I… I-"

"Okay that's enough romance drama for today!" Lily cut Naomi off. "Okay listen carefully Stark, our boss ordered us to bring you back to Genesis. So, either you come with us peacefully, or we take you and your women by force."

"I refuse to take him back alive," I muttered below my breath.

"Excuse me Ryder, that's not the mission here. So-

I took my first step towards Stark has I beamed a hateful stare towards him. "I refuse to have anything to do with a child killer. I swore I'd avenge Ebony's sister, and nothing is going to stop me!" As I finished saying what had to be said, I charged straight towards Stark with dark matter forming around my right paw.

"Black no!" Naomi yelled as Stark lunged towards me as well with dark matter forming around his right paw. Both of our paws collided and created sparks of dark matters. Just as the two of us flew past each other in mid air I felt Stark's teeth sink into my side and the umbreon took me straight to the ground with him landing on top of me. I let out a loud cry as blood squirted from my wound as his teeth penetrated my flesh.

"That's enough you two!" Lily shouted as the fleshy ribbons on her body got ready to yank us apart.

Using the little moving room I had, I Sank my teeth into the meaty part of Stark's leg. The umbreon's teeth loosened off my side as he grunted in pain and I was able to free myself. Both of us quickly got to our feet.

"Stop this now!" The albino demanded, "I don't want to fight, I already planned on-"

Before he could even finish I shot a shadow ball towards him. Stark dodged out of the way and my shadow ball exploded against the train walls, tearing the wall right open and creating a strong draft. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily's ribbons heading straight at me, so I jumped up on the bench and ran along it towards my target.

Once I was near the other side of the train I lept off the bench towards Stark, but before I could reach him someone tackled into me and we both tousled along the ground. The two of us rolled until we slammed into the bench. On top of me was Naomi, who was staring at me with a pitiful stare that was on the brink of tears.

"Naomi…"

"Just please stop this," She pleaded, but before she could say more I forced myself free by pushing her off me.

"Just get off me!" I got up from the ground, but right as I did I felt something wrapping around my body. The ribbons on Lily's body wrapped around me on different locations to restrain me from moving. The slyveon then lifted me off the ground as I tried to break free.

"Hold still Ryder," Lily said as her head moved in towards my face. The events that followed next shocked me as her lips locked with my own in a kiss that I did not see coming from a mile away. As her lips locked against my own I suddenly began feeling very tired, my body became numb and I couldn't move, almost like paralysis. Lily's ribbons released me and I fell onto the ground, to weak to move an inch, and the closest thing to talking that I could manage was a confused grunt.

Lily spat saliva out of her mouth, "Gross, I never did like how men tasted," Lily commented. "And before any of you ask, it's draining kiss, allows me to suck the energy straight from others." Lily turned towards Stark and Naomi, "Now, I'll ask once more, are you two-'

"I'm… I'm not finished with him," I mumbled out as I tried to overcome my weakness.

"Ryder, you're already in enough trouble as it is, so just shut up for one minute." Lily scolded.

Using what little energy I had left, I pushed myself off the ground, but a bump from the train caused me to fall back down when I was halfway. I tried to get up again, and this time I managed to stand, but with great struggle as my muscles shook and I struggled not to fall forward.

"Ryder, now's not the time for this," Raiden said as he crossed his arms.

"You're all okay with this? You're all okay with a psychotic child killer?"

"I don't really care what he is, just stop being difficult," Lily responded.

"Black, please," Naomi begged, "I don't want anyone to get hurt further."

I looked towards Naomi and saw the desperation in her eyes, I hated seeing her stressed like this in any way, but then my eyes drifted towards the white umbreon. The darkest of my thoughts surfaced in my mind as I contemplated murdering him here, if I did there would be no going back, but I've already traveled down this road once. Murder left a very bitter mark on my life, but would it be considered murder if I was killing someone out of vengeance?

My ears lowered back as the hair on my neck stood and my head lowered towards the ground as I let out a loud snarl that grew louder and louder with each passing second. Everyone backed away from me as a dark force began to grow from my body, dissolving the steel ground near my feet and sputtering into the air around me as the energy let out a hissing noise.

"Ryder, calm down, don't make us hurt you," Lily nervously spoke as my snarls grew louder, and soon became the only noise in the train cart.

"Ryder… just cool off a second, okay?" Raiden tried to reason, but the darkness around me only grew in size.

"This is bad," Stark stated, "He's being completely influenced by the negative energy of his dark matter. Right now his reason is clouded and he's not going to be rational."

"Okay, so we need to take him out?" Lily asked.

"You don't have to kill him, but it may be difficult to stop him without killing him in his current mental state. Honestly, I've never seen an umbreon with this much dark matter, or go this far down."

"Lovely, just lovely," Lily complained as she took a step back from me.

Everything was growing blurry, and moving so fast through my eyes. I felt like everything was caving in on me all at once, and I couldn't take the feeling for another second, it was too overwhelming. I wanted this to all end, everyone around me is just causing me pain in one way or another. If it's not flat out playing me on and throwing me away, it's fuckin using me as a puppet for their own gain. I couldn't take another second of this world's abuse.

"I'm… I'm done with all of you, get out of my way or I'll paint the walls in your blood," I spoke in a whisper as I looked up towards the white umbreon, ready to take his life no matter what the cost was.

* * *

**Chapter End**


	113. True motives

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 113: True motives**

* * *

"It pleases me very much that you have chosen to accept this job, Lily." Rhys sat at the chair in his office as he conversed with the sylveon Lily.

"I'm just doing my job, sir," The sylveon replied, keeping her tone professional."No need to be so formal, it's fine, really," Rhys let out a small laugh from the way he was addressed as 'sir.' "There is one thing we must discuss though if you will be keeping an eye on Ryder."

"And that is?" Lily asked, her ears perking up in interest.

"Pay close attention. This is very important, and I need you not to forget this. I had our psychics look into Ryder's memories, and we learned that the night before I found him something happened. This strange pokemon that shape shifts like a zorua did something to his head… We ran tests on his mind, and his mind isn't quite what it should be for an umbreon around his age. He has a very unhealthy level of stress, but not only that, whatever that pokemon did to Ryder did damage to his brain. There's more, but there is no telling how all of this will affect him."

"So what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Well, there is no telling how he'll react to certain situations. He could be just fine, or he could suffer serious psychological problems, hallucinations, PTSD, or just about anything really, it'd be impossible to predict."

"So, he has mental problems?"

"If you want to word it like that, then yes, but I'm just warning you. If anything occurs where he's to act strange or do anything irregular you need to report it to me. It's important that we understand his mental condition if we're going to utilize him."

"I can do that for you, but if he was to have these mental problems, what would happen to him?" Lily asked.

"Hmmm, It would depend really, we'll deal with that if the time comes. Till then I appreciate you accepting this job."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

**present time**

All five of us remained frozen from the fact that we had no idea what Ryder was going to do next. His snarls only continued as his head hung low with drool dripping from the side of his mouth, but his two red eyes remained fixated on me, not blinking for a second. The dark matter surrounding his body continued to make a loud hissing noise as it ate away at the ground below him very slowly. Just looking at all of this sent chills down my spine, he looked like a demon, and the cause of all of this stemmed from my actions.

"I told all of you to move," Ryder's voice hissed, not sounding anything like the umbreon I thought he was.

Raiden took small steps towards Ryder as he held his hands up to show he wasn't going to do anything. "Ryder, just take a few deep breaths man, you're not thinking straight right now. You have all of us scared right now, so please let's just all take it easy for a moment."

Black's eyes shifted towards Raiden with his pupils narrowing in on him, "Stay back from me," Ryder rose his voice and the dark matter surrounding him intensified, spewing the dark energy all around.

Raiden covered his face as specks of the dark matter splashed onto him, burning the flesh it touched. Despite this, Raiden still pushed forward, "Come on, let's just talk about thi-" Raiden shouted as he extended his hand out towards Ryder and attempted to hit him with paralysis. Ryder let out a loud yell as the energy around him went forward, Raiden quickly dove to the side as he shot a bolt of electrify out of his fingertip, while Black's dark matter ripped another hole into the train's walls. The bolt Raiden shot hit Ryder and the umbreon slammed into the walkway shaking from the electricity coursing through his body.

"Lily give me a hand!"

The sylveon joined in as the dark matter around Black faded into nothing. The sylveon's fleshy ribbons wrapped around Black's body and convulsed around the umbreon just as he regained enough control to squirm. Lily's grip around him only tightened as he continued to resist.

"Hit him with paralysis!" Lily ordered.

Raiden responded immediately as he reached his hand towards Ryder, but right as he did the dark matter around the umbreon returned and flared up enough to send Raiden back The raichu let out a yell, before the back of his skull collided with the steel bench, knocking him out on the spot. Lily let out a loud scream of pain as he ribbons began to burn up and she was quickly forced to release him.

Lily bit down as hard as she could, before yelled at the top of her lungs with fury, "You mother fuc-" Before Lily could even flinch Ryder tackled into her while snapping his teeth down onto her shoulder. The sylveon screamed as she kicked and cried as she was burnt up by the atmosphere of energy around Ryder.

I watched in complete shock as Ryder attempted to kill her, and that's when I decided I couldn't sit idly by while he did this to someone. "Enough!" my voice boomed as I shot a shadow ball straight towards Ryder. The umbreon only managed to look up to see my attack before he was blasted so hard it sent him flying into the train's open wall, leaving a small imprint of his person. Ryder fell to the ground and let out a snarl, before springing back up to his feet and charging straight towards me.

"Black, stop this!" Naomi pleaded as she rushed out from behind me in desperation.

"What're you doing? Get behind me!" I yelled as I grabbed Naomi by the tail and yanked her back just in time for me to shield her from Ryder. With no chance of dodging I closed my eyes as a reflex of fear. Before I knew it I was tackled down to the ground, and Ryder's energy was eating away at me. The pain felt excruciating, like all the flesh around my body was covered in an acid slowly eating away at me. Even with us sharing the same affinity I felt helpless in this state, and my situation only worsened when he pinned me down with his paw.

"This is for Crystal!" Black yelled that same name again, the name of one of the faces of my victims.

'This is the fate I knew I'd meet one day, leading the life I've lead.' My own thoughts echoed in my head as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to block out the pain.

Suddenly the weight off my chest was lifted and the pain ceased to increase. My eyes opened to see a set of black paws standing over me. My eyes travelled upward to realize that it was Naomi coming to my aid.

"Don't you dare!" Naomi sternly growled towards Black with the fur on her back standing up. "I won't let anyone, including you, take anything from me!"

Black froze at the sight of Naomi in this state, the energy surrounding him even began to weaken. "I... I won't let you get in the way of stopping him," Black responded in a low voice before his dark matter returned to its regular state. "If he lives he'll only hurt someone else, and I won't let that happen!" Black ran towards Naomi, and she did the same. Black leapt at her multiple times, but with each attack Naomi weaved around him with her fast feet and snuck in a quick attack, but she was smart enough to use her own dark matter to shield her paws from the burns.

"Stop fucking with me, Naomi!" Ryder yelled as he opened his mouth wide and shot a torrent of dark energy towards her. I watched in terror as Naomi stood in place, completely frozen by the size of the attack. Despite the pain my body was in, I forced myself up and charged straight towards Ryder. My timing was too late and Naomi was hit by the attack. The sound of her agonized cry echoed in my ears and converted into my own fury.

"Ryder!" I roared as I swiped my paw at him just in time to surprise him with a quick attack. Three deep gashes were left on his snout, forcing him to let out a grunt as he covered the gash with his left paw. My body too was consumed by my own dark matter as I repeatedly kept swiping my claws at him, and every few quick attacks I would slam my body into him, throwing him off balance. I continued this process over and over until Ryder was on the ground, covering his face with his paws.

"Stay down," was all I muttered towards him. If I said anything else, I wasn't sure what would come out. Seeing that the fight was mine, I turned from the beaten umbreon and my eyes followed a trail of blood that led to Naomi. "Naomi," I whispered as I ran towards her and tried to think of what I could do to help. My jaw hung agape as my stare stayed focused on the blood escaping from the seared off skin on her right arm. The fur and skin on her limb had been eaten right off all the way up to the base of her neck, revealing the flesh hidden beneath it. Naomi bit down on her lip with her eyes clenched shut, her body shaking from the pain.

"I'm not done yet," a voice growled from behind.

Without looking I muttered towards Ryder, "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" My body spun around and ran towards the umbreon, before a strong ping sounded from atop of the train car. Ryder and I both stopped as we looked up towards the dent on the ceiling. Before I could even process what was going on, an explosion of smoke blew through the ceiling. Out of reflex I hopped back as two figured dropped into the room.

"Now what?" I scowled as the smoke cleared up, revealing two albino pokemon, a vaporeon and a sableye. My head slightly cocked to the side at the two that reminded me a bit of Vincent… or maybe even myself. The two pokemon that stepped into the fight also bared blue eyes that also reminded me of my own. If I had to guess, they're with Genesis. The two pokemon were back to back at first, until both turned towards me.

'This can't be good,' I thought to myself as I shrouded my form in dark matter for protection. In a blurring speed the vaporeon ran at me. As it neared me I lashed my claw towards it, but upon contact I felt my hand splashing into cold water and the part of the water type I hit splashed against the train's wall. I quickly flinched back as I watched the water rejoin with its body, reforming the chunk missing from the vaporeon's head.

"What the Hell?!" I yelled as I shot a shadow ball at the vaporeon. The water type didn't even bother dodging as its body was ripped apart and thrown all over in the form of water. Within seconds of my attack its form rejoined, forming the vaporeon once again.

"What are they going here?" A weak voice spoke from behind. Curiously, I half turned my head to see the sylveon struggling to her feet.

"You know who these two are?" I asked.

"Barely, but Rhys told me about them, and if they're here it can't be good."

"Wonderful," I quipped as I gave my full attention to the vaporeon. The next one to come at me was the sableye, but as he ran to me the Vapreon's body expanded out and created a window of hazy water that blocked my view of the ghost type.

"S-Shit," I muttered as I charged up a shadow ball, but at the top of my vision I made out the sableye phasing through the ceiling. I froze up as the ghost brought his claws down onto me, leaving a deep burning gash travelling down my left shoulder to my chest. I let out a yell as I moved back, but my feet tripped on Naomi and I ended up falling over her.

"You're not going to beat them!" the sylveon yelled at me as she moved towards the back of the train. "These pokemon aren't-" In mid-sentence a loud explosion went off. I felt myself raise up off the ground along with the train, and within seconds everything became a blur. The last thing I could process was flying forward at an alarming speed, but then everything went black.

How long I was out was a mystery. When I did come to, my entire body ached and my head felt like it was being split down the middle. Everything was dark inside the train car, and off in the distance I could hear the echoes of crying, screaming, and yells of pain. I gave my head a good shake to snap out of my daze, and I soon realized that the entire train cart was at a stop, but not only that, the entire car was on its side as well. The only light I could see was a fiery orange that was beaming in from the windows, which mostly casted shadows in the derailed car. My head turned around the room until I found who I was looking for, Naomi.

"Naomi," I attempted to say, before I abruptly spat out my own blood. Ignoring the pain of my body, I attempted to lift myself up, before I felt an intense stab in my side. I let out a whimper as I fell flat on my chest. My eyes traveled down to my side where I found a stray piece of shrapnel in my hip. "Dam-" I spoke, but I spat out my own blood. My head turned back towards Naomi. Other than her previous wounds she didn't look that much worse than before.

Seeing my situation, I know I couldn't just sit in here with Naomi. Those pokemon could still be in the area. Slowly, I reached towards the chunk of metal stuck in my side and bit down on it firmly with my teeth. Through my nose I inhaled a deep breath to help brace myself for the pain. The anticipation of the pain was so strong that my heart was beating against my chest. My grip on the metal tightened and I carefully yanked. My side felt like it was being stabbed all over as I felt the piece of metal slowly slide out of the wound. Halfway through the process the chunk of metal easily slid out along with a lot of my blood. I gasped to catch my breath when I was freed of the metal, but no matter how hard I tried to catch my breath I felt like I just got done running a marathon.

Slowly I forced myself up to my feet and began to limp towards Naomi. When I reached her I placed my head against her chest, and thank Arceus I was able to hear the faint sound of life. From there I placed my snout below her stomach and carefully crawled under her so she was resting on my back. When I went to stand the pain in my side ignited, but I pushed forward and made myself move. I headed towards a large open hole that was ripped into the side of the car from my battle with Black. It was more than large enough for me to get through with Naomi. Before I did completely leave the train cart I glanced back and stared at everyone else who was unconscious in the room. Despite me wanting to help at least Raiden, I couldn't risk Naomi's safety, no matter what her life goes before everyone else's, including my own.

One painful step at a time, I forced myself to continue on until I was outside in the subway tunnel. As I limped along with Naomi, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The entire train was derailed, and at the front of the train was a massive fire, making it impossible to continue on in that direction. Taking my only route, I headed back from the way we went, which would be a long trip in my state.

As I walked along the subway train I spotted a few humans pulling themselves out of the train, some of which were aided by their pokemon. Most ignored me, and I did the same to them, right now I just needed to focus on not passing out. It didn't take longer than a minute of walking for me to be panting with my entire body drugged up on pain.

"You should stop where you are," a voice spoke from atop of the train. I glanced up to see a marowak sitting with his legs hanging off the side of the train as they swayed back and forth. I scowled at the sight of him getting into my business. Unless he was actually going to help, I didn't give a damn what he had to say. I ignored his advice and continued struggling forward.

"Those white pokemon that attacked you, they were specifically trying to kill you," the marowak spoke up again, this time gaining my attention. "Don't feel threatened, Stark, I didn't come here for a fight of any kind. Quite the opposite for a matter of fact." The marowak jumped off the train and headed back towards where I came from. "Sit tight, I'm just grabbing Ryder, we can't have him remaining here, it's too dangerous."

The marowak disappeared for a moment before returning back with Black slung over his shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll send for others to retrieve Raiden and Lily. It'll only be a few minutes before they're retrieved," The marowak went on as he kneeled down in front of me and reached into a bag on his back that I failed to notice earlier. He shuffled around in his bag for a moment before he pulled out a syringe. "Take this, it may not fully recover you, but it'll stop you from dying."

"Who are you?" I asked with distrust.

"Hmm," the marowak's head cocked to the side, before a smirk formed below the skeleton mask of his. "For now call me Rei. I'll give you the truth in private, it's best not to utter my name where anyone can be watching. But, I want you to know I'm the one who sent for your extraction."

"I'm not going to trust you with-" without warning, the marowak jabbed the needle into the side of my neck and pumped the fluids into my bloodstream. Within a split second reaction I smacked the needle out of his hand and attempted to move back, but the result of my sudden movement resulted in me falling flat on my stomach.

"What did you-"

"Relax, I didn't lie to you. What I gave you will keep you going until we can properly patch up those wounds. Now, get up. The Omega squad will no doubt be watching the area to make sure you actually met your fate in the 'train accident.'"

I slowly rose up to my feet, to my surprise that stuff was taking effect really fast. It almost felt like an adrenaline shot, but an effective painkiller at the same time. "And how're you going to protect us if we are spotted?"

"If it really comes down to it, I got some tricks up my sleeve, but for now follow me. We don't have much time, and the faster I can explain things to you the better."

"Fine," I agreed and followed the marowak's lead down the subway channel.

The two of us continued down the subway tracks for quite a ways. It wasn't until the subway train was long out of sight that the marowak started talking again.

"I think we're far enough now where I can start talking about what's going on."

I skeptically glared at the marowak as we walked and talked. "Okay then, who are you?"

"I'm not a marowak for starters. Nope, and it may surprise you that we met once upon a time."

"Don't play, just answer," I growled towards him, but my transgression on got a chuckle from him.

"Names Rhys," the marowak smiled, and the face of an old zorua popped into my head.

"You?!"

Rhys just simply nodded. "Sorry, I didn't plan to meet you like this. I hoped we could have talked somewhere a bit more… comforting for the both of us. But I can't let that get in the way of my mission."

"Mission?"

"Yes," the marowak nodded. "You see; I've been spending a long time assembling a team of the perfect pokemon to fight the greatest threat this world is facing right now." I waited for Rhys to give me an answer, which after a brief pause he did. "Genesis."

"Wait! Don't you work for them?!" I yelled out in utter confusion.

"Mhmm, yeah I do. This is why I've been very careful about the pokemon I've chosen for this mission. Raiden because he has a good heart and can actually understand the good in my actions. Lily because I've known her since she was just an eevee. And there are two other members, but at the moment one is missing, while the other is busy handling another mission to help push us along. And of course a hand picked intel team I assembled, but you'll meet them later."

"What about me then, Naomi, and Ryder? Why us?"

"Naomi was never a part of the plan since I'd assume you wouldn't want her to be a part of this, but I do think we can benefit from someone as smart as her. But isn't it obvious why I wanted you and Ryder? You two aren't any ordinary, run of the mill eeveelutions. You both have gifts that make you living collector items."

"I'm a sickly albino and Ryder has some serious emotional problems… you don't really find this useful, do you?"

"Oh Stark, it's painful to see someone so ignorant about their origin. You and Ryder, you're both two opposite sides of a coin, and neither of you two even realize that you're much closer than you could ever imagine. I'll explain this when you're both conscious though, it'll be a lot easier on me, besides, it looks like we've got company up ahead." With a point of his finger Rhys directed my attention towards the small pokemon running our way down the tracks. She heaved heavily as she closed in on us, only to slide to a dead stop at the sight of us.

The pokemon seemed to only be a younger espeon, only a kid, but that's when it clicked in my head. This wasn't any ordinary espeon, this was the same espeon I ripped her sister from. Suddenly I felt my sins crawling all over my back, reminding me of the heartless choice I made to benefit myself.

The smaller eespeon trembled in place as her eyes froze on me. For a moment her eyes glanced at Black, which made her tremble harder. I took her sister, and I didn't even know either of their names.

Rhys carelessly took a step forward, not realizing who she was, "What's a kid around your age doing around here? You know it's danger down here, right? Are you lost?"

The espeon didn't utter a word to Rhys.

"She's scared of you," Rhys said with his back facing me. "See this Stark? It's the face of what happens when you carelessly take a life, it's the repercussion of your actions. Just think of all those you killed, for every victim there is at least one face like this, just as heart bro-"

"Just stop!" I yelled at Rhys.

"Heh, as you wish, I won't talk about the truth you hide from every day. You may not say it, and you may act like you have thick skin that can't be pierced by guilt, but I know it's all just an act. Deep down inside, you regret every order you took from Jack-"

"I said shut up!" I rose my voice even further.

Rhys just laughed under that mask of his. "Don't be afraid now, my name is Rei, I won't let him lay a paw on you. You're Ebony if I'm correct, right?" Rhys took a few steps towards the espeon before kneeling down.

The espeon 'Ebony' barely managed a whisper below her breath, one that I couldn't make out.

"I'm sorry, you'll need to speak up," Rhys politely asked.

The espeon swallowed the saliva in her mouth before repeating what she said. "W-why do y-you have Black," she stammered.

"This ol' guy," Rhys said as he adjusted Ryder over his shoulder. "Him, he's doing some work with me. It's his chance for atoning for his sins. And it's his way of protecting all of you," Rhys answered.

"I-I don't understand," Ebony sputtered.

"By helping me he's keeping all of you from further harm. Enduring this is his way of making up for endangering all of you. Black only has your best interest in his head."

"Black…" Ebony mused. "So if he's working for you to protect us, then who does that make you?" The espeon's voice rose with a sudden burst of confidence.

"I think it's best if you don't know, for Black's sake. He doesn't want to be remembered for what he's doing, instead I think he'd rather you all remember better times. Now, I'm afraid this meeting must end, little one."

"I'm not leaving without talking to Black! I refuse to believe he's working with Genesis while he's unconscious over your shoulder!"

"That doesn't match the file at all," Rhys laughed to himself. "Weren't you supposed to be timid and afraid of everything? Ahh forget it, it's outdated material, that's all." At a steady pace Rhys began to walk towards the espeon. Her body tensed up as she walked backwards from him, until her backside met with the wall of the tunnel.

"No need to be afraid, kid," Rhys whispered as a purple aura surrounded his hand. "I just can't have you making a scene when I'm on a strict time schedule." Rhys extended out his hand and the aura shot towards the espeon. Her eyes clenched shut as she let out a loud scream before the aura met her and she dropped to the ground. "We'll leave her at the boarding area, from there she should be out of harm's way. Rhys reached down and wrapped his arm around the unconscious espeon and held her against his hip.

"Let's get going Stark, there is much to discuss about the future and the past. Every answer you have will be answered tonight, but in exchange I will ask you to fight this final battle. After, you're a free umbreon."

"That still doesn't fix my small remainder of time left," I scoffed at Rhys as I followed his lead down the tunnel.

"Your condition is easily reversible. While I don't have what we need to fix you now, I will once our true enemy is dealt with. In the meantime I have nanites that were developed just to keep your body from failing you. I've also done the same for Naomi and her brain condition. I know she was given a large quantity of them, but I'd imagine after all that time she's nearly out."

I held my response for a moment after Rhys finished. Here he was telling me to go against the people I was going to for help. In the end I actually had no guarantee that Genesis would take me back, at least he's giving me an offer that might do some good for this world. Still, I had no way of knowing if this Rhys guy was trustworthy. While he didn't seem like a terrible person, I still just couldn't help but be at least a bit skeptical.

"You got somewhere you're taking me right?" I questioned him.

"Mhmm, I secret safe house that Genesis has no way of knowing about."

"Then we'll exchange questions and answers there, after Naomi is conscious. I won't make this decision without her."

"That's fine by me. Back at my safe house I have everything we'll need to treat her. I even have access to Genesis's best medicines, you won't even have to worry about scarring on her arm after that nasty injury, you two will look as if you've never been in this fight to begin with."

"I'm not worried about scars; I'm just worried about her overall safety."

"I understand," Rhys nodded.

* * *

**Two hours later**

It was now very late in the night, maybe a little later and the sun would be coming up. The secret safe house Rhys mentioned was nothing more than an old worn down building that looked like it hasn't been tended to once. The floorboards creaked with each step and lacked carpet, this place was also unheated which made it cold since Winter was just starting. The paint was peeling off the molding walls, and the lights on the ceiling weren't even covered, it was just the bare light bulbs screwed into the sockets.

Naomi was laid out on a low table as Rhys treated her wounds. Ryder on the other hand was wrapped up in a bundle of blankets in the furthest corner of the room. Rhys injected Naomi with a few syringes, and shortly after he was pouring disinfectant over Naomi's skinned arm.

Seeing as this time was good as any other, I decided I would get some of the smaller questions out of the way.

"So," I started, "Who exactly were those white pokemon? you mentioned they were the Omega squad."

Rhys continued wrapping a bandage around Naomi's arm before he responded. "Genesis's newest creation, the fourth kind of pokemon."

"Fourth kind? I didn't even know there were different kinds of pokemon to begin with, unless you're talking about species or affinities."

"No-no, you're thinking of it the wrong way," Rhys stated. "There were naturally two types of pokemon, your average pokemon that you see every day, and then pokemon like you and Black who are one in a million."

"Albinos and shinies?"

"You're still ice cold on the correct answer, Stark. I still can't believe you haven't put two and two together. Do you think Crimson Dawn asked Genesis to reanimate you for no reason? No, there are a lot more pokemon that could have filled that spot if they wanted a normal pokemon to fight with them. It's just like Ryder there, they could have easily found any shiny umbreon, but we both know he's not a normal umbreon, so you don't have to play dumb for the sake of protecting their secrets."

Rhys's retort to me playing dumb actually caught me a bit off guard. "It's not that I'm wanting to play dumb, I just don't know if I trust you over Crimson. Understand?"

"I fully understand, Stark. But I'm not the one that concealed secrets from you."

"Okay then, care to explain further?"

"Yeah, I will. But these answers will have to wait until everyone is well and awake. And even before that I have a lot of explaining to do, Black doesn't quite know the truth of why I brought him to Genesis, he thinks I've been training him to kill Mandus, when really that was a cover up to get him to cooperate. Really, I would like to get the help of Mandus, since his power is unmatched."

"Seems like you're asking for a lot of people who hated each other to suddenly hold hands and cooperate."

"Heh, this whole plan is dependent on people putting aside their differences and assimilating as one. I also aim to get help from The White Reaper, Dawn. If I can convince her to help she can get WPA to join in as well, and only then we'll have a chance of stopping Genesis on time."

"Wait, what do you mean 'on time'?"

"Right, there's a lot you don't know about Genesis yet. While the majority if not all of the workers are in it for money, there leader, R-… Ghost." Rhys paused for a moment before continuing on. "The leader of Genesis, Ghost, he has a plan to forever change this world in a way that he thinks will bring true peace. His plan launches on new year's, and that's just around the corner. If his plan succeeds there will be no stopping him, the fight will be over. Till then I need as much power as possible, we only have time for one good attack."

Before I could ask further questions I heard the sound of shuffling in the back of the room. Rhys and I both turned to see Black tossing and turning before his eyes opened.

"Ahh, Ryder, you're awake. Just in time for a conversation you've been very eager about."

"Who are you, and where am I?"

* * *

**Chapter End**


	114. Aevons and Eons

**Book II: Impending twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 114: Aevons and Eons**

* * *

**Point of view Black**

"Where am I, and who are you, guys?" My eyes darted around the room, and I was quick to make out the white umbreon, Stark, and an anonymous marowak I had never seen once in my life. I gave out a low growl towards Stark and the marowak as I pulled myself from the blankets that were tightly wrapped around me. To me, it seemed like the marowak was an enemy if he was okay with Stark being around. The Marowak took a step to the side, revealing a third pokemon laid out on a low table. My body became petrified from the revealed sight of Naomi on the table. Images of what happened on the subway cart came back to me.

"Who am I?" Marowak laughed to himself rhetorically, not acknowledging my shocked state. "Perhaps you would recognize me in this form?" With a bright flash of purple, the marowak dropped to all fours and shrank in size. With the light dying a small zorua in his older years mischievously sneered at me, like he knew I was going to be shocked when I figured out it was him.

"Rhys?!" My voice rose up in complete disbelief. "Why are you here, and why're you hiding who you are?"

"It's a long story Ryder, luckily we've got more than enough time for explanations," Rhys replied back.

Even though I was a bit curious about what was going on here, I still couldn't stop myself from being concerned about Naomi's condition. I mean, I attacked her with the intent to really hurt her badly.

With my head hanging towards the ground and my eyes averting any accusing stares, I asked, "Is… Is Naomi going to be-"

"You've got a lot of nerve to act concerned about her after what you did," Stark lashed out, his voice booming through the silent room."

I didn't dare utter a word. I hated that bastard so fucking much, but he was right. Naomi was probably going to hate me now; this would probably be the end of us even having a chance of at least being friends. Truthfully, I didn't want to settle for friends, Naomi just felt more special to me in a way, even if she did have an interest in pokemon like Stark.

Even though I knew it was best to shut up about her for now, I just had to at least defend myself, I didn't think I was in the right, but I didn't truly want to harm Naomi. "It wasn't her I was aiming to harm," I spoke in a low voice towards the albino umbreon.

"Then you're truly incompetent of doing anything. No friend would ever hurt a friend like that, you nearly murdered her because you wanted me." Stark showed his fangs as hit tail rose up in an intimidating manner, "I'll promise you this, if you so much as lay a paw on her again and you'll be dead where you stand. Am I clear, Ryder?" Stark's cold voice threatened.

"I'm not scared of you, but I won't hurt Naomi ever again," I retorted at Stark. 'Just you wait though, we're far from finished, Naomi may see something in you, but I know you're dangerous.'

"Anyways, that's enough love between you two," Rhys spoke up as he walked between the two of us. "Now, despite the bad blood between you two, we all are going to be working together on the same mission. But first off, I did promise some explanations on what exactly you two are. But first, I need to tell you the truth Ryder," Rhys turned his attention towards me.

"Huh, what truth?"

"Well, for starters I didn't originally save you to assassinate Mandus."

"You've got be fucking with me!" I yelled at the zorua, but my words didn't get any kind of a reaction from him.

"Now, now, calm down-"

"Calm down!? How can I do that when you're constantly lying!"

Rhys let out a tired sigh, "Hmmm, I can see where the frustration is coming from, but regardless our bargain still stands, for the safety of your friends, you're mine."

I bit down hard on my lip, actually drawing up a bit of blood. I knew if I wanted to protect everyone, I had to just play along with his games, even if that meant being deceived at every corner along the way.

"Then why do you want me here?" I asked cynically, trying with everything I had not to tell him that I was so close to snapping again.

"I want to destroy Genesis." Rhys bluntly spoke. Me on the other paw, I just paused in astonishment from what I was hearing from the fox.

I had to actually think about whether I actually heard that correctly for a second. "Is… is this a trick, are you testing me right now?"

"No, Ryder. The real reason I asked for your help is because I know I can trust you. Not only that…" Rhys stopped what he was saying with a frantic shake of his head, "No-no, starting from there would only upset you. I'll start from the beginning of what I want from all of you, then maybe you will all see the light in my methods."

"Okay, then speak," I spat out, not feeling any more faith in him than earlier.

"Alright then, I'll start from the beginning," Rhys sighed. "Okay, so this all focuses around the man who goes by the name of Ghost. I'll assume you two are unfamiliar."

"Actually, I met him one time. but we didn't talk or anything… I pretty much know nothing about him," Stark inputted, before relocating himself by Naomi's side. He gently stroked his right paw down Naomi's side. For me the scene was unsettling, I didn't want him laying a finger on her.

"So you know his face," Rhys started back up with a pained laugh. "Well, there's a face I've hated from the day I saw it. Understand this, I have no bonds or reasons to stay with him, to me there is no one I would rather see dead. Our fates have been intertwined since the beginning, but to him I'm nothing more than a pawn. Because of these circumstances I have a deep desire to see him gone for good. And to do this I have assembled a plan to assassinate Ghost.

"The two of you, Stark and Ryder, serve a very pivotal part in my plan. You see, not only are you two both special pokemon, but you both know people that can be our assets if reached out to properly. Ryder with his father's connections to WPA, Stark with his connections to Jack Jaegar. And add those connections with my own and we actually stand a chance against one of the most powerful organizations in the world."

"And you think my Dad cares about what I want?" I snorted at him. "If my father really cared he would have been around like most decent dads, but he and I barely know each other. To be honest, I don't even like him that much."

"Yes, but I know your father would go to great lengths to help you, if asked," Rhys responded. "Besides, I have connections with a member of WPA that's quite important. If the two of them truly stand for peace there is no way, they would turn down an alliance. After all, it'll be the only way to stop Genesis on time. And they won't choose to fight without me because they need my knowledge, I know everything about Genesis and Ghost. But if worst does come to worst, I will do what I have to in order to force the leader, Zack, to help me, even if that means using you. That's half the reason you're here." Rhys's words were nonchalant, he had no care on what I would think of him saying those things. I found the zorua hard to read with his blank expression, he never did show much emotion past those smiles I always found fake.

"So," Rhys interrupted my thoughts as I took in his plan. "I did say you both had two functions here, and the second reason is that I want you all to fight with me."

Stark was the first to speak up out of the two of us, "Because you think we're different from normal umbreons?"

"I don't think, I know," Rhys answered. "I promised an explanation to you two, so I'll stay true to my word. But I do warn you to keep an open mind, most would not find this believable."

"After all I've seen…" Stark mumbled to himself.

Rhys cleared his throat, before speaking up in a stern voice, "Well, I'll put it bluntly, you two aren't normal pokemon, and the reasoning behind this is actually a phenomenon we don't know the reasoning behind, but we know about it. We tested your DNA's, and it's confirmed that the two of you both share some unique genes. The both of you are descendants of Legendaries," Rhys finished with a straight face.

My body became still as I stared at the zorua, expecting him to burst out into laughter, or at least sneer or something from the stupid crap he was feeding us. The fact that he was suggesting this to me was ridiculous, I didn't even believe Legendaries were real.

"And you really believe that?" Stark rose a brow with his question.

Rhys gave a single nod, "Yes, not only that, the two of you have shown you have the gifts usually associated with these rare pokemon. You're the second kind of pokemon, a hybrid between mortal and god. This rare phenomenon has only been naturally found in eeveelutions, and only two kinds of half gods have been found, eons, and aevons. Ryder would be the eon of you two. As crimson may have told you, an eon has control over all the different affinities the eeveelutions can evolve to. While the aevons inherited the raw physical strength and mastery over their natural element. Each side also have certain traits, an eon has red eyes, while an aevon has white and black fur."

Rhys continued to give more and more details, until I just found myself unable to take this crap anymore, "Just stop!" I yelled over him, causing him to stop mid-sentence. "I'm not related to a Legendary in anyway, and that's final! I'm pretty sure my mom would have told me if she had an affair with Giratina or Lugia!"

Rhys just gave a disapproving shake of his head, "Right, you're not well educated on how genes and all of that wo-"

"I have a basic understanding, and I'm pretty sure someone would have told me if my great-great-grandma got laid by a Legendary and secondly, I don't even believe Legendaries!"

"Okay then, Ryder, explain how you're able to use other elements?" Rhys snickered.

If it hadn't been for the fact that I needed Rhys to keep my friends safe, I would have walked out of this room at the mention of me being related to a Legendary, but sadly the situation wasn't in my favor. "Well, I believe it's an evolutionary disorder, after all, I never did intend to evolve into an umbreon, I was aiming for a leafeon or jolteon. Umbreon was the second lowest on my list, the last being a sylveon… So maybe due to me trying to evolve into something else something went wrong in the process of my evolution."

Rhys's lips just barely curved into a smile, "Hmm, that's actually an interesting theory, with the knowledge you had I can see why you'd think that, but sadly you're very wrong. The reason you never knew anything about a Legendary ancestor is probably due to the fact that these are genes that rarely surface in individuals, and most that do have these powers never realize it, and lastly, those genes are eternal and never fade away in the mixture of genes from every passing generation. So perhaps these genes have been in your family tree for far longer than anyone can remember, it's also very possible that all these genes are scattered throughout the world in eeveelutions like yourself, passing them on as they breed. You just simply happened to awaken half of your potential."

"You're just spewing with shit; you know that?"

"Alrighty Ryder, play the tough guy, but as master of deception, I'd have to say you're not very good at it. I'd implore you to be more open minded about all of this, but you're too bitter to accept a single word I speak. So hey, don't listen to what I'm saying. Would that make you accept the truth any better, if I just tell you the opposite of what you need to hear?"

The boards of the floor creaked as I pressed my paw tightly against it. With each word that came from this guy I found myself struggling more and more to not hit him or just do anything to stop him from speaking his deluded words.

"I'm done talking with you," Was all I could manage without having another break down.

"Hmmf, have it your way, Ryder. But before you storm off in a fury, just know that we've got lots of work to do. Quite honestly I couldn't care less what you believe and don't believe, soon the truth will be before you, what you think after that will be up to you."

"Are we done?"

Rhys tipped his head, before reverting back to the form of that marowak from earlier. "I have no further words to waste on you at this moment. Just know that I don't want you leaving for too long, after the three of you recover we'll have work to do."

"Fine," I hissed with a roll of my eyes as I went towards the exit. When I did find my way to the streets, I made sure to put a good amount of space between me and the hide out Rhys chose, but not so much I couldn't find my way back. The hour was late, no one was even out at this time, which was how I liked to spend my time in Lumiose. It was at hours like this that I could actually enjoy the city, even if I did have to watch for the occasional thugs and what not.

* * *

**Point of View: Take a guess…**

Well, it's been awhile since anything has really happened on my part. Things have been… interesting since last time. Example: Everything has sucked, hard! Now here I am, wandering all around Kalos with a very unstable snake lady… Yeah, not the best pick in companionship, but I guess I'm just desperate now to not to be alone. It's been a hard few months, each step along the way wearing me down more and more. With some honesty, I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my life. Constant thoughts of David didn't help with this either, there wasn't a moment I didn't have him on my mind.

Psycho lady Lucy has a busy life for someone without a purpose. Ever since she 'begged me' to come along… Okay maybe it wasn't like that, but we'll call it a mutual agreement to team up, but since then things have been very busy. We're always travelling, and she's checking out these areas in search of this Rhys fella. Not only are we searching, we're stealthing all of this to. Lucy has pretty much forbidden me to do a list of things, she says It'll blow our cover. I can't really understand what she's talking about though, I mean I was always good at the stealth video games back when I was living with David, so it should apply to real life, right?

So our jolly adventures brought us to quite the place. The best way to describe things here is that it's snowy… like really snowy. And as a charmander, I can't really say I'm fond of snow twenty-four-seven. Lucy guided us through a small city as I hugged myself tightly. Wrapped around me was a long navy-blue scarf I borrowed from a kid that set it down for a little too long while playing with his friends. Despite knowing that it was wrong, I still needed to keep warm. I mean the kids mommy will buy him a new one anyways. But even with the scarf nestled around my body I still found myself shivering. Lucy on the other vine (Get it!) just carried a backpack on her person. She picked it up shortly after we left Shalour, but not once has she showed me the contents. Apparently, whatever was inside was very important to her. At times I would try to get a peek at her little secret, but it always resulted in her whipping me multiple times with those vines. She was nice though, she didn't use the thorns and stopped by the time I was begging for mercy.

An ice cold whip of wind kept coming through the air, nearly blowing out my tail flame each time. Just to be sure I wasn't going to die, I had to hit my tail with a flamethrower just to make sure it didn't give out. The buildings around us didn't do much to shield us from the punishing elements. But maybe that was because their size didn't do much to scratch Lumiose city's colossal buildings.

Another ice cold breeze shot through the air. My hands tightened around the scarf as I blew a small flame to help warm myself. Lucy didn't seem to mind the cold as much as me, which was bizarre because her kind were weak to ice, and my kind weren't… I had it in my head that she was some kind of super pokemon, I mean she already freaky thorns that come out of her vines when she wants.

"I'm cold," I stated in a whine as the flurries of snow falling from the sky blinding my vision.

"We're fine," Lucy casually spoke.

"No, you're fine," I argued in a hushed voice, knowing that this would probably upset her.

"Hey, you're the one who insisted on coming with me. You're welcome to crawl back home whenever you want."

"Home?" I repeated with amusement. Of course I had no home, it was a bit late to go crawling back to my old trainer, whatever her name was. "Heh, remember Luce, I don't have a home."

"Right," the walking snake lady said with a shrug. "You're too annoying to even get captured, and you're a charmander. I mean those amateur kids pretty much wet themselves at the sight of a fire breathing lizard like yourself. Do you realize how easy it would be to land a cushy spot with a human?"

"Oh no-no-no-no, I'm not putting up with any snot nosed brats. I mean seriously, can you see a cool guy like me taking commands from a kid who just graduated from elementary? I mean I'm old enough to be their uncle or older sibling, but if I was their pokemon I'd have no authority. And let's be honest, little kids aren't any fun without the authority to mess around with them and get away with it."

Lucy let out a small chuckle, and while I couldn't see her, I imagined that got a small smile out of her. "Very well, you made your point. I guess a warm bed wouldn't be worth being a child's pokemon."

"Heh. Let's also remember that children are amateurs on properly accommodating for cool pokemon like me. I mean, I'm so hot I'd set the house on fire if they didn't prepare it right. And then I'd be back out on the streets again, with nothing."

"Yeah…" Lucy's voice became a whisper, "That would be a tragic loss."

I felt that something was all of a suddenly a bit off, but then it dawned on me. Of course the mention of a house fire would trigger that thing she mention about her childhood home. Remembering that made my chest feel a bit empty, even if she was waaay too sensitive over the topic. I mean just the mention of anything along those lines would set her off, luckily this was my first time setting her off.

"Hey, sorry," I meekly began. "I probably shouldn't have remind-"

"I don't care," Lucy gave a shrug. "It's messed up, but I'm not looking to get offended at every chance I get. So don't sweat it." Lucy turned back as she partially withdrew one of her vines and allowed it to coil over her shoulder. The extension of her body withdrew a few of its thorns, but didn't prick her due to her being able to control which thorns came out. "But, make a joke about it, and I'll wring you out like a wet rag. Kay?"

I gulped at the morbid threat as I quickly nodded up and down, "Yeah-yeah, I wouldn't tease about that…"

"Good," Lucy sneered, before retracting the slithery vine after her thorns sank back in. I had to wonder though, how painful would it be if she let her vines back in while the thorns were still out? No doubt it would probably tear her insides up quite a bit, I'd even say it would kill her. The thought was a bit unpleasant, since I could see the mistake easily happening in the heat of battle, or even from a careless mistake when making threats towards me.

"Hey," Lucy grabbed my attention. "Let's stop wasting time and get a move on. We don't have a lot of time for this stuff." Lucy hastily picked back up on the path she was taking down Snowbelle.

"Ay, wait for me!" I called as I caught up to her pace. "You know, you're doing all this rushing, and for what? To deliver something to this Rhys guy? Can't you just let me get a peek at what's inside?"

Lucy continued her pace, but gave a hostile glare out the corner of her eye. "Then that would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"Tff, c'mon, I love me a good spoiler!"

Lucy took her eyes from me. "Stick with me and you'll find out when I find Rhys. Till then, it's too important for anyone to know what I'm carrying. Rhys entrusted me to protecting it, and it's important I get it to him by the end of the year. And as you can tell, we're very close to running out of time."

"Ughhh, you're really no fun, you know that?"

* * *

**Point of View** **Flare**

I've lost track of how late it was in the night, but I'm sure it was late enough to justify being in bed. Yet all of us were awoken when someone appeared on our doorstep with Ebony, apparently the police found her passed out in a subway just shortly after a terrorist attack. When Alex had the entire mess sorted out, he just sat Ebony down on a recliner in the living room and exhaled a relieved breath before he pressed his palm against his head. A moment of silence went by where the room was silent, but Alex was quick to shatter that.

"Well thank God you're safe. I honestly didn't even know you were gone." Alex removed his palm from his forehead. "But did I not make myself clear back in Shalour?" Alex's arms crossed as he gave the espeon a frustrated look.

"I… I…" Ebony stuttered as her paws began to tremble.

Alex's arms fell to his side as his face loosened with a more composed expression. It didn't take more than seeing the frightened eeveelution for him to realize she was very shaken up and possibly even remorseful, or at least in his eyes he saw that. "Look, I'm not trying to scare you, Ebony. But, I really can't afford to have you guys running out getting into more trouble. I know you didn't intend for that to happen, but maybe stay inside when it's dark, I mean this is a city, things happen this late at night. The last thing I want is for someone to end up abducted or dead in a ditch somewhere. Things were just starting to look up, so I was hoping we could keep things that way. So can you promise me that you won't go out this late in the night again? If so, I promise to let this go." Ebony didn't respond to Alex at first, but our human just waited patiently for an answer.

After about ten seconds passed by, Ebony gave one firm nod of her head. Alex's lips just barely curved as he roughed up the fur on her head. "Alrighty, get some rest." Alex released her head and headed upstairs to go back to sleep.

Left in the silence of the living room was Hesh, Ebony and myself. Despite being a bit tired and still not in the mood for anyone's drama I stuck around to see what Hesh had to say to Ebony. The pikachu approached the espeon shortly after she jumped off the recliner Alex had set her on and placed a hand over her shoulder. Ebony looked down at his hand, before her eyes travelled up his arm until she met his own eyes.

"Is everything alright? It's not like you to go out like that. What is this, some kind of rebellious phase?"

Ebony gave a small shake with her head.

"Talk to me then."

Ebony's stare went towards the ground as she fidgeted in place for a few seconds, before she gained the courage to respond. "I… I saw something," She began quietly, before raising her head up. "I was on the window sill looking out on the street when… I saw a shiny umbreon."

My ears perked up from the mention of this umbreon. It couldn't really be who she was implying it to be, could it? I mean she obviously thought it was him if she was chasing after him. If she really did believe that, then she's wrong, Black abandoned us, he wouldn't be lingering around. I know him, he probably wouldn't even step foot in Lumiose after what happened.

"And you thought it was Black?" Hesh skeptically asked.

"It was!" Ebony rose her voice in frustration. "I followed him, but by the time I actually caught up to him he was being carried off by some marowak and…" Ebony paused as a shiver ran through her body, quickly silencing her tongue, but when she regained the strength to talk her voice was frantic and filled with stammers, "The white umbreon, Stark, was there too. I confirmed that it was Black, and I wanted to stop them, but the marowak did something to me."

"It's alright," Hesh cooed as both of his arms wrapped around her and pulled her against his chest. "I believe you. Even if I can't understand why."

"Black was in danger, and I let that white umbreon take someone else from me! He's going to kill Black, and I know it!" Ebony choked as she began to sob in Hesh's arms. The pikachu held on as tightly as he could as Ebony buried her face in his chest. Hesh eyes were casted on me and at the moment I knew where this was heading.

I pried myself off the couch before I spoke, "You're wanting to do something about this, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah," Hesh responded back. "I mean he did leave us at a bad time, but dammit he's still one of us," Hesh spoke with some kind of passion in his voice, like we were all one big family or something. The thought would have been amusing at one point, but now I couldn't think of it like that. I wasn't sure what I thought of Black at this point, but one thing was for sure, if I never met him Kana would still be here right now. We would still be on our journey; we wouldn't be where we are now. Because of Black our life took a very sharp turn down shit-lane.

"You know," Hesh continued on. "I remember you and Black were pretty tight at one point-"

"That was before Kana died," I spat out. "All of that friendship stuff was before Kana died. Kana was my best friend, had I known I had to choose her life or Black's I would have given Black up in an instant. I would not have let Black stay with us-"

"Okay that's total crap and you know it!" Hesh lashed out at me as he released Ebony and tightened his fists.

"And what do you know?" My voice became a low growl as smoked fumed from my nostrils. The fact that Hesh was trying to act like he had all of this under control was just infuriating. Kana was the only one who truly understood me, and not even she knew everything about me.

"I know for a fact if the old Flare was presented with that choice he would have said screw options A and B. Instead, he would have fought for his friends, because he was just too stubborn to let go of either of them go. We all knew the consequences of what could have happened if we let Black stay, yet we thought it was worth fighting for someone we cared about. I know what happened to Kana wasn't something we wanted, but she wouldn't want us to be hung up on her death either. She'd want us to continue on," Hesh finished and the room was silent.

About ten seconds passed before I was able to answer Hesh, "Stop talking like everything is okay. You barely knew Kana, you wouldn't understand what it's like to have something like that yanked from your life."

"Hmmf, you're right." Hesh gave a single nod. "I enjoyed talking to Kana. She was a fun jolteon, but in the end I didn't ever really have any deep conversations with her. In the end we were just two pokemon intertwined by our trainer. But saying I don't know loss… that's the most ignorant thing you could possibly say to me," Hesh's voice became very cold, almost unsettling. "Remember what happened to my friend back in Ambrette? Yeah, that charmander Connor. He was a close friend of mine, and I spent weeks searching for him without rest. Then when I did finally find him, he was dead. I can fully comprehend the pain of not getting to say goodbye to your friend, it's a terrible feeling, and I feel terrible that you never even got any closure. But you're going to have to stand back up one of these days, or what's the point of even living?

"And I'm not the only one either. Ebony lost her older sister, and she's just a kid, Alex lost his mother, Gray suffered through watching all of his friends in the WPA die, and Black lost most of his family in one night. My point is, all of us have been through something, because this world isn't fair. And you can try and ice everyone out and play the victim, but that isn't going to fix any of your problems, because everyone has been a victim at some point or another."

My ears lowered as I was reminded of what happened to Hesh's friend. Ever since the Pikachu never moped or acted aloof because of his feelings. Hesh moved on instead and chose to come with us and started over… Upon the realization that Hesh wasn't just being ignorant of my feelings, I began to actually feel bad. My feelings towards Kana weren't relieved, but maybe it really was time to try and walk forward.

"Maybe you're right," I spoke in a barely audible volume.

"What's that?" Hesh asked.

I cleared my throat, before repeating myself. "I said… you're right."

A smile formed on Hesh's face, "And you just made your first step forward. I know it won't be easy, but you got all of us to fall back on, and we're not letting go."

"Thanks for that, I probably needed to get yelled at a bit."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Hours had passed since Black stormed out of the safe house. Rhys followed after him, which just left me to watch over Naomi. I now had her nestled in the bundles of blankets Black previously occupied when he was unconscious. Everything about Naomi seemed to be fine, the injection Rhys gave her seemed to be working well, her cuts and bruises were already starting to heal up slowly, but still at an impressive speed.

The confines of this old run down home were pretty quiet. You could probably hear someone drop a coin from across the building. The only sound I did hear were my occasional yawns and Naomi's soft breathing pattern. Watching her didn't bother me in the slightest. Naomi spent many nights up late comforting me when I thought I was going to die from my condition, she also went to great lengths to get me medicine, when it should have been impossible for a wild umbreon to get it. For that, I wanted to watch over Naomi and do everything I could to help her. I knew this didn't compare to what she went through, but it was a decent start.

Time continued to go on, and before I knew it I was nearly asleep while in a sitting position. It wasn't until I heard the sound of a grunt that my eyes peered open. I watched as Naomi moved back and forth with her eyes moving below her eye lids. A few more seconds of this passed by before she came to and her eyes slowly opened. I greeted Naomi with a smile, but her confused glances begged for an explanation on what was going on.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" I asked in a soft voice, not wanting to agitate her in any way.

"I'm fine," she spoke in a groggy whisper. "But where are we? What happened back in the subway?"

That flimsy smile I wore was quick to fade away. While I knew the topic was inevitable, I still yearned to postpone it just for the sake of avoiding stress. Right now neither of us needed it, and if I had it my way we'd just save it for tomorrow. But regardless, Naomi wanted an explanation, so I would give it.

"Well," I started as I collected my thoughts. "You may remember being attacked by a group of albino pokemon, or maybe not?"

"No I remember that. Barely, but I do."

"Right, well they derailed the train," I stated bluntly.

"Wait, they what? How're we alive?!" Naomi panicked as she tried standing, but as she put weight on her burnt arm she let out a whimper.

"Take it easy. I'll catch you up," I told Naomi as I gently patted her on the back. I wasn't sure if it worked, but it made me feel better about her pain, so it did something for one of us.

"Is everyone alright, what happened to Raiden and Black?"

"Raiden's alright as far as I knew, Rhys mentioned some friends dealing with them after the crash, whatever that means." Now that I thought of it, what exactly did happen to the sylveon and Raiden? I harbored no feelings over the sylveon, but Raiden was a comrade at one point in my past life, so the thought of him dying wasn't exactly pleasant.

"What about Black? He's okay, right?" Naomi pressed for an answer, and for some reason that sent tingles across my skin. How could she care about him after what happened? He tried to kill us, and while it may have been partially due to the manifestation of the dark matter, he is still accountable for his own actions. Had Naomi been severely injured, that puny umbreon would have been brutalized to death by my own paws.

I gave out a small breath, and gave her what she wanted, regardless of my feelings. "Black's fine, better than the rest of us. But I do want to talk about him real quick." Naomi tiled her head a bit with a curious look, but waited for me to go on. "So, what exactly is the history between you and Ry-… Black."

Naomi's breath stilled for a moment as her eyes seemed to blank out for a second from the question. I didn't like that look in her looked like someone who got caught in a lie and didn't know how to retort.

"I mean, I remember what he said on the train, he had feelings for you. And I can tell you two have spent some time together since I've-" I stopped for a second as I searched for the right words. "Since I've been absent."

"It's not like that," Naomi uttered. "I mean… we were friends, and…" Naomi found herself unable to find the proper wording, which was something new for her.

"Just be honest with me," I sighed out. "While I don't like Black in anyway, I do understand the conditions. You thought I was dead, and you had no way of knowing. So, all I ask is your honesty, I'm not mad with you." I tried my best to be nice about all of this. Of course there was something up with those two. While I may have hidden it, the thought of Black with her just enraged me.

There was a moment of silence before Naomi could bring herself to answer, but when she did her voice was very serious. "Black and I were friends, while I'll admit if you gave us enough time that may have changed, it never evolved past us going on mini dates if you'd call them that. It wasn't a serious relationship, we never kissed, we never had sexual intercourse, we were just kind of getting to know each other before anything else. Or at least in my eyes that's how I saw it."

"But, you liked him? I mean what did you like about him, was it his personality, was he attractive, or-"

"Stark," Naomi cut me off. "Are you insecure about us?" Naomi asked, her eyes peering into me like daggers.

I felt a small blush coming from beneath my fur, I never originally intended for me to get this invested in this topic, I just wanted a simple quick answer. Yet here I am becoming very interested in what Naomi was up to while I was gone.

"Listen," Naomi started. "I'll admit I liked Black, but that doesn't change you and me. I chose you, and I don't regret that decision at all."

"Sorry," I blurted out, which got an odd glance from Naomi. "Umm, for all the weird question and all. I'm not trying to accuse you or anything, it's just weird when I don't know what you've been up to with him. I'm really not trying to make this weird, or come off as if I'm angry with you."

"It's fine," Naomi beamed a smile at me. "Honestly, I just find it cute seeing you all worked up over this, and it's kind of sweet seeing that you actually care."

I let out a relieved sigh. This is why I liked Naomi so much, she wasn't out looking for drama, she was simple and understanding. No fights, no unneeded drama and she was honest with me when she could have easily concealed the truth. But now seeing that all this was taken care of, I did need to give Naomi a proper explanation on what was going on.

"Well that was heartwarming," I joked, "But now we need to talk about what's going on, you missed a lot while you were out.

Naomi agreed to hear what I had to say, and we carried out a long conversation on what all happened. I told her everything from the Omega squad, to Rhys taking us in, to Rhys also wanting our help. On the other paw, I did leave out that I may or may not be some weird god offspring of some kind. I wanted to bring it up, but that was a topic for another day. Maybe it was more that I needed time to actually choose whether I believe it or not, because it was a bit farfetched as Black said earlier.

It wasn't until I was nearly done recapping things for Naomi that the front door to the safe house opened. The first noise to come through the building was a frustrated snarl, followed by a few witty comments between two people that I couldn't make out.

"Seriously, bite me you prick!" Black's voice echoed through the empty building.

"Black please, I am getting a serious headache from your behavior. I'm getting old, and you're going to put me in an early grave."

"Then don't stalk me when I'm trying to get some privacy!" Black snapped back as he was carried into the room by a zoroark that I presumed was Rhys. "Now let me go, we're back!" Black hissed at him.

"Oh no, not until you promise you're going to calm down. It's either that or I mellow you out with mind tricks."

Black tried pushing himself free from the zoroark, but the bipedal fox's arms only tightened more around him.

"Alright, alright, fine!" Black shouted. Rhys let out a frustrated exhale, before releasing Black. The umbreon landed on all fours, before he noticed that the two of us were watching the whole scene.

An awkward tension filled the room as Black's eyes glanced at Naomi, before averting eye contact completely. Naomi didn't even speak a word; all conversations were just gridlocked.

"Well, I'll be the one to alleviate this situation," Rhys said as he reverted back to his zorua form. "You two don't need to necessarily talk out what happened now, for we'll be parting ways tomorrow."

"Wait, what?" Black and I both asked in sync. We both noticed this and casted each other glares, for whatever reason.

"Yes, you heard me right, tomorrow we'll be going our own ways. We have a lot of ground to cover, and we won't cover it on time if we're all working together. Instead, we must disperse separately across Kalos to accomplish our goals before the new year."

"I'm not parting from Naomi," I quickly stated.

Rhys just chuckled at me. "I didn't intend to do that. Naomi was never a part of the original plan, so it's easy to throw her in wherever convenient. Now, I have taken liberty of creating these teams already. Team one will be composed of Me, Black-"

"Dammit," Black muttered below his breath.

Rhys rolled his eyes at the remark, but continued on anyways, "As I was saying, it will be composed of me, Black and Lilly. Our team will be heading out to make an alliance with WPA. Team two will be made up of Stark, Raiden and Naomi. You three will be focusing on making a pact with Jack's pokemon, and then using Black to hire an army of mercenaries. You two will be provided money to pay them for their services. But with Jack's connections you'll be able to get the best of the best.

"Now, are there any questions?" Rhys asked as he looked around the room, and when his eyes met my own I rose my paw.

"So how exactly am I supposed to convince the man who nearly murdered Naomi and I to help us? We're not exactly on good terms."

"Right, well let's be honest. Jack is the type of man to put the money before his personal feelings. So, as long as you two don't antagonize him in any way, the money should be his voice of reason. Of course be careful around him, I wouldn't ever trust him for a second."

"Neither would I," I agreed.

"Now that that's set up, everyone needs to get a good night of sleep. If you think you'll struggle to do that, then just ask me and I'll simply use night daze. Now, I leave the rest of the night to you. Feel free to ask any questions."

When Rhys finished Naomi and I swapped glances. "Well, you're up for this, right?" I asked Naomi.

"You said that Rhys would cure you if we helped, so I don't see any other way if I want you to stay alive. So yeah, I'm fine with this," Naomi's words became quiet near the end of her sentence. I had a feeling to why, and I intended to find out.

"And what about seeing Jack again, that doesn't bother you in the slightest?"

"It does," Naomi confirmed. "A lot to be honest. But, I'm willing to put that aside for your health, besides I still have you now. So in the end I really don't care about fighting. It's over for me, we'll do this one last thing with Jack and after that I plan to isolate him from my life."

"Heh, I couldn't agree more." I nodded my head in agreement. "Anyways, we should be getting some rest, we'll have a lot more travelling to do in the morning."

"Sure."

Rhys had some blankets set out, which Naomi and I both bundled some together to create a nest for us to sleep together in. We both curled up in a pile of soft blankets. Naomi was curled into a ball, while I rested against her with my head resting on her side. As I tried to drift off, I focused on Naomi's breaths, I found them soothing to hear, so I allowed them to be my lullaby.

* * *

**Chapter end**

* * *

**Author Note:** Sorry about the lengthy time between updates... I've been busy so my writing time has been sparse lately. Luckily, things are shifting back to normal for now, so I should be back to updating assuming nothing changes. Hopefully everyone enjoys the new information that has been revealed and you can expect more to follow in future chapters :)

Thanks to genricgamer207 for editing this chapter.

**Fun Fact:** This chapter was written in multiple countries on the crappiest Ipad keyboard I could find...

**Question: **I know I should be able to gauge this myself, but does the pacing of this story seem a bit too slow as of recently? I've been trying to make sure the pacing of this story is flowing well, and at the same time I also worry that I rushed a bit too much in some spots? I don't know if anyone has an input on this, but I'm curious what others think.


	115. The forked road

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 115: The forked road**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

I felt as if I had gotten no sleep the previous night. I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep with all the discomfort I was feeling. Being trapped in a small house full of people you resent will usually do that. Of course, that list excluded Naomi, but I still didn't feel satisfied with her choices. Though the feelings were mutual towards my own choices over the recent events. It didn't matter, anyway. Now we were going our own ways and we wouldn't be meeting until our journey was near its end.

The scent of a salty burnt meat met my nostrils. It smelled like bacon. Never before have I actually had it, but whenever Alex made it for himself I thought it smelled very interesting. I stood from the blankets I had bundled up into a bed and headed towards the smell that aroused a grumble from my stomach. I couldn't really remember the last time I had ate, but it wasn't after I departed on that mission with Lilly and Raiden. I stumbled across the house, still half asleep, until I made my way into what would have been a dining room in any normal house, which was also connected to the kitchen.

A curious scene played out in front of me. To my surprise, Lily and Raiden had snuck into the safe house we were in and the two were preparing a breakfast along with Rhys, who was in the form of a greninja. The three didn't even take notice of me, cooking with skills that would rival any chef. Lily would toss eggs across the kitchen and Rhys would catch them in his hands without looking. He would then crack them open with quick precision, before flashing to the trash to throw them away and then moved in a blurring speed to collect all sorts of different ingredients. Raiden manned the bacon and sausage. This was actually quite amusing. The three were completely in sync and made cooking seem badass. Even with my hate towards the three, I still had to respect the skill they were putting into this.

Without looking, Rhys began talking to me as he grabbed a pile of sausage from Raiden and began slicing it up with a water star. "Ahh, Ryder, would you mind waking up Naomi and Stark. Breakfast will be done very shortly."

I remained too puzzled to acknowledge his request.

"What? Never seen an elite team of pokemon make breakfast before? It's an essential skill when surviving on your own. Now, chop-chop, everyone needs to be up so we can get through this morning as quickly as possible."

"Umm, right," I gave an uneasy nod as I turned in the direction of Naomi and Stark. I navigated through the house until I found the two umbreons curled up together. For a few seconds I watched the two. They looked so peaceful, and for a moment it was easy to forget that Stark was a murdering scumbag that Naomi loved. The thought still repulsed me. How could she choose him over me? It was terrible that Rhys asked me to wake them up. I wasn't quite over how I hurt Naomi and it was a bit hard to face her after I snapped on everybody.

I ignored my emotions for a moment and cleared my throat before raising my voice at the two. "Hey, wake up, Rhys has breakfast made." No response. I walked up to the two and began nudging Naomi with my paw, "Hey, come on, we've got things to do." Naomi let out a grunt, before her eyes peered open, revealing two confused crimson orbs.

"Morning," I quietly spoke, trying to keep the awkwardness out of my voice off.

"Oh, hey," Naomi replied, sounding a bit startled to see me.

"Umm, Rhys is making breakfast. He wants everyone up. So…"

"Yeah, I'll get Stark up," Naomi nodded as she stood up and stretched out her body with a tired yawn. I slowly walked away, but I watched Naomi out of the corner of my eye. There really had to be a way to win her over; I wasn't ready to accept failure.

I strategized different plans in my head until I was in the kitchen with Rhys, which he was now mixing a giant pan of scrambled eggs with all sorts of meats, veggies and cheeses together.

"Hey, Rhys," I sternly spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"I want to change the teams up, put Naomi on mine."

"Oh?" Rhys said as his brow rose, and despite the tongue scarf, I could see that sneer he was wearing. "And Naomi wants this?"

"Ummm, no-"

"Then I'm not doing it," Rhys stated.

"What? Why!"

"Many reasons. One, you nearly killed her; two, Stark and her are together so they'll be more in sync with each other; three, the WPA probably won't like seeing her; four, I know what this is about, and believe me you're not in the position to win her over."

"What?" My heart skipped a beat. "I just don't feel that she's safe with St-"

"And because you think you can still convince her to be with you," Rhys cut me off. "Believe me, love is a tricky road, but now is not the time for that. Let Naomi and Stark be. When we complete our mission and our lives stabilize then you'll have a good chance to talk to her. Or maybe you'll find someone entirely different, there are lots of pokemon out there."

I took a step back as I scowled at the fake greninja. "Ummm… I wasn't asking for advice, and it's just weird coming from you."

Rhys laughed to himself. "Heh, probably. But here, I'll let you have the first plate." Rhys moved in a flash for a split second and returned with a plate. In a quick speed he scooped up the scrambled eggs and placed it on the plate for me. "Enjoy."

"Umm, thanks, I guess." If I had hands, I would be scratching my head in confusion right now. Instead, I grabbed the plate in my maw and took it into the other room. As I went to find a spot to sit down, Naomi and Stark were just now entering in this area.

"Wow, that almost smells good enough to eat," Naomi commented with a smirk.

"Thank you," Rhys said as he flashed in front of Naomi and Stark with breakfast, nearly giving the two a heart attack.

I watched Naomi and Stark for a second as they found a spot away from me to eat, but I just decided it was best to focus on eating, besides, I was starved. When I did take my first bite I froze for a second as I let the juices of the meal spread out onto my taste buds. 'D-Damn, this is actually really good. Why the hell does he know how to cook so good?' Needless to say, I scarfed down the whole dish, and while I was full, I still wanted more due to it being so delicious.

"Anyways," Rhys rose his voice as he shifted back into a zorua. "Today we part ways. I've packed bags for everyone containing everything you'll need. A map, a tablet device for communication or for any purposes necessary, which also can't be traced in any way, even by Genesis. Also, Naomi and Stark, I have supplied you two with a sufficient amount of nanite meds to keep you two going for the month we will be separated. When we meet again I will resupply the two of you. Directions for the nanite meds are on the containers, and don't mix them up.

"As stated, the members of team one is Ryder, Lilly and myself. Team two is Stark, Naomi and Raiden. Very detailed directions have been placed in your bags, which will lead you to your destination from here. While I can't promise Jack Jaegar is at that location, it will most certainly be a good starting point for finding him. Also, this last detail is crucial, even if you fail your mission. On your map I have your mission marked, and a meeting spot. It is crucial we meet there by December twentieth, before the new year. That will leave us around ten days to commence our battle against Genesis before their plan launches. It is pivotal that we all meet there with forces to combat Genesis, if not it won't be possible to stop Ghost. Questions?"

"Yeah," Naomi spoke up, "This tablet device, how're we going to use it? I mean will it be able to pick up Raiden's fingers? They're usually just for human fingers."

"Yes," Rhys simply answered. "This tablet is more pokemon friendly than the usual ones you find humans using. Instead of it recognizing certain surfaces like the soft skin of a human's digits, it's pressure sensitive. So that means any of you can use it, even if it might be difficult for a quadruped. But that also means you'll have to be sure it's off when it's not in use, since anything can tamper with its screen. So, just be sure it's off when not in use and it should work like a super computer."

"Really, a super computer?" Naomi's eyes gleamed with a bit of passion. "What're the specs?"

"Heh, it's all the high end technology, Genesis doesn't go cheap on their technology. One terabyte Solid State drives, thirty-two gigs of ram and everything you would need to do just about anything. It's pretty expensive so don't break it, but if you do I can always just borrow more from Genesis."

I cocked my head to the side at the mention of these 'specs'… 'Ummm, I'm just going to pretend I understood what half of that stuff was.'

"Anyways, now that that's all said and done, we're all clear to head out. Ryder, Lilly, come along."

Rhys started heading towards the front door and both teams followed him outside. We were all greeted with the morning sun, and while the morning was a bit nippy, it still felt great to get some fresh air. This part of Lumiose was quiet, almost vacant of others, and a bit run down from old age. The only other sound of life that we did hear was the noise of bird pokemon chirping off in the distance.

"Our paths split from here," Raiden commented out loud. "So this is it."

I looked around to notice that the street outside forked off into two different directions, and at that realization I knew this was it. Despite that, I still wasn't ready, I had one last thing to do.

"Wait," I spoke up.

"Yes, Ryder?"

I turned towards Naomi as took a shallow step towards her. "I just wanted to say… I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I honestly don't understand what happened to me, I was just so infuriated and confused, then the next thing I knew my thoughts weren't even my own. Or, it felt like that at least. I'm really sorry, I never wanted to bring any harm to you," I told Naomi with all the remorse in my heart. And while she may not have truly forgiven me, I didn't care, I had to do this for me.

"Black," Naomi began, her voice not holding any edginess to it. "I'm just honestly happy we're all okay. You had a meltdown, and while you went way overboard, I can understand how it got that bad. I know you've had it rough for a long time, and it all had to come out and manifest at some point I guess."

"Yeah, but… I still tried hurting you."

Naomi gave out a sigh, "Really, don't worry too hard about it. I've met a lot of messed up people in my life, and even though what happened was messed up, you're not a bad person. I just think you just reached your breaking point back there."

"So you don't hate me?"

"No. You're still my friend, and we'll just consider it a big bump along the road. All in all, we got over the bump, and now we just got to keep going."

All of a sudden my eyes began to feel weighed down, but at the same time I felt a bit of weight lifted from over my shoulders. Just hearing that from Naomi made everything so much better, even if she was with Stark. Just the fact that we could at least still be friends meant so much to me, because I still had something to cling to, and I wasn't going to let go. My claws dug into the ground as I felt a tear leave my eye. "Thanks."

"You okay, Black?" Naomi looked at me funny.

I just emptily stared down, but wore a smile. "You just have no idea how much it means for me to hear that I still have a friend. Even after all that I've done."

Naomi just gave a warm smile at me. "It's alright, Black. Just take care while you're travelling."

"You too," I spoke, and to my surprise Naomi came in for a hug. I returned the feelings as I held her tightly. I didn't want this moment to end, I wanted to stay with her for just one more day, but I knew it was going to be short. So instead, I cherished the last few seconds of our embrace, before Naomi was the first to let go, and I followed right after.

"Stay safe," I said as I looked at Naomi one last time, before joining my group. With that, we set out on our own paths. Perhaps this really would be the last time I would see Naomi, but I had faith that I would meet her again, and I wasn't letting go of the small string of hope.

**Three hours later**

Our group mostly kept up our pace in silence, which we were quick to make it outside of Lumiose and onto route four. It felt weird travelling around this area again, since the last time I came through here I had recently been adopted/forcibly kidnapped by Alex. Heh, it actually felt nostalgic, but in a painful way, despite the whole 'I hated everybody phase' I was in. Even though this place brought back memories, it looked different due to the season we were in. For instance, the ground was lightly dusted with snow now, and the trees were no longer blooming with leaves. Instead, everything was barren, silent, and just lonely out here. But since I was out here with Rhys and Lilly, I suppose now wouldn't be a bad time to get familiar with the mission I'm being forced on.

"So, I should have asked before, but where exactly do you have us rushing to?"

"Anistar city," Rhys answered with a ring in his voice. "Ever been there before? It's quite an interesting city."

"No, I haven't. But I know it's near where I used to live."

"Ahh, Snowbelle. we'll be passing over there at some point."

"Passing over?" I repeated.

"Well yeah, I mean we're not walking the whole way there. I'm just putting some distance between us and Lumiose before I transform into something to fly there with."

"Why wait?" I asked.

"Because," Rhys began. "I'm sure Genesis has some scouts out looking for everyone that has gone missing on that mission, and not only that we risk getting spotted by the Omega squad, who have master hunting skills. It's best if we play it safe, if we get caught everything is compromised. When we're just a bit further we can travel by air."

"So the Omega squad is still after us?"

"I believe originally their target was Stark, but, since we're all defecting to our own side, they'll be after us if tasked with that job. Knowing Ghost though, he's itching to test out their newest creation, so you can expect him to use this as a stress test for them."

"So, how much do you know of this Omega squad?" I asked, since the whole topic actually did seem pretty interesting, despite the fact that they may be murdering me at some point.

"Well, I pretty much know everything about them. They're made up of Four members. None of which you actually want to fight one on one."

"So, who exactly are they, and what's so different about them? I mean they seemed pretty fluent when we encountered them on the train earlier."

"Heh, well they are very advanced in what they do. But the most noticeable trait they have is their albino like appearance, just like Stark. But that's nowhere near important compared to what they're capable of. Remember what I told you about Stark and you being two different halves?"

"Yeah, I got all the elements, while he has mastery over his own natural affinity and power and stuff."

"Correct, but unlike you two, these pokemon are the fourth kind. Before them there was another kind of pokemon, but only two were made. Before that this third kind of pokemon could change into their eon and Aevon forms, but to achieve that they first had to mega-evolve, and then evolve once again into the next final state. But now this fourth kind of pokemon are permanently in their deity form. But, they also possess the power of both the eon side and the aevon's. But they're limited to how much they can access of the eon side, usually only limited to a few affinities, give or take.

"There is something you need to know about the Omega squad though. They may look like normal pokemon, but in the event we do fight them, run, and if you have a chance to kill one, take it. They won't show you any mercy, so it would be wise to be the same towards them. These pokemon have been stripped of their personas by the sciences Ghost has developed. They're nothing but empty husks doing his work. While at one point they were pokemon just like us, they aren't anymore."

"Were these pokemon, like the other pokemon being held hostage I saw at that one Genesis facility? In that case they need to be saved."

"They most likely were normal pokemon at one point in time. Very few survive the transformation, which is why they're so limited in numbers. And even if we could reverse the effect of the nanites, their wouldn't be much of a point."

"Wha-Why? They're just victims in all of this, we can't just abandon them!"

Rhys let out a hard sigh. "Due to the stress of the changes put on their bodies, they have a life expectancy of six to eight months after their transformation. The changes tear their body apart from the inside out, it's potent and there is no way to slow it or fix it. If it wasn't for the nanites suppressing their emotions and feelings, they'd be in constant agonizing pain. That's why the third kind of pokemon were the best in my opinion, it didn't give them two sides which overwhelmed them, and the change was only temporary. It still causes incredible damage to the body, but it's more of something that can be used as a last resort in combat, instead of a curse they have to suffer through day by day."

All of this Omega squad stuff sounded pretty dark. I knew Genesis were made up of sick twisted humans and pokemon, but to strip someone completely of their personality?! The thought was harrowing, it just sent ice cold shivers through my body. If Ghost really was the type of person to cause all this pain, then he has to be stopped. He may even be a shadow darker than Crimson Dawn.

"So what about Ghost? I'm curious on what type of person would do all of this."

"Ghost," Rhys's voice went cold. "Where would I start… Terrible person, and has some warped view of bringing peace to the world."

"And you haven't exactly explained how he plans to do that, or at least not on a detailed level."

"The same way he manipulates the Omega squad; he uses nanites to alter their personalities. Instead though, he plans to use these nanites to assimilate the world. In his new world order, everyone will share the same ideals, be raised with the same culture and have the same views, while still holding onto parts of who they are. It's hard to explain and there is no guarantee it will work. But in theory if everyone is united through a certain culture, there won't be a need for everyone to fight or hate each other. So to sum it up, he wants to regulate how everyone views things."

I ran the info Rhys just told me through my head. Culture? How exactly would that fix anything, while it wouldn't be a terrible thing, I couldn't wrap my head completely around it. "How would culture fix anything, and would it really be a bad thing?"

"Maybe I would see the good in it if it wasn't from Ghost. I've known him for a long time. He's a genius, so smart it's terrifying. But he's also cruel, he'll annihilate anything that stands in his path. And do you know what will happen before his plan is implemented?"

"No, I really don't."

"War, lots and lots of bloody war on a global scale. With these nanites that can alter humans and pokemons heads, Ghost will be able to amass an army willing to do anything for him. And for the rest of the world? They'll resist, but it'll be futile due to Ghost's trump cards. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if I truly didn't think Ghost is a threat to our world. I don't believe this is the answer for peace this world needs. It's a false deluded peace that isn't real, only one that will be forced upon the inhabitants of this world." Rhys finally ended his long elaboration, and he was nearly out of breath from all the explaining.

While Rhys caught his breath, I just tried to make sense of all this information. From what Rhys was telling me, Ghost was a monster, and maybe all this suffering I was enduring was for a greater cause? If aiding Rhys really did put a stop to Ghost's plan, then maybe the world would be a better place? Perhaps this was the motivation I never had from the start. Hearing all of this really did fill me with some kind of purpose.

"I'm glad we talked about this," I spoke up.

Rhys turned towards me with a bit of surprise. "Was it that interesting to you?"

"No, not that. It's all sickening actually. I've seen many of the horrors Genesis has done. I've witnessed those who were experimented on, I've seen the ashes of what they'll do to cover their tracks, and now I know what sick twisted game they're playing. It's all repulsing, they're nothing but scum that need to be stopped. So, I thank you because this kind of inspires me, oddly enough."

Rhys suddenly busted out with laughter. This quickly caused me to become filled with anger, so I lashed out at him verbally, "What's so funny! I basically open up to you and you laugh!"

"The conclusion of this conversation is just amusing to me. I spent all this time trying to get you to willingly be on my side, when really, all I needed to do was give you the truth and a reason to follow alongside me. I guess I'm not as good with people as I like to think. I thought simply bargaining with you would be as good as it gets."

"Oh," I mused as I thought about it myself.

"Anyways, I think we've covered enough ground for it to be safe for flying." Rhys's form grew in size with a bright magenta flash, and wings sprouted out from his back. Suddenly, I felt much smaller in comparison to the mighty dragon that stood before me, even if it was a fake.

"Dragonite, huh?" Lilly acknowledged with a smirk.

"Heh, we'll be in Anistar in no time, you two. Lilly, you take my back. Ryder, looks like I'll be carrying you." Rhys took one large step towards me, but I was quick to recreate the large gap between us.

"What're you doing?!" I yelled at the false dragon.

"Well, for your safety I am going to carry you. Unlike Lilly who has her ribbons, you have no way of fastening yourself to me while I fly. And with the speeds a dragonite can reach, I fear you will fall. Did you know a dragonite at the peak of its physical condition can travel around the world in less than a day?"

"That's not helping and I'm not flying!" I proclaimed as I lowered towards the ground. I was ready to dodge at any moment, but then something slithery coiled around my waist. I glanced back to see Lilly's ribbons around me, but they were quick to constrict against me.

"H-Hey, let me go, I don't like flying, we already established this!"

Lilly stepped in front of me, and with one firm kick she forced me on my back. The ribbons around my body repositioned themselves and got ahold of my arms and rendered me defenseless.

"Yeah, I Know you won't, you're a pansy. But, I know just the trick to make you more docile." Lilly's face closed in on mine, and forcefully locked lips with me in a kiss. Our eyes met, but in hers were a blank expression that showed no sign of enjoyment out of this. As she continued to kiss me, my body began to feel weak. My muscles relaxed, my head fell back against the snowy ground and I felt ready to sleep on the spot. When Lily saw this she released me from the kiss and began to spit the saliva out of her mouth.

"Bleh. Stop making me do that!" Lily raged as she walked towards Rhys's back and climbed on. Her ribbons extended out and wrapped around Rhys's bulky body.

"Why… why do you keep doing that?" I murmured as Rhys scooped me up in his arms. While I wanted to fight this, I didn't. Whatever power Lily's make-out sessions contained, they were more tiresome than fighting a gym battle.

"I told you before, it's draining kiss! I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't effective! And don't you dare get the wrong idea, I don't like you!"

With the last of my strength, I made one last witty comment before fading into unconsciousness. "S… Sure you don't." Everything slowly became a blur as Rhys lifted off the ground, and the sound of his flapping wings brought us into the air. A strong breeze pressed against me, but it wasn't long before I was in my own dreams.

* * *

**Third person point of View**

The sound of footsteps echoed down the darkest part of the Genesis facility. Ghost led a group of his heavily armored bodyguards down the halls where all the specimens were kept. The lights were dim, and visible through a very thick glass window where the victims of Genesis's science experiments. None of the pokemon took notice of the humans due to the glass being one way. While in their cells, most rested while others panicked and made their futile attempts to escape. In one particular cell a weavile had been clawing so much at the walls that his bladed fingers had snapped, but that didn't stop the pokemon from adding to the bloody streaks on the walls. Ghost and his men paid no attention to the victims, for they were more than used to the harrowing sights by now. Instead, they nonchalantly made their way to the end of the long hall where a large steel door stood. Before Ghost even reached the door, one of his men hastily made his way to the steel door and had it unlocked by the time he reached it.

"You two, wait for my return. Do not let anyone in or out of here," Ghost ordered as he walked into the room, and the door slammed behind him. When inside, Ghost was greeted by the sound of a raspy breath fighting to keep up with its exhaustion. Ghost showed no reaction to this, and just removed his jacket and placed it on the door handle. This left Ghost in his black vest that had a white button up shirt underneath. Ghost looked towards the center of the room towards the ragged breaths as he rolled up his sleeves and moved in a slow saunter while putting on a pair of black leather gloves stowed away in his pockets.

Ghost stopped and watched the suffering quilava on the bloodied table. The creature was forcefully tied down to his back in a way that any quadruped pokemon would find painful, and his mouth was muzzled. A large fresh V shaped scar was left on the quilava's stomach, which was poorly stitched up and oozing with infections and blood.

"Merrick, Merrick, Merrick," Ghost sang as he rubbed his fingers along the dried up blood on the table. Merrick didn't react and seemed to still be unconscious. Ghost was fast to realize this and he slowly dragged his finger across the table. His fingers smudged the blood on the table until it traveled up the quilava's side and went towards his stomach. Ghost gently rubbed his fingers against the lips of the poorly stitched incision. This aroused a grunt out of the quilava, before Ghost's finger slipped deep into his wound. Merrick's eyes shot open wide with a scream that was ear shattering. He thrashed about in an attempt to escape, but the belts holding him down kept him in place. Ghost slowly withdrew his finger from the open wound as merrick was left gasping for air. A few seconds went on as Ghost watched the quilava get ahold of himself without any expression on his face.

"Good news, little quilava," Ghost began as he walked to the front of the table, where Merrick was able to see Ghost with his head pinned to the table. "It seems your friends were able to elude us, for now that is. You probably thank your God, Arceus for that. That's a foolish mistake though, for you're ill prepared for what that means for you.

"You see; through you I was able to learn everything I needed. You're nearly done with your role, but I have one last use for you."

"Mandus… Mandus will kill every last one of you," Merrick spoke in a faint voice that was near inaudible.

"Hmmf. You think your friends are coming now to save you? You're a traitor to them, when they discover that you broke, they'll resent you. But that won't stop you from clinging to hope, the belief that your knight in shining armor will come to end the nightmare. This hope you cling so desperately to, it's nothing but a lie you've been convinced to accept as a reality. You always hear the stories of miracles, it's everywhere, in the movies, books, fairy tales, but that won't come to be in this story. In the end, you're just the protagonist of a story that is a tragedy.

"For you, there is no hope, there is nothing left for you but my final game. Through you, Mandus will die, and that will mark the end of The Crimson Dawn. But don't be sad, you should really be excited, even happy for everyone you ever loved, for Crimson Dawn's downfall will be another step into a brave new world."

"You… you talk a lot, but that's all you'll ever be, just big talk." Merrick let out a pained laugh, before breaking out into a cough fit. Ghost just sighed, before slamming his fist down onto the quilava's stomach. All the air left Merrick's body as his eyes widened. His entire stomach was engulfed in a sharp pain that convulsed throughout his entire front side. When Merrick managed clenched his eyes shut it squeezed out a tear from each eye.

"Before I part with you for today though, there is something I wish to enlighten you on, quilava. For as long as you've been following Mandus, I was quite surprised to find that you knew so little about the lucario. You just blindly followed him, because what, you felt you owed him your life for saving you? You wouldn't be where you are now if you had just ran far away and never looked back." Ghost backed away from the quilava and walked towards the door as he pulled his leather gloves off and threw them to the ground.

"Next time you meet Mandus, it will be the last. Little quilava, send my farewells to my old friend. Let the end of the show be marvelous." Ghost put his jacket back on and exited the room. The steel door slammed shut, and once again Merrick was left alone.

* * *

Snow gently fell from the sky, down onto the streets of Snowbelle. The city today was mostly silent, and only a few humans roamed about the streets. Alone in an alley laid Mandus, who was without his usual cloak and left in old bloodied bandages that were more than tattered from days of abuse. The lucario barely clung to consciousness as he shivered from the cold and the sickness that lingered in his body. In his head, he was beginning to think that this might be the end for him, that he had finally reached the limit of his body.

The lucario flimsily placed his good hand below him and spent the next minute getting back onto his feet. When halfway up, his legs gave out, but he forced himself to thrash into the alley wall and used it for support. His legs trembled, his infected wounds screamed and he began to feel light headed. One step at a time Mandus used the wall to aid him in moving, but after three steps he plummeted to the ground in defeat. His entire body ached down to his frozen bones, and this time he didn't feel he had the strength to rise back up.

"Is this the end?" Mandus asked to himself, but soon remembered that it was best to preserve his strength in every way possible. Mandus felt himself drifting off, but just as everything started to fade away, a set of young black feet walked past him. Mandus's head rose up, but found that nothing had ever walked past him from the start.

'I can't stop,' Mandus reminded himself as he managed to get to his knees, but had to stop for rest after that. The lucario remained on his hands and knees for three minutes before he saw a blue blur walk past him again. This time he was able to make out the shape of the riolu, but he was quick to lose it. Mandus slowly turned his head left and right, but found that this brought a headache to his head. For now, he needed to just focus on moving forward.

Mandus clenched his jaw as he used the wall to assist him up. When standing he managed to make it just four steps before losing his grip on the wall and sliding forward. He managed to catch himself on all fours, but at the cost of excruciating pain. His head lowered to the ground once again, but his eyes found those same black paws, this time standing in front of him. His head traveled up to meet eyes with the riolu who was cheerfully smiling. Mandus gasped at the sight.

"K-Kiera?" Was all Mandus could manage.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** And I'm a day ahead of schedule this time around. Special thanks to genericgamer207 for editing! I would also like to thank everyone who has commented on my last question from the previous chapter. I read everyone and I'll be working to see what I can do to meet what everyone is saying. Luckily, I do have a plan. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me so long, it's been a long journey and it's been fun having all of you along for the ride.


	116. Elegy

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 116: Elegy**

"K-Kiera?" Was all Mandus could manage. The riolu gave Mandus a warm smile, before wrapping her arms around his neck. Mandus's eyes went wide. For a moment he ignored the weakness in his broken body, and wrapped his arms tightly around the riolu. The two both found their eyes closed as they savored the moment that lasted near a minute. When Mandus's eyes opened again he found that he was no longer lost in the vast streets of Snowbelle.

It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers blooming under the light of the sun. The blooming plants gave off a sweet fragrance. The air was ridden of that awful city smell. Everything here was paradise. Mandus released the young riolu from the hug, but kept one hand over her shoulder. With no pain, the lucario stood up. His eyes looked off over the cliff and towards the vast forest below. From here Mandus could see the sanctum he once called home. A place where he felt at peace from humans, even after the tragedies of his childhood. The mountainous area went out for as far as the eye could see, forming a wall around their paradise.

The riolu freed her shoulder from Mandus's grip, but grabbed onto his hand with both her tiny paws. A warm smile grew on Mandus, and he just gave the riolu a nod as he followed her. The two went away from the cliff side, and into the cover of the forest. Inside Mandus felt the cool shade protecting him. Twigs snapped, yips called out, and scampering paws could be heard from all directions. The air within was pure, free of any sign of city life.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Mum has been looking all over for you. She was getting worried, so I came out to find you," Kiera answered with a small giggle at the end of her sentence.

"Bryn…" Mandus said to himself, feeling a wave of emotions flooding his mind. But he didn't allow them to overwhelm him just yet. So he followed the riolu until they reached a stream of water. The two followed the stream uphill. Neither stopped until the sound of rushing water coming down met his ears. A waterfall fed the river of water below. Following along the river was a bed of rocks. The sun gleamed over the waterfall, warming his skin. Mandus felt his grip tighten around the riolu.

"Daddy?" Kiera cocked her head to the side as she looked up at him. Her two innocent eyes pierced into Mandus, melting his heart for the first time in years.

"Mandus, there you are!" a strong females voice boomed from atop the waterfall. Mandus tore his eyes from the riolu and looked up at the top of the waterfall with astonishment. The sun shone around a figure and her shadow was cast over Mandus. An accusing glare dug into Mandus as the lucario crossed her arms. The female lucario shook her head at him, before launching off the cliffside. Her body spun as she fell. With a final flip, she landed down on the ground in a crouched position.

"Bryn…" Mandus whispered to himself. She was the same as last time, a slender lucario that was just a bit shorter than himself.

"You know it was your turn to get everyone breakfast this morning, right?" Bryn started at Mandus, catching him off guard. "So I had to hurry up and get breakfast for Kiera and myself under short notice. Care to explain mister?"

Mandus's heart skipped a beat. Something about the wrath of his mate was much fiercer than the volcanic flames of Entei combined with the lightning of Raikou. "I… I umm, I forgot," was all Mandus could think of defending himself with. Sadly, Mandus didn't have any of his Crimson Dawn colleagues to back him up against Bryn, he was all on his own.

Bryn let out a bitter puff of air as she placed her hand on her hip. "What're you even doing this early in the morning? Don't tell me you're training again."

Mandus paused to think of his next answer. While he hadn't been sure of why, he didn't do the task he was asked either. he thought it'd be best to go with the most likely answer since it was a habit long ago. "I was."

"Bryn's arm crossed as she gave Mandus a murderous glare. "Mandus, I've told you time and time again, you can let the past go. It's over, out here it's just us pokemon, there's no need to learn how to fight like that."

Mandus bit down on his lip, knowing full well of the truth. She was ignorant and trapped in the idea that she truly was safe here. While Mandus may have seen through that, she didn't, and that held him back at times.

"Bryn…" Mandus started as his breath grew hoarse. "I don't know how I'm here, or if any of this is real… but we aren't safe. I saw-

Suddenly, Mandus's eyes shot open. The burn in his muscles returned as he found himself still on his hands and knees. Snow fell from the sky, and Mandus realised that he was back in Snowbelle.

"W-Was that a dream?" Mandus had to ask himself. He gave a strong shake of his head, before crawling forward on all fours. All the pain had returned to his worn body, he was no longer lost in the mirage of his past. HIs muscles began to quiver and soon gave out. With a hard thud, the lucario landed on his front side, groaning in his misery.

"Come on, get up!" a voice yelled into his ear with the sound of gunshots crackling in the background. Mandus felt a set of teeth dig into his shoulder and yank him up. When Mandus turned to see who it was, he was taken by surprise to see it was Dawn.

"Dawn, what's going on? Where are-…" Mandus stopped himself when he noticed that he felt different. He didn't feel like a lucario anymore, he felt more fragile and small. His eyes glanced down at his hands and with a surprised gasp he realized he was right. His blue paws shook as he took in his younger form as a riolu.

"Did you hit your head?!" Dawn rose her voice. "Move!" A sharp pain stabbed into his side as Dawn shoved me with her horn. The two of us ran through a dark forest together. Flashes of white blinded me, keeping my eyes from adjusting to the dark. whistling followed by deafening explosions shattered my eardrums as the ground shook. Crackling gunshots sent tremors coursing through my unresponsive body.

It didn't take more than a second for Mandus to remember that he was back in the Hell of his childhood. This was all before Bryn, before Genesis, before he was deprived of who he was. The two ran in the cover of darkness. It wasn't until the two slipped through a narrow passage in the ground that they stopped. Mandus's heart pounded, the muscles in his legs throbbed as he fell to his rear.

"Come on," Dawn urged him with a push of her paw. Mandus stood on legs made of jello as he took one small step at a time.

As they inched forward, the cave expanded out into a large corridor. and Mandus found that other pokemon were taking shelter here as well. A faint light illuminated from the tail of a weeping charmander. His charmeleon mother clung onto him tightly, burying his face into her stomach. Their two tails brought a faint light that casted shadows in all directions. The light revealed many of the other scared pokemon, few of which were alike. Many cried, some wallowed in silence, and even fewer whispered amongst each other.

"There's too many to counter against," Dawn spat out.

"I see," an absol stepped out from the shadows. "Did they follow you back?" he asked.

"No… I don't think they had a chance to follow us. Both human sides are at it again up there," Dawn said.

"Good, hopefully they spill every ounce of each other's blood," the absol said out of spite. A tense expression on his face loosened, and a faint smile formed. "And Dawn, I'm glad you're safe."

"You too, Papa," Dawn forced a smile. An explosion shook the cave, sending pebbles from the ceiling. many pokemon cried, but were quickly muffled out by the following explosion. The crackle of gunfire grew louder.

Mandus held onto himself and dug his claws into his flesh out of fear. Whatever this was, it was very vivid, like no other dream he had ever had. If Mandus did not know any better, he would have thought he somehow ended up back in time.

"Why am I here again?" Mandus said to no one in particular.

"Mandus, Dawn, are you two alright?" a shallow voice asked from across the dark cavern. Mandus and Dawn both directed their attention towards a smaller fox known as a zorua. While smaller in size, he had actually been older than both Mandus and Dawn, but not by much. Mandus remembered that face too well.

"We're fine," Dawn confirmed. "What about you, Rhys?"

"I'm not the one risking my life repeatedly for this resistance. You two should step down already. Last thing we need is more of our own dead."

"I refuse," Dawn snapped. "I may not have planned to stay here much longer, but I won't let this happen to everyone I love!"

"Such determination," Rhys mused, but not in a positive tone.

"Rhys, what about you, don't you care?" Dawn questioned the fox.

"Of course I do!" Rhys shouted back. "However, regardless of what happens we won't win! You may not see that, but I do! My top priority is survival, and if sitting back is what I have to do then I will."

"You slakoth!" Dawn quipped.

"Say what you want. I am just one pokemon, and my contribution won't change anything."

"Yeah, but think of all the others who say that, if you all helped-"

"It doesn't matter what others think, Dawn. I am still just one pokemon, and whether I choose to fight or not, those pokemon will still be sitting out. In the end, what I do doesn't make a difference, everyone has already made up their minds."

Dawn was about to continue arguing with Rhys, but a luxray stepped out from deeper within the cave. A gnarly smirk formed on the luxray's maw as he walked with his head held high. Through all the chaos he was one of the few to keep his pride. He was an intimidating pokemon due to his species, but at one time he hadn't been how he was now.

"Alright, anyone who is still in good shape come with me! Tonight we're taking our territory back from the human scum bags!" The luxray's voice boomed through the air. A few pokemon roared with spirit, but the majority were dead silent.

Mandus remembered this luxray like any other day. A wise pokemon that had been a close friend with his father. In a way, he was like an adopted uncle in Mandus's family. He would always be around to teach the lucario, scold him when he made the wrong choices. But, through the conflict that rose in Mandus's homeland the luxray changed. The once kind pokemon was no longer as understanding, or as patient, but instead now he lusted for human blood. War had brought out his darker colors, showing everyone his violent nature. But despite that, everyone still looked to him as a leader. Him and a few others led us through these battles, our last attempt to take back our land.

"Not so fast," Dawn's father intervened as he stood in the way of the luxray.

"What do you want, Woods?"

"Many of these pokemon have been to Hell and back. To send them back out would be insane. Look at these pokemon, they aren't ready to die like you."

The luxray snorted at him "Then let the cowards wallow in their snot and tears. The fight isn't about us. It's about our future generations that will thrive and carry on our memories!" the luxray yelled. "Now anyone who wants a tomorrow for our future generations, follow me!" The luxray pushed his way past.

Mandus found himself propping himself against the wall of the alley. His head leaned back against the cold brick wall as he watched snow fall towards him. All he had the strength left to do was think about what his mind had conjured up for him. It was surreal, and perhaps it was his life playing out for his final hours.

His thoughts reflected back to that hard year. For unknown reasons, two human sides broke out into a war. Caught in the middle of the battle were the pokemon of Mandus's home. Day after day Mandus watched as all his friends died. Each morning he would awake to more lifeless corpses. First his mother, then his two younger sisters, and the last he had to cling to was his elder brother. Within a month Mandus had lost his family, leaving him as the sole survivor of his bloodline. Only two friends had remained to help him through this, Rhys and Dawn. But even with all their support, it was futile. In the end the humans were too strong, even with Mandus and Dawn helping the resistance.

"So, are you going to talk, or will I take another from you?" a chilling voice echoed in Mandus's head. The scene around Mandus melted away and into a dark steel room where the light of day was non existant. When Mandus tried to move his arms he found himself buckled down against a chair. Mandus found his two frail paws strapped to the armrests of his chair. He soon realized that he was back in his unevolved form.

Suddenly, Mandus's body began to scream in agonizing pain as he felt a nail forced from its place. The flesh was slow to tear, and when it did drops of blood fell from the tip of his finger. Burns left Mandus's skin seared as the exposed flesh became infected. Some of the bones in his fingers couldn't be felt, and wouldn't respond. Half of the nails adorned to his paws had been ripped out, leaving blood trickling down his paws. The lingering flavor of metallic was in Mandus's mouth. He felt around with his tongue only to feel a sharp sting in the empty sockets where he once had teeth. One... two... three... Mandus continued to feel around, counting the missing teeth until he reached six. Feeling all these affliction at once made Mandus cry out in pain. He began to hyperventilate as he remembered where he was, what dreadful nightmare he was reliving.

"This can end any moment now. All I need from you is the hideout where all your little pokemon friends are hiding out. Tell me that, and the suffering ends," the raspy voice of a man spoke.

The man was tall, twice Mandus's adult height. A dark raincoat went down his torso, stained in reds from many victims. The red even stained the long beard that stretched down to his center chest. His eyes were a dull green, almost grey in color, and his face had many hideous scars. Mandus recognized this man as the reaper, or so he remembered. Accompanying the human was an espeon. Her fur was greying, her bones visible through her flesh. Like her master she wasn't bothered by the scene in front of her. She was nonchalant and only spoke when she needed too. Very rarely did she ever speak with her real voice.

Tears dropped down from Mandus's eyes as the dark nightmare played out. Never again did Mandus want to ever think about this night, nor the events that followed. All he wanted now was to wake up or die in the real world. Or perhaps... he was dead, and this was his Hell.

"You've held out quite well for a little runt. But, I've had some time to learn a bit about you. What's the absol's name, Dawn was it? Ahh yes, that cocky pokemon is your beloved friend." The human turned towards the door. "Bring her in!"

The dual set of doors opened and two pokemon dragged in a bloody absol. A faint light flickered in Dawn's eyes as she clung to consciousness. Both the monferno and the sawk threw Dawn in front of Mandus, giving him a good view of the suffering she endured. None of it was pleasant on Mandus's eyes, it hurt just to see. It was more than clear that they started with her before Mandus. Many deep gashes ran over her body, marks that would never fade away over the years.

"This absol, she's at her limit. She won't last another night of interrogation. So, I thought we would put her life in your hands." The human sneered as he withdrew a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at Dawn.

Mandus's heart stopped. It was at this moment that he had to make one of the hardest decisions in his life again. Sacrifice the lives of hundreds of pokemon for a chance at survival, or allow Dawn to be killed. Mandus let out a yell as he tried to pull the chains binding him to the chair apart, but he found himself too weak.

"This absol endured a lot for you. This whole time she begged that we left you alone and questioned her instead. Three days we agreed to this in hopes that she would cooperate, but it was three days we listened to her lies. Heh, what a loyal pokemon, keeping her lips sealed of the truth to protect you and her friends. But those lips of hers are why you must make this decision. You two are close friends from what I gathered, but now is the time to choose. Tell me where the resistance is, or I take your friend's life and I move onto you next."

The human pulled the hammer of the gun back. Mandus's heart raced as he was forced to make this painful decision again. For ten seconds the riolu watched as the human grew impatient.

"Times up," the human muttered.

"Wait!" Mandus screamed. "I'll tell you everything!"

The human sneered at this reaction. "Go on."

"Mandus... don't..." Dawn said, her voice broken. Before anything could happen the sawk kicked at the absol's head. Mandus cried out, but no one listened, and Dawn was unconscious after the third blow.

"Enough," the human snapped his fingers. "Be sure she lives, I am a man of my word after all." Both pokemon nodded, before dragging the absol out by her legs. Mandus watched the unconscious expression on her face before the doors separated them.

To this day, Mandus still questioned his decision. Was saving Dawn truly the right answer? The lucario would never know, and he accepted this burden. Mandus sat in his lingering thoughts as the snow accumulated over his soon to be corpse. His hands rested on the cold ground, too weak to move them any further. Mandus's head fell forward as his eyes closed.

A voice spoke to Mandus "Is this really how you want to go. After all that, you're just going to fade away in the middle of an alley?"

Mandus's eyes struggled to open, but he was able to see two legs covered in black fur before him. Mandus recognized the voice right away and feebly smiled to himself.

"You always talked big about making sure that all the suffering of the pokemon in this world would not be in vain. But, in this state, you'll be lucky to save a caterpie from getting stomped on."

"Bryn," Mandus uttered as he struggled to look up, taking in the unaged lucario with his one good eye. Bryn gave Mandus a warm smile as she knelt down and placed her left hand against Mandus's cheek. Mandus could feel the warmth of her hand against his numb cheek. With his good hand he reached up and held his hand over hers. Mandus remained quiet as he thought on how much he missed Bryn. Just by seeing this mirage he felt so lost and alone. It reminded him of his greatest losses and how all the strength and power of the Legendaries would never fix it.

"Do you remember the day we met?" Bryn's voice asked as her eyes went blank in a pensive state. "It was on the first day of spring. Neither of us really saw that day coming, but it had to be the second happiest day in my life." Bryn chuckled to herself. "The first would be when Kiera was born. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen, and she was our little angel." Bryn's hand slid down from Mandus's cheek and trailed down to his chest, just over his heart.

Mandus looked into Bryn's eye. A tear welled up from her left eye, before both closed and she attempted to compose herself. "I really hate what happened to our little girl," Bryn stammered as she broke out into sobs. "As her mother, I should have been able to protect her, and yet-" Bryn stopped herself from finishing. Her hand trembled over Mandus's chest.

"I'm responsible," Mandus quietly said. With his remaining strength, Mandus pulled himself up using the wall behind him. Bryn was caught by surprise from the statement, and she just stared. Even if this Bryn wasn't real, Mandus still found the truth as hard to admit as it was with the real Bryn. "I always told you what I had done to save my friend, Dawn… I even told you that I was their slave after. But when they held me captive... they did things to me," Mandus's voice became quieter as he spoke. "they tampered with my body, changing me. I don't even think I'm a pokemon anymore, I'm not even sure what I am."

"Mandus," Bryn strongly whispered as she wrapped her arms around Mandus. He hugged her back with his one good arm, but after a second Bryn's grip loosened as her body fell limp against him. Mandus caught her with both his arms. Something wet dripped against Mandus, soaking into his stomach area. Mandus's eyes widened as he pulled himself away from Bryn to find her injured.

"No…" Mandus fearfully said as he looked down to her stomach to find a clean stab wound in her gut. Blood flooded at an alarming rate, covering the snowy ground in its crimson color. "Bryn, no… Stay with me, don't die!" Mandus cried out as he watched the lucario's fainting eyes as he held her in his arms.

With one last breath, Bryn feebly gave off her last words, "Mandus… s-save kier..." Bryn's words stopped as her last breath pushed out from her body and her eyes closed.

Mandus gave a few shakes at the dead lucario, but no response came from her. "Bryn? Bryn?! Wake up! Bryn? Don't do this to me again, I'm not prepared to lose you again!" Only silence followed as Mandus tightly clenched the body of his dead mate. The moonlight reflected off the crimson in the alley. Mandus felt a block form in his throat as his emotions welled up in his hollow chest. A few jagged breaths escaped the lucario before he yelled out at the top of his lungs, "Noooooooo!" Mandus's cries echoed through the empty city streets as Bryn's body faded to ash. The dust escaped between his fingers in the cold wind, and her remains scattered throughout the night. In fury, Mandus slammed his good fist in the brick wall, blowing a hole in it. Mandus ignored the fatigue in his body. His breath became heavy as he forced himself to walk.

"Bryn… Kiera," Mandus said aloud, his voice brimming with fury. "I refuse to die here. I won't let Genesis get away with what they've done. They will pay," Mandus growled as he forced himself to run. "My vendetta still thrives within, and I swore I would do this for all the victims in this world!"

Mandus continued to run through the empty streets of Snowbelle until he found a closed store. The lucario didn't hesitate on smashing the window open with a weak aura sphere. An alarm sounded through the night air. Instead of running, Mandus went inside the store and grabbed a paper bag. With quick feet he made his way to the back, where the medical supplies waited. Without even looking, he began putting anything in the bag that would be of use. When the bag was full Mandus bolted from the store. His body burned in pain, but he refused to stop until he was outside of Snowbelle in the forest.

The lucario exhaled a tired breath as he dropped the bag, spilling all the supplies. Mandus dropped to his knees as he panted for air. With trembling hands Mandus searched everything he stole until he found disinfectant. Impatiently, Mandus broke the lid off and spilled a quarter of the liquid into the snow. The lucario didn't hesitate to begin pouring the liquid onto his arm and wounds. A loud cry filled the air as Mandus's arm and wounds burned like it was fire. When the bottle had only a few drops left, Mandus tossed it to the side. Next he moved to the antibiotics. He undid the lid and forced a couple pills down his throat without any water to help wash it down. After that, Mandus applied bandaged to his wounds, from his arms, to burns, to his eye. Nearly ten minutes had passed by the time Mandus finished, and when he did he allowed himself to fall against a tree.

* * *

**Point of View Annie**

Northern winds pushed against the walls of the cabin, shaking the weak structure. At many times I had to wonder if the structure was going to make it, but for now it would have to suffice. In silence, I sat on a wooden stool. Shivering from the cold. I rested against a rough wooden desk as I ground the tip of my wooden wand against it. Muffled out by the sound of the cold winds were Zylen's slowed breaths. Unlike him, I was fine. I managed to escape Genesis almost unscathed, while Zylen took many hard blows. First being the fall when we were knocked out of the sky, the other being the blow he took from the scyther. It was a miracle we made it this far, and another miracle we stumbled by this cabin equipped with medical supplies. Still, Zylen was far from being in good shape, and I was too terrified to take my eyes off him for a second. At many points in the nights I feared he'd stop breathing or give in to his injuries. My medical knowledge did little to help, meaning he was in Arceus's hands at this point.

I turned back from my desk to see him resting on his bed. He laid on his side, nestled up in multiple layers of blankets. My body was numb from the cold, but I wasn't going to take them from Zylen, instead I needed to focus on staying awake for him. Scarcely had I gotten sleep, and piling that on top of the fatigue from before all that happened. At some points I had actually broken into sobs from being so exhausted and terrified for Zylen. All of this was my fault. I sent Zylen out to do this job, and now he's possibly on his deathbed. I would have left for help, but I wasn't sure how far in the woods we were, or if I could leave Zylen alone. What if he was in need of me, or what if Genesis found him. That was what kept me here too, I feared Genesis would find me. Genesis was also what prevented me from starting a fire, I needed this place to appear vacant.

Staying here every minute was torture with Flare in my head too. If WPA found out about me getting caught, what would that mean for my little brother? My grip around my stick tightened from the thought, until I couldn't take it. I stood up on top of my stool and threw the stick at the wall.

"I can't take this!" I screamed as I jumped from the stool and kicked it. My foot throbbed as I realized how big of a mistake that was. I fell to my butt and clenched my swollen foot. As I sat, I looked at Zylen to see if he was still asleep, luckily my fit didn't awake him. I fell to my side against the cold wooden floor and hugged my tail. I let out a sob and tears soaked into my fur. My cries grew louder as I broke like a twig. Other than muffling myself through my tail, I didn't even try to contain myself anymore. It was all too much, I couldn't keep up with all of this anymore. I wanted to be somewhere warm with Zylen, I wanted him to be okay, I wanted Flare, I wanted just one hour of sleep!

Another wind rattled the cabin, blurring out my crying. It took around five minutes before my tear ducts ran out and my tears were frozen into my fur. I still laid on the ground as I listened to the harsh winter outside. Zylen repositioned himself in his sleep, before he let out a groan of pain. My head rose up from the ground as I checked to see if he woke himself up on accident.

"How late is it?" Zylen coughed as he remained on his side.

"I don't know… the sun went down a long time ago though, I'd say it's at least past twelve." Zylen remained quiet, it was unclear whether he fell right back asleep.

"Annie?" Zylen said in a whisper. I stood up to my feet as I walked to his bedside. The bed was small, only made for one person, and Zylen managed to take up most of it.

"Yes?"

"It's freezing, aren't you cold?" he asked.

I faked a smile. "Cold, pff, I'm a fire type, that word doesn't register in my vocabulary."

"Liar," Zylen gave out a faint laugh. "I can hear you shivering from across the room."

My frown loosened into a pitiful expression. "I am freezing."

Zylen let out a pained groan as he readjusted himself further back in the bed, creating a small spot.

"Listen, I know you're keeping yourself awake for me, but you don't have to. Just lie down with me for a bit."

I gave a firm shake of my head. "I'm fine. You're hurt, I don't wanna accidentally hurt you if I move in my sleep or something."

Zylen let out a hoarse laugh, before having a coughing fit. "I really don't care. I find it hard sleeping knowing you're pushing yourself like this anyways."

A frown formed on my face before I sighed. I couldn't resist the temptation anymore. "Alright, you win. I'll sleep."

In a slow motion, I got myself under the sheets next to him. I made sure to keep some space between us so I didn't hurt him on accident. Zylen was fast to fall asleep under the sheets, but I kept myself awake. I was going to try and push myself to watch him a little further. It took around a half hour before I was nodding off under the comfort of the blankets. Somehow Zylen had gotten closer to me, and we were touching. I could feel his body heat against my own, and when I pressed my head against his chest I could hear his heartbeat. Admittedly, I found Zylen very comforting to be next to. It wasn't the first time we slept like this, many times throughout my life we shared a bed, since we were both unevolved.

I shifted myself until my entire face was buried into the warmth of his chest. One of my paws grabbed onto the lengthy fur on his shoulder. Before I knew it I was asleep for the first time in days. Zylen never woke me, the cold felt very distant next to Zylen. I felt at ease for once.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Dawn felt like it had arrived early this morning. Perhaps it was more due to me forcing myself out of bed earlier lately. I figured if I wanted to start taking steps forward, I needed to actually do something with my day. Finding something to do was the hard part though. Life back in Lumiose was dull, and it did reminded me a lot of a missing piece in my life. I found myself mostly hanging around Alex, or I was when he wasn't away. Even though I was trying, I felt very out of place all the time. I was always silent and never partook in conversations, or when I did I never had much to say.

Like most mornings, I joined Alex in the dining room. It felt like any other morning, or so it did at first. Ring went the doorbell at the front of our home. My ears flickered at the noise as I laid on the dinner table next to Alex's laptop. Usually I would have gone with Alex to greet our guest, but I still wasn't feeling it. Probably a delivery guy anyways. I heard the door open, and for a moment the house was silent. After a moment, the faint sound of talking could be heard, from both Alex and a visitor. After a minute, Alex's footsteps could be heard coming back towards me, but he was accompanied with a group of pokemon.

By the time they reached the dining room I was up and standing. I looked towards the way Alex was coming from to spot him and the guests. I froze at the sight of four pokemon I recognized from the WPA.

"Long time no see, kid," a croagunk smirked at me.

Alex called upstairs, "Hesh, Ebony. Come down here, you won't believe who came to visit!"

I remained frozen on the tabletop. Gray gave me a nod, while Tyson leaned against the wall. A gardevoir bowed towards me while a pokemon lingering in the back shot me a cold glare with her red eyes. My eyes wouldn't move from her. Why was she here of all pokemon?

"Dawn…" was all I could whisper as I stared at the pokemon that took my sister from me.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Well we get a chapter about Mandus after so long. Anyhoo, not a lot to say other than I hope you enjoyed it. One thing I will say is that I've been messing with my writing style a lot, and while I haven't been integrating these changes into how I write BD, I am experimenting, so it's be cool to hear some feedback on the next few chapters on the flow of writing or how it may even suck D: Most of these changes in writing style will be notciable in My Unraveled Soul story, which since I'm working on my writing in new ways it's kinda slowing down my update speed on that story. Well thanks for reading.

Special thanks to genericgamer207 for editing.


	117. The White Reaper

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 117: The White Reaper**

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

Other than the scraping of my claws against the wooden table, the room fell silent. No one paid any mind to Dawn and I. For what felt like hours, we were locked in eye contact. It was actually her, The White Reaper, Dawn the absol. She was the same monster I remembered. Hideously covered in aged scars, fur thinning in some areas revealing burns. Her left eye had a fog to it and held little color to it. Only broken halves of her claws remained intact, and cracks on her horn traveled all over it. In no way was she elegant, she was an eye sore, it hurt just to look at the ragged crone. I could only imagine what ruins her personality were-

"Flare," Gray's voice interrupted my thoughts. My eyes lingered for a moment, before turning towards the other absol in our company. Gray didn't exactly look like he was holding up well. New scars were added to his collection, and his synthetic horn had little left to it.

At first, I spoke at an inaudible volume, before speaking up, "Yeah, what's up?"

Gray kept a stare on me while he proceeded. "You just seemed zoned out. I'm just curious how you're holding up after everything." Gray's voice began to lower. "I know it's been tough."

As I looked over towards Alex, I noticed him watching me with interest. I realized that the gardevoir, Ada, was translating our conversation. I gritted my teeth at the thought, and almost even scowled.

'Tough would be an understatement,' I thought. I forced a smile. "It's been different, Gray." I sighed at the end of my sentence.

"Gray!" Ebony yipped from across the room, saving me from awkward silence. Everyone in the room turned towards the excited espeon as she ran into the room. Ebony started to speak with a burst of energy. "You've been gone for so long. I was actually starting to think you were gone for good. Where have you been? What's it like to be in the WPA? Why are you here?"

Gray chuckled to himself. Either he was happy, or shocked that the timid child was becoming more verbal now. "I've been around quite a few places. Mostly northern Kalos to answer your first question." Gray didn't bother with the second question. At the start of his third answer, his tone became more serious. "As about why we're here, it has to do with Black." Every smile in the face went straight and all attention was on Grayson.

"Black?" Hesh's voice filled the silence.

Alex was quick to comment after Hesh. "Wait, you've heard from Black. Where is he?!"

"I apologize, but that we're not sure about," The psychic spoke using telepathy.

"Then why make the trip to talk about him?" Alex asked. The human pulled out a chair and sat in it sideways, leaning his back against the table.

"Well," Ada began. "We've come to discuss Umbreon Black. We have many eyes throughout Kalos. Through the web of information, we caught wind of the umbreon." Everyone leaned forward in anticipation. "His whereabouts are unknown at this point, but we plan to unveil that with your help. But aside from asking questions about him, we're also here to discuss his future."

"What do you mean?" Ebony turned her head in confusion. "Black's coming home, right?"

The gardevoire shook her head. "If I may, I would like to discuss this with just Alex. As his owner you are his legal guardian. So, it's only fair you understand what to expect."

Alex looked around the room, before speaking up. "Alright," he nodded. "Everyone, would you all please go upstairs or outside?" It was only for a few seconds that everyone hesitated before abiding what was asked. The three of us all marched upstairs while the WPA pokemon took our spots. Midway up the stairs, Hesh grabbed onto my shoulder.

"Shh, I wanna hear what this is about, and I'm sure you do too. We should be able to hear from here if we're quiet."

I nodded in agreement. I planned to eavesdrop in the first place, but I was going to put my ear to a vent that leaked sound from below. Hesh, Ebony, and I all waited on the stairs, out of everyone's sight.

Gray stood out into our view and looked directly at us. All three of us stared at the absol, before he turned from us.

"They're upstairs, so we can begin." Without even acknowledging us Gray walked back into the dining room.

"Alright, we can begin, Mr Hayter," the faint broadcast of the gardevoir started.

"So what's so important about Black that we have to discuss his future?" Alex inquired.

"Our informants have confirmed some of his recent whereabouts, but where he is now is unknown. Unfortunately, Black has taken an unexpected route."

"Is he alright?"

"He's fine, as far as we know," Ada confirmed. "But from here on out you are going to have to turn him in if you come in contact with hi-"

"Excuse me?" Alex's tone snapped.

"Of his own free will, Black has joined Team Genesis."

"That's a lie." Alex's chair creaked as he stood. "Why would Black do that, how do you even know this, do you realize how much they've messed him up?!" Alex's voice boomed across the condo. "I watched my umbreon break down into tears from the horrors of them committing mass murder. Are you telling me that he found some motive to view them as something he'd want to be a part of?" Alex voice brimmed with anger.

"I'm afraid you are wrong about this, Mr Hayter," Ada continued. "Are you aware that your umbreon was involved in a recent terrorist attack? Six people died, many more were injured, and we have video evidence of him on the-"

"It wasn't him!" An echo sounded through the house from Alex's hand banging against the wall or table. "Maybe it was another shiny umbreon, or maybe a zoroark or something. Black is harmless, he may be a bit moody at times but he wouldn't hurt anyone! The fact that you even suspect him of such a thing is ludicrous."

"Whether you believe us or not, he's a wanted fugitive. He's a danger to society and has to take responsibility. Six people were murdered, mostly everyone on the case points at him and the others on the scene. These cases aren't taken lightly."

"And what if you do find him? Going to take him away, abuse him for something he didn't do?"

"No-" Ada was quickly cut off by a much colder voice.

"We'll simply kill him on the spot." Silence followed the cold words of Dawn.

Hearing her talk like that, I wasn't going to listen to a single word of it. I slipped through the support beams of the railing and jumped down into the hall leading to the kitchen. No one noticed the quick steps of my light feet. Smoke fumed from my nostrils. Heat burned from within my chest. My vision went straight at the scarred absol.

"Do you get some kind of joy from tearing apart families?" My voice growled. Everyone turned towards me, but Ada didn't translate to Alex what I said. "It's like some game to you, isn't it?"

Dawn barely even glanced at me, before turning back to Alex. Alex stared puzzled at the absol, not once did he ever look at me for intruding.

"You just talked…" Alex uttered. "Or did I just-"

"Yes, I talk," Dawn said in her monotone voice.

"H-How?!"

"It doesn't concern you, human." Dawn turned towards the door and didn't even look at me for a second. "It seems you're unwilling to cooperate. Here I thought you would be more informative. Regardless, I already got what I wanted to know."

"You didn't just come across Kalos for that, did you?" Alex questioned. Dawn didn't even answer as she walked to the door.

"I wish you and your pokemon the best of luck," the gardevoir bowed as she followed Dawn. Gray and Tyson both remained behind.

"You all go on ahead, I was promised a bit of time with them," Gray said to the leaving pokemon.

"As will I, not like I got anything better to do," Tyson shrugged.

"Do as you will," Ada said. "Be sure to meet us by tomorrow morning."

"Will do," Gray nodded. Dawn and Ada both departed from our home, leaving us in our thoughts.

The burning flame in my chest never left. A thick smoke left with each long exhale I let out. I couldn't catch my breath, that absol actually did that! Again she was fucking up my life! Even if Black did possibly mess things up I still didn't want him dead. Dawn had no right, I'd kill her long before I let her touch anyone I cherished.

"I'm going after he-"

"No!" Tyson's voice snapped. Regardless, I attempted to rush past him. Within three steps Gray tackled into me, pinning me with his paw.

"Just leave her Flare…" Gray's empty voice spoke.

"How can you let her do this?!"

"I'm trying to figure it out, okay!" Gray rose his voice. "I know Black wouldn't do that, but you can't just oppose all of WPA like that. And if you try going against Dawn you'll end up dead."

"Screw this." I bit down on Gray's paw, forcing it to withdraw. His weight lifted off me and I darted to the other side of the house. With a strong leap, I lunged up into the air and hooked my paw on the door handle. My weight forced it down and the door pulled open, revealing a small exit. I slipped through. Outside I was met with a bitter cold. The heat burning inside me kept me warm as I charged through the snow covered ground. Still in sight of the house was The White Reaper.

"Reaper!" I called out to the absol. Her pace stopped and Ada looked back. Her palm pressed against her face, but Dawn didn't bother to look back. "Hey, I'm talking to you," I snarled at her. Following me outside was everyone else in the house, but none dared to stand by my side. Dawn still ignored me.

"Fine, don't look. I find you repulsing to stare at anyway's". Dawn's head flinched a bit from the comment. I sneered as I realized that the comment bothered her. "What, didn't like tha-"

My ears rose at the sound of a crackle, before the air in front of me lit up with a tornado of lightning. Electricity splashed everywhere, stinging my nerves as it whirled inches from me. The air heated with its fury, hissing along with the crackles. A cry escaped me as I fell back in shock, shaking.

"One more comment and you're dead." Dawn's words bit into me. I couldn't tell if I was more shaken by the threat or the sudden attack that came from nowhere. Suddenly, a gloved hand went over my snout, muffling out my words. I soon realized that the cold hands touching me belonged to Tyson.

The croagunk whispered. "Don't say anything you're going to regret. You're making a big mistake."

I fought against his grip, before my maw broke free. "I refuse," I spat out, before kicking myself away from him. I got back to my feet as I walked to Dawn. The absol turned towards me at last. Her cold eyes met my own as I stopped with an arm's length between us.

"I want to take this somewhere private."

"Flare, just stop!" Gray yelled at me. The force of gray's paw crushed against me, pushing me to the cold ground. My skin scraped against it on the fall, leaving burns on my side. Gray's paw pressed hard against me. I kicked and squirmed, even clawed at him, but the absol kept his paw firmly on my side. Had it been anyone else, they'd be up in flames right now.

"Please forgive my friend." Gray's head lowered in a bow to Dawn. "Recently he lost a friend close to him, so he's not quite himself recently. He's harmless, I assure you."

"Like hell I'm harmless!" I pulled on the ground, leaving streaks from my claws. Gray's paw moved up to my head and pushed it flat against the ground.

"Very well," Dawn said with no emotion. "Behave in the future, fennekin. I wouldn't want to have to go back on my word." I watched as Dawn's feet walked away. My jaw snapped down from the sight. I couldn't let her leave, not without talking to her. A few seconds passed before Gray released me. Both Gray and Tyson exhaled a sigh.

"Man, that was close," Tyson shuddered. "You're really a glutton for punishment, you know that, kid?"

I pulled myself up from the ground and shook any loose dirt off. "Don't call me kid," I muttered. "And why'd you two stop me? I had my reasons for-"

"Because, you're an idiot," Gray interjected. "If we let you continue how you were, you'd be dead." A wind whipped through the air as I absorbed his statement.

"Is everyone okay?" Alex called out. The three of us turned back towards Alex and the others. All three had a startled look to them. It made sense, whatever that attack Dawn used, it was terrifying. I nodded at Alex.

"So, why tag along with her if you know Black is innocent?" I glanced back at Gray who had pulled back from us.

A sigh came from the absol as he pulled his eyes away. "It's complicated. WPA has more than enough evidence to hold Black accountable for taking part in that event. I don't understand these events myself, and I'm wanting to unravel the hidden truth." Gray walked towards the others. "I don't believe Black would do that. None of it makes sense. So if there is a chance he's innocent, I plan to do everything I can to make sure the right thing is done. After all, I did give him a lot of trouble in the past, so, I owe him it."

Gray didn't stop walking until he reached Alex, Ebony and Hesh. "Is everything alright?" Alex asked as he crouched down and gave Gray a pat on the back. Gray gave Alex a nod.

Hesh crossed his arms with an accusing glare directed at Gray. "So, did you all really come here just to tell Alex that Black is a wanted criminal?"

Gray shook his head. "I wasn't allowed to say anything at the time, but Dawn was scanning through the memories in your heads." Tyson and I both joined in by Gray's side.

"Wait, Dawn? I thought the gardevoir was Ada."

"No, she is Ada, Dawn is the other absol. You may have noticed, but she's…" Gray stopped to think of the appropriate word. "She's different."

"No kidding," Hesh nervously laughed. "I mean, Alex claimed to hear her talking. So, the freak talks to humans too? Which Legendary did she have to screw to get that po-"

"Don't," Tyson sighed. "Dawn may seem detached from things, but it's not without good reason. It's for the best if you don't insult her for being different."

Tyson shot a dark glare at me, "And Flare, don't ever insult her like that again. She's been through a lot, and she is actually not so secure about her body because of it. You'll regret making her angry. She doesn't have a good history of dealing with insults about her appearance."

"She owed me that one," I snorted. "And you know why."

Ebony's head turned to the side, "Flare do you know Dawn? You seem very angry."

"Oh it's nothing," Tyson laughed. "Flare and her just got in an argument once in the past, heh heh." The croagunk's elbow jabbed into me. I cringed at the hit but just smiled from the lie.

"Yeah, it's a long story from back when we were in Shalour. I'll explain later, I'm not in the mood for talking about it."

"Anyhoo, Flare," Tyson pinched my ear and pulled me toward him. Both of my eyes closed as my face muscles tensed from the discomfort. "I'ma treat you to lunch. Gray, why don't you stay and catch up with your friends. I need to discuss things with Flare, it's mostly from when we met in Shalour."

Everyone casted a suspicious stare at us. Of course this seemed fishy, this was a pokemon no one knew I met.

"Okay, I guess." Gray shrugged.

"Great, see ya later." Tyson's arm wrapped around my neck as he forced me along with him. In some eyes it may have looked playful, but I knew this wasn't good. It wasn't until we were long out of sight and on the next street the Tyson released me. I stretched out my neck, but a crushing force hit my nose. I hit the ground and rolled along it. Blood dripped from my nose as a firm foot went against my neck.

"You fucking idiot!" Tyson yelled. "Do you have any idea how freaking hard you are making it to help keep your stupid little past a secret? It's ridiculous! You couldn't just be calm; you couldn't wait to talk to me in private? Instead, you do that shit show!" The force on my neck increased as I felt my air pipe being blocked. I struggled for air as Tyson looked down on me. "You wanna know about your sister, or are you just more interested in making a scene?"

I pushed on his foot with my paws, but he didn't budge. I struggled to breathe, only able to suck in the oxygen as if it was through a thin straw.

"Now, we're going to have a talk, and you're going to shut up and listen. You're an adult last I checked. That means you're ready for your big boy pants and big consequences." Tyson's foot lifted off me, and I breathed in. The croagunk waited as I continued to pant for air.

"First things first, I got an answer from Dawn about your sister."

Even with no breath, I forced myself to speak. "You did?!" My head lifted off of the ground.

Tyson nodded with a grin forming. "Mhmm, I did. Your big sis, she's still around."

The burning in my chest calmed, every worry just faded. After all these years I knew Annie was alive, I just knew it. Now I knew I still had my sister. I wasn't alone in this world, I just had to get to her, somehow. I opened my mouth to speak, fighting over the lump blocking my throat. "W-Where is she?"

Tyson rose up his index finger "No, no, no, kid. Your sis, she made a deal with us. In exchange for this life you have, you're not supposed to ever be in contact with her. Hell, you're not even supposed to know she's alive. So it doesn't matter where she is right now, she's not here in Lumiose, nor is she anywhere you'll find her. I promised you I'd figure out if she was alive, not reunite you two. Now, I did what I said I would, so we're done here. Hopefully this brings you some peace of mind, see ya kid." Tyson spun in the opposite direction and gave a wave with his hand.

"We're far from done!" I called out as I sprinted in front of him and blocked his way. "Tell me where she is. You have no idea what it's like to be torn from your only sibling."

Tyson's arms crossed as he just gave me a long stare. It wasn't until a few silent seconds passed that he said something. "Sorry kid, I ain't got anything for you. I'll get in trouble with Dawn for telling you, and Dawn isn't someone I prefer to upset. She's pretty high up in WPA and could have me working night shift in the ghetto part of Lumiose until I croak. So, I got my own ass to watch out for." Tyson shoved his way past me, nearly knocking me over.

As I regained my balance I looked at the croagunk. "Fine, then take me to Dawn. I'll ask her myself." Tyson stopped in his tracks.

"That's stupid. You really want to make Dawn change her mind on her sticking her neck out for you?" Tyson turned back towards me.

That's what he called it, 'sticking her neck out for me?' My paw pressed harder against the cement ground. "Sticking her neck out for me? That's complete crap and you know it. How does taking me from my family fix anything, all it's done is make my life harder for me."

"Back off, kid. As I said, Dawn isn't someone you want to talk to about this. Now, be a good little fox and high tail it back home. You're starting to run my patience dry."

'Patience' I thought to myself as I let out a bitter laugh. "You're out of patience now, are you?" I walked towards the croagunk. When just inches from him, I began speaking, becoming more enraged with each word. "I've been patient my whole life on waiting for a chance to figure out where the fucking Hell my sister is! Now, take me to Dawn before I make you!"

Tyson snorted, "That a threat?"

"It's a promise if you don't do as I asked."

Tyson removed the gloves from his hands, before popping the joints in his fingers. "You know that's too bad. You had it pretty good here. Sadly, I can't ignore your hostility. Consider our deal null and void from here, so pat yourself on the back, kiddo." Tyson rose up both of his hands into a fighting stance, his fingers opened up instead of closed. I lowered to the ground, snarling as stray sparks escaped between my teeth. "So, just curious how educated you are on the poison of a croagunk?" Tyson sneered at me. "Let me tell you a secret. My fingers carry quite a nasty touch. While in lower doses it acts as a tranquilizer, in higher doses it'll shut down your body. So, don't make me hit you around too much, you might die. In other words, don't piss me off any further."

"You think you scare me?" I muttered below my breath. Tyson charged at me, his fist cocked back. I got low to the ground to jump left, but before I could even process it his foot slammed into my cheekbone. I flew back into the air until my body was torn up against the rough ground. I groaned as I crawled back up and flexed my jaw to relieve the numbness.

"While my feet aren't poisonous, a good ol' kick to the face always knocks the wind outta losers like you. I can see how you only made it past the second gym, you couldn't even see a fake attack like that."

"Just shut up," I growled as inhaled a deep breath.

"Bad idea kid," Tyson inhaled a deep breath as well.

Simultaneously, we shot our own attacks. A haze of mist shot out from him and my fire bomb went through it, before it combusted into an explosion. A wave of force launched me into the air as I inhaled the noxious fumes. Halfway to the ground, something stabbed into me and accelerated my fall to the ground. A yell came from me as the sharp pain pressed me down. The fumes surrounding me cleared, revealing Tyson with his hand stuck in below my ribs.

"Game over," He grinned, before yanking his hand from me. "I estimate the poison will take its effect on you in less than a minute."

I rolled to my stomach and began pushing up. My muscles fought against me as a growing numbness started to spread from below my ribs.

"It's potent. So yeah, you'll live if you stop there, but keep trying and you'll see an early grave."

"Just shut up already." I struggled to breathe, and it almost felt like I was half suffocating. My legs gave out as I lost control of my muscles. My heart that had been pounding from the adrenaline of the fight had become too faint to notice. All I could hear were the slow thumps of my heart, each slower than the last.

"Was it worth it?" Tyson kneeled down in front of me. "Like I said earlier, you had it good. Family, friends, a roof over your head. A pokemon like you shouldn't have been given a second chance. You just threw it away, and you're still just that same problem child. Dawn always had a soft spot for children, but you're an adult now, so you can take the adult consequences as well." My eyes fought to stay open as they came in and out of focus. "It's not something we like doing, it's a shitty side of the job. Putting down screw ups like you that is. Of course, it's not quite my job to put you down, that's up to WPA. They'll learn you're Ex-Flare, and I'll have to report your violent nature. After, you'll be sentenced to a punishment. But hey, you'll get to see Dawn now. Maybe she'll answer your questions out of pity. I wouldn't count on it though."

Everything faded to black when Tyson finished his speech.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

How many days have passed since we left, one, two? No, if I had to guess I'd say around four. Things haven't exactly been fast since our arrival at Anistar city. I'd even say things were duller than I ever anticipated.

A grayish tone lingered over the city of Anistar. Few beams of light escaped the cracks of the clouds, shining between the tall structures. Buildings reached out, some almost seeming to dwarf the snowy mountains from afar. With an exhale of my breath, a foggy mist came out. Just the sight of my own breath made things feel much colder. The Imprint of my paws in the snow followed me down the brick streets as I stared around. Despite Anistar being close to home, I never actually did get a chance to ever visit. It was a shame. My family might have enjoyed such a place, but we avoided civilization. Mom never did like us going near humans. Said we'd get captured by a whack job human. (Too late, Mom.)

Many of the buildings shared the same architecture, most lacking any roundness. All roofing matched with their grid-like tops. Withering trees bordered the streets, most of which were young. Following along some houses, or even out on the window sill were the remains of flowers killed off by the season. Tapping steps, chatter, the sound of human children laughing down the street, it all filled the city.

To the left I looked off to a massive dome building with golden rings travelling over it. The sun's rays reflected off the rings, making a bright glare of light. From the logo on the building, I knew what this place was, the seventh gym. Somewhere my friends and I never reached. The sight brought a frown to me. I could see us all fighting alongside each other to claim another badge for Alex. Flare, Kana, Ebony, Gray, even that annoying pikachu, Hesh. It would have been a long time from now, but the journey would have been fun, if things could have been normal.

I pried my vision from the structure and headed down the street. I weaved between and under the legs of humans. Most moved out of the way, some cursed as I tripped them, and a teenager lost herself at how cute I was... I cut between two buildings, separating myself from the noisy environment. Halfway down, I came to a steel door. My paw rose, and I gave four knocks at it. Silence followed before a voice spoke up.

"We're closed, come back anoth-"

I cut the voice off, "It's me, Rhy-Rei, let me in." No response came, only the click of the door followed by the sound of heavy metal scraping over the ground. I followed in, not looking back once. When in the door was sealed. Inside the air was dusty, and lit by candles dripping wet with wax. Shadows flickered all over the room. Two eyes that could be mistaken as red or orange pierced into me from the shadows. The hint of a skeleton emerged. A lizard stepped out, one with a long bone strapped to his back.

"So you're back, I see." The marowak said. Despite the lack of visibility of his face, I could still see the smirk. "How's Anistar, enjoy anything good today?"

"No." I shook my head before I collapsed down on a rug. Dust particles flew up into the air. Immediately I sneezed and groaned before glaring up at the fake marowak. "How long do we have to stay here. I thought you said my Dad was here?"

"Relax, it's only been three days." Rei leaned onto a shelf of books. The wood creaked behind him as a clump of dust fell beside him. "And for your dad, he'll be in Anistar soon as I said. Probably tomorrow if things go well."

"Because your informant said that?" I scowled.

"Yes, because my informant said that." Rhys shifted his helmet. "Zack moves around a lot. Most of the leaders of WPA do, he'll be coming here fairly soon. I trust my informant.

"So I have to sleep in this dungeon all night again, don't I?"

"Well, you're more than welcome to stay out at night. I wouldn't hold it against you for embracing your nature as an umbreon."

"Then I'll have to sleep here during the day, or stay up tired."

"It's just one more night, Ryder. After that, we'll be safe if WPA assists us."

"Except my dad probably hates anyone who is involved with Genesis," I retorted.

"Right now, Zack and I both may be enemies, but we both share a common enemy that is a greater threat to this world. He'll come around. Besides, I've taken on the persona of Rei because he won't ever know the real me. Not until all this is over."

I stretched out my body before closing my eyes half asleep. "Who knows what he'll do… I barely know him," I said, yawning at the end. Rhys didn't say anything after. Instead, I heard him pulling a book off the shelf. It wasn't long before I fell into a light sleep.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

"Wake up," Ice cold water splashed onto me. Shivers ran through me as I tried to stand, but something held my neck to the cold floor. I pushed as hard as I could. Someone was behind me, but I couldn't look back due to being pinned to the ground. A set of white paws walked into my views along the cement floor. Stopping directly in front of me, and when I looked up it was her. Glaring down at me, like I'm some goddamn pitiful display. Her red eyes stood out in the darkness of the empty room, almost too the point of being harrowing. 'Dawn, the White Reaper,' the thought terrified me. The fact that Dawn continued looking down at me didn't help, and after a minute, it began to infuriate me.

"What?" I asked. Silence followed, before I blew up. "Why are you looking at me like that!?" My voice echoed in the room, and made me realize how loud I actually was.

A few seconds passed before Dawn finally pried her eyes from me and spoke. "I'm unsure of what I'm looking at," her voice answered with no emotion. She walked around me, inspecting me. "You harbor hatred towards me. You're not the first, and far from the last."

'I bet,' I muttered within my own mind.

"So, you wanted to talk, so talk." Dawn's foot pressed against the back of my neck, but the device around my neck released. The metal collar binding me clacked as it fell to the ground. I sprang to my feet and backed as far from her as I could. Half of me was ready to fight, the other half was just wanting to talk if possible. "He told me you were demanding the whereabouts of your sister. Annie, was it?"

I nodded my head once as I inched closer.

"Well, as my colleague told you, she's well, or was."

"W-was, what do you mean?!" My heart started to race as my breath was already running thin.

Dawn sighed. "Your sister has gone missing. She's presumed dead." Dawn stated bluntly.

'Dead…' the thought played in my head. The room suddenly felt much more silent. All I could hear were those repeating words 'Dead.' It couldn't be possible, after all this time she's alive and she's just dead before I get to her... No, I couldn't accept it, she's alive, it's the only possible outcome.

"You better start talking," I growled, trying to show no weakness.

"Alright," Dawn said. Her voice still lacked any sign of pity or remorse, it just held no emotion, like she was empty. "After you were separated from your sister, you were put in a pokemon adoption program. From there your trainer took you in and gave you a new home. WPA was ready to execute her, but I saw potential in her and the zoroark. So, I documented that she was executed by my hands along with the zoroark. After, I enlisted her onto a special team I've formed, consisting of pokemon I see potential in. Most pokemon working secretly under me doing dangerous jobs. Some I asked to join, few I forced like your sister. The braixen was happy to abide by my will, so long as we left you alone. That was our agreement. A second chance for all three of you, and even what could have been a happy life.

"Since then she worked as a spy in one of Genesis's main bases as a counselor for the specimens. From what my other informant told me, she has been under immense stress. How they said it, she was having breakdowns at least twice a week. This led to her making mistake after mistake. In the end, she made too many phone calls, said too many things she shouldn't have, and Genesis caught on. One day, she went black. I haven't heard from her, she could have abandoned her job, or been caught and killed. The thing that I find most intriguing is that the zoroark, Zylen, disappeared at the same time. His job was to be a spy amongst the mercenaries, but he abandoned everything at the same time. I don't know what their fate was. Whether they abandoned their lives or not was their choice. I won't chase them, but there was one understanding that we did have." Dawn paused for a moment. "If I see her again she'll be dead where she stands," Dawn's words left the room silent.

I stood, not saying a word as I took everything in. Dawn forced my sister into this. She drove my sister insane with stress, then acts like she isn't even a person. I couldn't even begin to understand why she'd kill her. Annie was a good person, she deserved none of this.

"You really are a monster," I growled. "So you destroyed my sister's life, now you're going to end mine here. Or maybe I'll become your slave, is that why I'm here?"

"I have yet to reach a verdict."

"Don't expect me to do a damn thing for you. I'll run. I'll tell everyone what you're doing, you're not promoting world peace you're exploiting pokemon!"

A dry laugh escaped Dawn. My face twitched in anger. "Exploiting? You're probably very right, I can see it," Dawn gave one nod of her head. "I've done terrible things in my life, exploiting others wouldn't be below me."

I snapped at her, "And you're proud of it? Your outside really reflects who you are."

Dawn's eyes narrowed in on me, both pupils filled with blood. "I'll give you a single warning. Mock my appearance and it's over."

"Make lightly of my sister and you're dead," I muttered.

Dawn took a step at me. Her claws tore through the cement ground. "Threatening me? I'll enlighten you on somethi-" before Dawn even finished I was thrown across the room by an invisible force. My back slammed into the wall, cracking the surface beneath me. Before I even fell I was thrusted up into the ceiling and forced to the ground right after. I couldn't breathe at first. Couldn't even groan or cry. My eyes remained wide open as my muscles throbbed and my body refused to move.

"The name White Reaper wasn't given for the fun of it. I've killed a lot of pokemon. Lost count years ago, can't even begin to account for them. A fruitless fennekin like you who hasn't even evolved, it's like stepping on a joltik and watching its blood and guts come out. Almost satisfying, really."

"You're insane," was all I managed in my winded breath. Dawn didn't reply, she only kept her eyes on me.

I didn't bother to stand. It wasn't a joke, she was strong. Somehow, she had the power to throw me across the room like a ragdoll. If that was her warning attack… I didn't even torture myself with the thought of a real fight.

"Sorry." Dawn said. "I thought you could be happy, that's why I did what I did. I thought you could maybe live a normal life. I see now that I was wrong. A troublesome childhood really does impact one's life."

My head rose as I yelled at her, "I was fine until you came along!"

"I have no further words to speak with you, fennekin. You'll be dealt with tomorrow. You know too much, that's why the croagunk kept his silence. Knowledge can be power, but with power comes those who'll silence it. You're an adult now, this is what you chose."

Dawn walked towards the door of the room. A purple energy emitted from the stone on her head before the door resonated with the same energy. The door flung open and she walked out, only for it to close behind her right after.

With my aching muscles, I pulled myself from the ground. "Dammit!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I charged at the door. With all my energy, I slammed my side into it. The door didn't budge an inch and instead brought the pain back to my body. I let out a yell of anger, but the pain almost felt relieving. Again, I slammed into it, this time adding fire to myself. Over and over I kept at it, I couldn't stop until I was on the floor panting, and my shoulder felt broken. Tears weighed down my eyes, before flowing out, drenching the fur below my eyes.

"I'll kill you!" I yelled out before breaking into sobs.

For a while, I remained at the foot of the door. I lost. If life was a game, I just lost in the worst way possible. I was going to die tomorrow, I was trapped and Dawn promised death. No one knew where I was, and I just threatened to kill my reaper. The thought of it all ending was unimaginable to me. Was this how Kana felt? A strong feeling of hopelessness, almost trapped? Only now I could clearly picture her dying hours. I understood the terror she probably felt that night as she was hunted down by the monsters of Genesis. Only difference, I was being killed by the monsters of WPA. Not only that, no one would know what happened to me. Like Kana, I was going to disappear off the face of the planet. I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready to hurt my friends either. I had to get out of here.

"I'm not dying to you," I told myself as I struggled to move. "I'm not dying to you" I cried out as I forced myself to stand. My muscles ached, but I didn't care. "I refuse to let you win!" Instead of the door, I looked at the first spot Dawn had thrown me. The wall was cracked, and if I tried it could be possible… It would hurt to force my way through it, but I wouldn't stop until every bone in me was dust.

I yelled out a battle cry as I flew into the wall. Adrenaline started to pump through my veins, numbing the pain. I panted after each strike, and stumbled around before going again.

"I'm going to find Annie!" I proclaimed. "I'm going to find Zylen too! They're both alive. After, we're exposing you!"

A rush like nothing I ever felt went through me. My body burned with a heat I've never felt. My blood boiled and my vision blurred. The numbness in my shoulder faded, my body felt light, but at the same time like it was coming apart. I stopped my assault as the feeling overwhelmed me.

"Am I?" I looked down to my forepaw to see myself radiating in a white flame. For a second time stopped, before the flame absorbed into me. All at once it felt like I was expanding out and going to explode. I fell to the ground, numb, but reinvigorated. For a moment, I blacked out but came too just as fast as it happened. When I awoke on the floor, I saw my extended arm laid out in front of me. Still slender, but longer, like a human almost. With aching muscles, I looked towards the rest of my sprawled out body. Everything was different, I was no longer myself… I evolved.

"How?" I uttered in bewilderment. "I was told I couldn't." I thought back to the events of that day. When I was stabbed in the neck with the everstone. They told me I wouldn't evolve, that chunks lodged in me stayed long enough to alter me, permanently. They were scientists, so how could they be wrong?

I attempted to move my legs, but realized they were different. With my new hands, I placed my palms against the floor. Just feeling the cement against my new digits felt bizarre. Trying to mimic how humans stood, I tried pushing myself up with my legs, but quickly fell to the floor.

"Crap," I muttered. I tried again but fell with no progress. Many times I attempted to stand, but made little progress each time. On my ninth try, I finally managed to stand. I wobbled back and forth like I was intoxicated, but I had it. My triumph only lasted a few seconds before I landed on my rear.

"So…" I began as I looked at my hand. "I evolved and I'm going to die tomorrow?" I questioned, but chuckled to myself. "I already said I wouldn't. Dawn, I won't lose to you." With determination I stood, doubling all my previous speeds.

What I imagined was all day I practiced moving with my new body. First, I mastered walking. Next jumping. Couldn't leave out learning evasive moves again either. By the time I was exhausted I felt more comfortable in my new body. I could manage almost the basic movements of my old body.

A sneer formed as I looked at the cracks on the wall. "Now, let's see what this did for my flames." I was about to release them straight from my mouth, but I remembered Annie's techniques. She always used her stick. I still remembered back to her explanations, she used the energy in her hands to channel it to her stick. The stick just helped guide it. I didn't have one though.

"Right," I nodded to myself, raising my hand up. With a thrust of my arm sparks came out, but nothing to be proud of. It was almost as if I was learning to breathe fire all over again.

More practice time passed. It was much faster than when I was in my youth. For a matter of fact, I excelled years within hours. A pillar of flames came from my palm, blasting straight into the crack in the wall. The cement reddened after a minute of effort and I charged right at it. With everything I had I slammed into it. The wall gave in and collapsed as I fell straight through.

I groaned as I looked up, realizing that I was in a hall. I shifted myself over and looked around. Outside my confinement, this place seemed quite normal. Halls were lit well, tiled floor. No sounds came, so maybe I was alone? Using my uninjured arm, I got myself up. I inched my way down the hall in an attempt to be quiet.

Many rooms branched off from my path. Most of the rooms were filled with file cabinets, computers, maps, storage. It felt as if I was in some secret CIA base, or the lair of cyber terrorist's. Only at one point did I encounter someone through the window of a door. It was a quagsire sorting through a pile of paper on his desk. He sipped at his coffee while a radio played in the background. When he went in for his coffee, I ducked below the window and moved. From there it only took a minute before I found a set of stairs leading up.

'An exit?' I thought as I tried out the stairs with my new legs. Even with the practice I had it was awkward. I found myself mostly depending on the railing to pull me along. When at the top, I began fumbling with a latch. First attempt at fingers wasn't easy, kinda hard to grip things. Most difficulty came in controlling the individual digits. When I finally did get it, I pulled it down and pushed the two steel doors open. The crisp night air rushed in, chilling me. I pulled myself out from the lair.

Outside I was still in Lumiose. Just in a location I didn't recognize. I walked around an abandoned commercial building I was outside of. Soon, I realized I was in the ghetto part of Lumiose. Never once have I wandered here at night, but once or twice I came through with Alex just to do a really quick errand. Now here I was, a newly evolved braixen in unknown territory.

"Best to get home," I told myself as I started running from the base. I ran for as long as I could, often times tripping on my new legs. Four times I fell flat on my face. When I was sure I was alone I stopped on an empty street. My hands slid down to my knees as I panted. When I stopped, I had a chance to realize something I neglected.

"I can't go home…" I said aloud. "Dawn knows I'm a liability to her… If she finds out I told them, she could kill them." I fell to my hands and knees from the thought. I was alone, I couldn't go back. I was a danger to my family.

"Why is this happening?" I asked. "I should have just shut up when I could." I punched the ground, finding that the pain helped numb my emotional agony. "Crap. Crap. Crap. Alex, Ebony, Hesh, I can't come back, I'm sorry. I can't even let you guys know why."

"I'm dead to them… I'm just like Kana. I'm going to disappear from them. I really am sorry." A tear fell from my eye as I stood. It was freezing out and the wetness against my eyes burned from it. "I need to find somewhere to go," I told myself. For now, I just needed to take my mind off things. Shelter had to come first, I was going to freeze tonight if I didn't act fast.

"Arceus… please help me."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Not much to say here, other than I hope the chapter was enjoyable. Had a lot of fun writing it, but I was honestly surprised I got it done this week. Been crazy busy with a tournament thing my school has for seniors.

Especial gracias a genericgamer207... Mi el espanol es malo...


	118. Bad Blood

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 118: Bad Blood**

* * *

**Point of View Black**

It was just another ordinary day with my friends on our journey. The sun hung over the horizon, bringing a wide array of reds and oranges to the sky. The clouds arched around the sun as its rays were painted across the horizon.

From afar, I sat on a hill, watching as night came. I wasn't really sure where I was, but everyone seemed to be gone, except for Naomi who was leaning against me. Naomi's head rested against my shoulder and I leaned into her.

Neither of us spoke a word, just watched in peaceful silence. The evanescent red and oranges of the sky faded, bringing out the moon and an asterism of glittering lights.

Both of us radiated under the full moon. Blues and yellows brought a glow to each blade of grass around us. Naomi's paw moved over my own. I looked down at it. It was much smaller and more nimble than my own, given that Naomi was always a bit smaller for an umbreon. Regardless, who cared when I loved her? Not like I was your ideal umbreon either.

In response to Naomi's paw, I turned and gave a kiss on her head with my eyes closed. Something felt off about her fur. It was all smooth and moist… was it her fur? My eyes opened to see two ice blue eyes looming just inches from my own. My lips pressed against the nose that belonged to the blue eyes.

"Touch Naomi again and I'll kill you!" The voice snapped me wide awake. I sucked in a deep breath as I jolted from the floor. Panting heavily, I scanned the room. It was all a dream, a bizarre dream above all else.

"What in the hell?" Somehow, I could still feel the dampness of the white umbreon's nose against my lips. I had wanted my first kiss to be with a girl… not a maniac serial killer that was my romantic rival.

"Everything alright?" Rhys asked from the shadows of the room, sitting at a small table and sipping at a cup of steaming coffee. "looks like you just woke up from some night horrors." Ironically, the false marowak looked like something from a nightmare.

"You have no idea," I grumbled. "Do we have anything to drink? I got a nasty taste lingering in my mouth…"

"Nasty taste huh?" Rhys chuckled. "Ever had coffee, great morning drink. Humans are crazy over it, especially during the morning hangovers." Rhys blew the steam from his coffee, before sipping at it.

"Alex used to drink it all the time in the morning. Not black as they called it, he put flavoring in it, I think?" I mused, trying to remember exactly how he liked his coffee. Why I cared I don't know, just bothered me that I couldn't remember.

"Here," Rhys put a bowl down on the table and began pouring a black liquid into it from the pot he had brewed. "Beats the living hell out of morning grogginess. May get your system moving a bit, heh. The boost is worth it."

I stumbled my way across the room and took a seat across from Rhys or Rei. I looked down at the dark liquid, it steamed with heat, also holding a bit of brown in its blackened colors. I sniffed at it, feeling the wetness of the steam entering through my nostrils. I wasn't sure of what to make of it, couldn't tell from the burn of the steam. With my tongue, I lapped at it once. What I got was not only a scorching burn but the taste of bitterness.

First, I sucked in a breath to cool down my mouth, then I shot Rhys an angry glare. "This sucks," I declared, sticking my tongue out into the cool air.

"It's an acquired taste as they call it." Rhys chuckled again. "interesting fact: coffee in some cultures is viewed as a middle ground that brings people together."

"Huh?" my head cocked to the side.

Rhys laughed to himself before taking another sip and then cleared his throat. "Well, think about it. Around the world, all cultures enjoy the drink. Hoenn, Kalos, Unova, even the small less fortunate regions, all coffee drinkers. You can sit down with anyone and have a consensus on liking coffee, hence, they have coffee shops. Places like those bring in all kind of people. From kids trying to find a way to keep awake for early morning classes, to a writer sitting down in the store to write that first word in his next novel. It's just an interesting fact since most of the time everyone has to oppose each other with the freedom of opinion. Not with coffee, everyone can like it, even you if we perhaps make a latte or cappuccino."

I stared at Rhys, not knowing how to even begin on a response. Is Coffee linking everyone together like that? "Well… that's interesting, I guess."

Rhys smiled at me, "Even Ghost enjoys his cup in the morning."

"Then why don't we invite him to a starbucks or something? We can talk it out, treat him to a cup and stuff. He probably likes whip cream and sprinkles in his."

"Wish it were that simple," Rhys eyed at his coffee, swishing the liquids in his cup around in a circle. "It's just a fun fact, Ryder. Maybe, just maybe, you can meet a pretty pokemon at one. They have pokemon cafes all over. You can meet a lot of nice sophisticated wome-"

"When did this turn into love advice?" I stipulated as I stood up in shock.

"Rhys continued to look down at his coffee, his eyes lost. "Life's short Black. When all this is over with, I promise you a normal life. I can't bring back your family or friends, but I can help you walk forward. What am I getting at? Don't stay tied up in the past, go out make friends, find a pretty espeon, have a kid, have a whole family. Don't get hung over Naomi for the next twenty years. Life's too short to waste time. I'm damn near through mine, felt like yesterday I was playing at the creek with my friends. Now look at me," Rhys gave a smile, still looking emptily at his coffee.

I didn't reply, only thought of what he said. Life really was short, when you look at it. Everything I've enjoyed was short lived. I was cut short on my family, friends, love. I loved every second of it, but it was really short. Not even much time passed before Flare was my closest friend, and I was always thinking of Naomi. Kana's life was short too… Too short. She seemed like the type to live every day to its fullest, but did she get enough out of it? 'Fuck, I can't think about this.'

"Change of topic," I started. "My Father, today we see him, when?"

"Quite soon Black, quite soon," Rhys placed his finished cup of coffee on the table. "Lily will be back from her patrol shift any minute. we'll leave then."

* * *

**Point of View Naomi**

Morning birds sang, the sun beamed over the horizon, blinding me. The air was still frigid this early, and the ground had a thin sheet of snow from the night before. Best part of the morning, the crisp fresh air. To no end I enjoyed it out here, it reminded me of home, kinda. Out here it was a wooded area. No cities, only small homes that were cut off from civilization every once in a while.

Stark and Raiden walked alongside me, Stark on my left, Raiden on my right. The raichu carried the backpack for us, since he had hands and stuff. He also navigated with the tablet we were given. From time to time, I'd fiddle with it, I tried a puzzle game, but everything was hard to use. Not impossible, just hard.

This whole journey reminded me of back then. It wasn't happy memories, it was the worst actually. Still, I couldn't help but be happy to have Raiden around. It was mostly Sam who ruined my life, alongside Jack. Raiden may have been docile to what Jack said, but in no way did he lack morals. I couldn't blame him for what Sam and Jack did, they were the monsters manipulating us. Sam enjoyed every second of it, he was a monster, a psychopath by the books. He lacked any real care for others. He did whatever he wanted to please his wants, and joked about the horrors after. And he was still out there, somewhere. Anywhere.

"Looks like we'll be in Dendemille within the hour," Raiden commented. "Haven't been there since-"

"Jack," Stark finished.

"Yeah," Raiden's voice went cold.

In a way, I was happy to hear their answer because I wasn't the only one hung up on the past. Still, Stark and Raiden were stronger than me. I wasn't sure if I could do this. Sure, when I was asked it was easy to say yes, I had Stark. But now that we were close, I felt much smaller and fragile, like I was a little eevee going to face my childhood bullies. Not possible, I'd never be able to face any of my tormentors, I was too afraid. Then again, when I want back home I beat the ninetales half dead. All that stress came out at once on him and I probably would have killed him if Dante never stopped me. Jerk would have had it coming, every second of it.

"Naomi," Stark awoke me from my trance.

"Yeah?" I turned to him.

"You going to be alright?" Stark made eye contact but looked like he was struggling to keep it.

"Yeah, why, is everything alright?"

Stark smiled, but it was weak and fake. "Yeah." He nodded. "I just worry about you, that's all. You know, you don't have to come see Jack. I don't want you to see Jack. So, just let us go and do this."

I broke eye contact, watching my paws as they walked along the dirt path. "I can't," I simply answered.

"Naomi, I would prefer to keep you out of this. You were never a part of this plan to begin with, let me and Raiden do this. We know Jack better than you."

"yeah, and what if you need the backup? I recently went against Jack, remember?"

"Yes, yes you did…" Raiden awkwardly distanced himself from me.

"I'm not mad at you, Raiden," I looked over at him. "You were just his pawn at the time."

"And still would be if you didn't whoop us," Raiden replied. "I would have killed every one of you, you know? Even the kid. I would have hated myself, but I would have done it." The raichu looked through the forest, looking for a distraction.

"The past is the past," I stated, not even sure on how to respond to that.

"If so, what makes me different from Jack and Sam? I've shed my fair share of blood. Just as much as Sam probably. So, why am I different?"

I paused, not sure again. A minute had passed or maybe the awkward silence made it feel longer. "You didn't act like you enjoyed it. You were remorseful even when you tried to kill us. You would have made it quick and clean if you could."

I wasn't sure how I felt on explaining how his method of killing me made him redeemable, but it was happening and it felt weird. "Sam on the other paw. He had a chance to kill me. He didn't take it though, because it wasn't fun for him." I shuddered at the memories of when he captured me in Cyllage. "Back in Cyllage, do you know what he was planning to do to me when he captured me?"

"No," Raiden admitted. "I actually knew little about that at the time. I only heard about it after you escaped, which was a surprise."

"Right," I nodded. "He didn't plan to kill me though, and I got lucky on escaping."

Stark added his own question, "What was he going to do to you?" His voice became unnerved. I could already tell he was imagining the disgusting things Sam would do to me.

I felt my face go pale, luckily my fur hid it. "He… he wanted to let my meds wear off. So my memories would slip away, then I wouldn't be able to hold memories as well. He said he wanted to sell me to pokemon because I'd be vulnerable…" I stopped, the thought chilling me to the bone. "Before then, I think he planned to do things to me, things I wouldn't be able to fight against."

"Fucking bastard," Stark snapped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that-"

"It's fine," I quickly said. "If I didn't escape, I think to this day I'd still be trapped in whatever he-"

"We don't have to discuss this further," Stark said as he rubbed up against me as we walked. "Sorry, I know you didn't want to, but… Never mind." Stark sighed. "I'm happy we got to meet again. So for that, I have to thank you, Raiden."

"Me, for what?"

"Getting beaten by a girl."

"Screw you," Raiden held up his middle finger jokingly. "Still, I'm glad I did lose. Gave me a different opportunity to meet Rhys."

There was something I never thought to ask. "How did you come to meet Rhys?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. I don't think I ever did explain that. Well, after Sam and I escaped the hospital that one night, we needed work. Sam contacted some old friends, and we ended up working in Genesis together. Short story actually."

"Right," I nodded. "I kinda got that, I guess I was more interested in the whole Rhys thing."

"Ah yeah," Raiden nodded. "Well, he knew us, I guess. He saw our talents, well more specifically mine, he kinda left Sam out for obvious reasons. So, he proposed to me that I join him. I agreed because I knew that a lot of the stuff that was happening down in that Genesis base was wrong." Raiden gave a dark monotone laugh. "The things I saw were awful. I can't actually believe what these guys were doing to pokemon. It was a violation of basic rights that any living being should have. Yet they didn't care. They'd experiment on pokemon night and day. The stress in that place is too much for them, suicide rates are off the charts. I mean they actually have therapists there just to keep them from trying to kill themselves."

Raiden's explanation made my pace slow as I felt a sudden weight on me. I actually almost took a job there, I wanted to help them. "Was it really that bad?" I asked, mostly wanting to get a better understanding.

"Oh yeah!" Raiden exclaimed. "I worked security there. I got to make sure they all didn't try to escape. That also meant checking to make sure they weren't trying to kill themselves. Genesis did whatever they wanted to these pokemon. They used drugs that brought unbearable pain. Some pokemon were put in simulations where they'd be forced to do terrible things, like murdering their family.

Genesis attempted to make hybrids between the eeveelutions with multiple affinities. Hell, I think they tried making pokemon have offspring from the sperm cells of pokemon in different breeding groups. They got a few babies to deliver alive, but they were all deformed and died within hours of being born. Most ended in miscarriages though."

"That's messed up," Stark agreed with Raiden's point.

"Very, and just when I thought no one could be worst than who I was. All that stuff was just glorified torture labeled science. That's why I chose to team up with Rhys, I couldn't sit and watch it another day. Something had to be done."

Neither of us said anything in response to what Raiden said. I wasn't sure about Stark, but it was dark. It made it even worst when I thought about how that was just probably a small fraction of what was going on. If that's what a security guard knows, then what are the classified experiments? What Raiden said also made me consider what kind of person Ghost was. With some honesty, he did intrigue me. I wanted to know what would lead a human to do all this stuff. Well money, duh. Maybe I just wanted to learn what such an evil man was like. Was he like Sam and Jack, or was he a systematic psychopath that never lost his composure? Perhaps he even puts up the persona of a nice man, someone you'd never expect to be like he was.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but after a good while, the woods thinned out. A large windmill was the first thing to pop into sight.

"Here we are, Dendemille!" Raiden chimed, presenting the town with his right hand.

Stark and I didn't comment, probably because he felt just as nervous as I did. Tonight, we were going to do this. I was going to meet Jack Jaegar again.

"We should settle in, wait till later, then get Jaegar at our first opportunity." Without any further words, Stark led the group into the town.

"Right," Raiden agreed.

I lingered behind the two, but not too far. To take my mind off things, I tried to impress myself with Dendemille, but, in reality I couldn't have cared less about this town. It seemed like a nice area, most of the homes looked cozy. Almost all were made of stone brick, even the walking paths were made of a similar stone. Probably a result of the town having a mine that half of the townfolk men worked in. Always in our sight was the large windmill, slowly the propellers moved in a circular motion. Boring. That thing probably cost more than it would ever pay off with the energy it generated. It'd take many generations to actually live and die before that thing earned its worth. Smart idea, but why just one? That's what makes it so ineffective, the one just hardly did anything.

Raiden grabbed the bag from his shoulders and took out the tablet. He slung the bag back over his shoulder and opened a map of the town. "Alrighty, so first things first, we'll need a psychic-"

"I've been thinking about that," Stark interrupted. "You mentioned a gardevoir on the team, yes?"

"Yeah, Eva. You suggesting we just utilize her?" Stark nodded. "Well, we could, but if we can't get her to cooperate we're in trouble."

"True," Stark gave another nod before stopping in the street. "Then what? What psychic is going to agree to talk to a trained assassin?"

"Good point," Raiden sighed. "I mean; Jack did have a habit of using her a lot for translations. Not for us though, he didn't care what we had to say."

"Of course," Stark snorted.

"Point being, he'll probably have her out, or will get her out of her pokeball to talk to us. Acutally…" Raiden paused as he placed a finger on his chin. "He'll bring her out because of you two."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Simple. You Naomi are on his shit list, and Stark is presumed dead. I'm sure he'd be interested in figuring out how you're alive and all, before he tries to put another bullet into-"

"Yeah-yeah, I get it. I don't want any reminders of our last meeting," Stark muttered.

"Right, sorry. But, our little map here gives us where he'll probably be, which I'd agree with it."

"Care to elaborate?" I questioned.

"Well, as you know Jack got a lot of his work through Genesis. Well, as you know he failed bad when he tried to kill a kid's team of pokemon, which included Ryder. Well, that put Genesis in a bad position, so they blacklisted Jack. Shortly after, Jack got a voucher to join a club, a place called Kershaw's. It's a club place or whatever for mercs. Great work can be found there, booze, drugs, women or men, depending on your taste, pretty much had anything a man without morals would want."

"Fun," Stark spoke with sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, it's gonna be helluva time visiting him there," Raiden laughed.

* * *

**Point of View Black**

"So, that's the plan, got it?" Rhys finished explaining as he held the door. I was the first to walk out, followed by Lily.

"Yeah I get it, just take your side, persuade my Dad and go with your plans if anything changes."

"You got it," I could sense a smile from under his mask.

"Do you though?" Lily scoffed as we exited the alley and went to the main street. "I think you have problems following directions, mister I screwed up an entire subway."

"Fuck you," I snapped at her. "Just drop it, I had a meltdown, okay?!" Lily hadn't even been back for ten minutes and she was already getting on my last nerve, as always. Sure, we could get along if we didn't talk, but she was always condescending towards me, even from the start. Now she held the subway incident against me.

"Just stating my worries," She mused as if there was no problem and sauntered past me. She began to hum as she wore that stupid doll face grin she always had.

'I swear to Arceus, keep pushing me,' I raged in my head, wanting to teach her a lesson.

"Both of you, focus. This isn't the time for this. Gaining the alliance with WPA is something we must do. If we fail that then this war is already lost. Because the help the others are getting won't be nearly as much as what we're getting from, the WPA."

"Mhmm." Lily just turned her head from me. If I had fingers, I'd be saluting the snob.

"Now, shall we depart to where Zack should be?" Rhys asked as he pressed his skull firmly to his head. Lily and I both agreed and we left.

Our walk was mostly carried out in silence. Not once did I look in Lily's direction, but she seemed to act as if she never antagonized me to begin with. And to think I was almost stuck with her as a permanent leader… That would've been absolute Hell.

At the heart of Anistar, we reached our destination. Here the city seemed to flourish. Humans crowded the streets as they walked, streaming around the city like two river currents fighting against each other. Many of the buildings were taller in the area, but not even coming close to Lumiose. Everything in the area was more compact though, hardly any allies, smaller stores and commercial buildings crammed in as they followed along the streets.

"That building there," Rhys said, pointing a claw at a one story building that looked like a warehouse. A large chain fence followed around the building, and out back of it there were many garage doors. A large lot surrounded the building, most of which was in the back. A few cargo crates were stacked outside, and pokemon were hauling the contents inside the one opened garage door.

"That?" I said, not convinced.

"You see pokemon, don't you?" Lily snorted.

"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Then that's the base, stupid," Lilly stabbed at me with another 'stupid' insult.

Rei lead us in the direction of the building. "Let's go. We don't have time for you two to argue. And so help me, if you two don't get along in there… I expect you two to act close."

"Mhmm, right," Lily smiled. "Blacky and I here are like brother and sister."

"Don't piss me off," I growled.

"Pff, let's go, little brother."

"Enough!" Rei snapped before whacking Lilly in the back of the head. The sylveon's head flinched a few inches before looking back at him, batting her eyes in surprise. "I mean it, enough. We need this to be professional."

"Jeez, I know. I'm just playing around."

"Good, now start walking," Rhys instructed with a point of his finger at the structure.

The three of us walked all the way to the right of the building where no pokemon waited. Rhys shifted to a scyther and sliced an opening into the fence and then shifted back to his marowak form. Lily was the first to slip in, then me, followed by Rei. When inside we walked towards the main building. Still no one in sight.

"No one should suspect us when we're in," Rei said. "They'll take us as one of their own. Just don't talk unless necessary until we find Zack."

Lily and I didn't argue, and just went with it. As we followed along the perimeter of the building, we found an emergency exit which we entered in. Inside I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't anything too bizarre. Pokemon of all kinds hung around. Some carried stacks of paperwork, others worked at desks on computers. As we walked through the facility, no one paid us much attention. In one corner of the facility a group of pokemon sparred. A mienshao fought hand to hand with a charmeleon. The lizard threw multiple jabs, before the mienshao grabbed his arm, pulled, before pushing back on it with a twisting motion. Just watching the charmeleon flip through the air and onto his back made me cringe. The charmeleon laid still, until the mienshao offered a hand, and helped him up.

In other areas pokemon ate lunch, talking amongst each other. At one particular table a group talked, laughed, and pretty much interrupted the working environment of other pokemon. At another table two pokemon made out, which was pretty awkward, so I turned from that spot.

"Should be a conference room, keep an eye out."

"Okay." We made our way into the center where the base was its busiest. Rei glanced around for the room he talked about, but as he did that I noticed something. Everyone was stopping and starting to look at us… or me? Did they recognize me; did they know I was Zack's son? I couldn't be that popular, no one would even care.

"Found it," Rei said as he started to walk, but a limber pokemon walked in front of him.

She gave Rei a friendly smile, "Say, what's three pokemon like you doing here?"

For a moment Rei paused, I could sense the shock of the question. "Here to get my next assignment for my team," Rei simply answered.

"Team? what team are you, I don't think I've seen any of you before? And I'd remember a cute umbreon like that," The delcatty winked an eye at me. Whether she was trying to figure us out, or make advancements towards me, I wasn't sure, but I didn't like it. I just nervously smiled at her, before a jab stabbed me. I yelped in pain, before looking at Lily who was pretending to look away.

"Really?" I growled at her.

"Just wanted you to keep a clean, vigilant mind for this, Blacky."

"Blacky?" The delcatty overheard and pushed herself past Rhys.

'Shit, really Lilly?' I cursed in my mind as the delcatty looked me over. "Umm h-hey."

"So Blacky, that's an odd name. Guessing you were captured at one point, huh?" The delcatty said with a purr in her voice. I swallowed my spit, leaving my mouth dry. Why was she doing this, I just wanted to get out of here. When I ripped my eyes from her, I noticed more pokemon were watching, almost forming a circle around us.

"How long have you been without your trainer?"

"About thr-"

"Blacky," Rei spoke up. "We got important business, don't got time for getting flirty."

I exhaled a breath of relief, "Umm yes, right, sure," I nodded frantically as I ran to Rei's side.

"Blacky?" The delcatty mused. "Blacky… Black." Her grin widened. I didn't like the way I she looked at me like I was a rattata for her to play with. "And what about those red eyes, are those contacts?" The delcatty giggled after the question. "Blue rings too, a shiny. Hmmm, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were hmm I don't know, Ryder?"

Suddenly I noticed how quiet the room had gotten. No longer were their sounds of chatting, sparing, or computer work, just awkward silence.

"So, what's a cute little eevee like you doing here?"

"Ummm, what's going on?" I backed from the delcatty.

"Well, seeing as you're a terrorist, it's our job to detain you, for what you did back in Lumi-"

"What?!" I cut her off, realizing what she was getting at. "That wasn't me-"

"Shh shh, save it. As of now you three are in our custody, any attempts to resist will result in your demise."

I looked at Lily in the corner of my eyes. "What do we do?" I whispered.

Suddenly Rei spoke up, "Don't resist." I looked up at the marowak who had his hands up, but still had his composure. "We're outnumbered, three to Arceus knows how many. But, before you do take me away, I want to speak to Zack."

"You think you call these shots, lizard boy?" the delcatty spoke with amusement.

Rei nodded. "Tell him, I've come with a proposal. If he wants to stop Genesis, he'll speak to me. I have information he needs, regardless of whether you kill us now or not."

"Then you can tell me here," the delcatty demanded.

"Nice try kitty. I'll only speak to Zack, and Zack only. So, tell him what I said, let him know Ghost is making his move, and there is less time than he thinks."

The delcatty turned and looked back at all the surrounding pokemon. "Alrighty, take these people away. Keep them under close surveillance."

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

"So, Rhys left us quite a bit of cash," Raiden reminded us. "So, I mean if words won't persuade Jaegar, money should warm that cold heart of his." Raiden counted through the endless rolls of bills Rhys had given. It was more money than I had ever seen in my life.

"So, where exactly did this money come from. Is Rhys that wealthy?" I asked over the noise of hard rock playing from a building.

The raichu counted the last roll, and placed it back in the smaller bag within his backpack. "Rhys borrowed it from Genesis. I mean they're rich, so this much is chump change to them."

"How much do we have?"

"twenty-thousand, all in hundreds."

I nearly yelled out from the amount. I never cared to count the amount, but I didn't guess near the amount we were given. "Surprised he trusted us not to run off. Three pokemon can get by a long time with that much."

Raiden shrugged before he looked off towards the club where Jack waited. "Yeah, well I'd get by a long time. You'd be dead without your meds within two-three months. Naomi would have trouble retaining her memory, which would probably get her killed."

"I wasn't saying I would," I added as I looked back at the club. I took in every detail, of the building, trying to guess what the inside layout would be. It was a tall brick building, well taken care of. All windows were blocked out from black blinds, and from the outside the place almost would've appeared vacant if it weren't for the sound of music and lights shining around the blinds.

"So, we ready for this or what?" Raiden asked as he cracked his knuckles.

"Naomi?" I looked over to her, which she didn't even notice my question or anything else. "Naomi, you alright?" I asked more firmly, waking her from her thoughts.

"What?"

"I said are you alright? Maybe you should sit this one-"

"No," Naomi quickly replied. "I got this, I promise."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Naomi gave a frail smile. I shook my head once, before looking back at the building.

"Alright, let's go." No one seemed to be guarding the outside, so we were easily able to sneak around the building unnoticed. The walls of the building vibrated from the noise of bass and symbols chiming. For me, it was unbearably loud, especially since umbreon's have good hearing. At the back of the building, we found the back exit, which would probably be our entrance.

"Think we can get it open?" Naomi asked.

"Hasn't stopped us in the past," I reminded her.

"Easy," Raiden reached into the bag, pulling out two thin twigs made of steel. He approached the door, "Stark, give me a lift."

I moved to the base of the door and firmly planted my paws down as Raiden climbed up onto me. Surprisingly for a rat he was heavier than he looked, but nothing too heavy. Raiden mumbled to himself as he played with his lock picks, until 'click'.

"Gotcha," Raiden laughed as he opened the door and jumped from my back. "One of the upsides to fingers my friends."

Inside the air was covered in a thick smoke. It smelled like a mix between cigarettes and… hell I wasn't even sure, but it burned my throat to breathe. The lighting was dim, shadows bounced around the room as beams of light shot around the room from a projector. The clacks of a pool table sounded through the room as burly men played at a table. The humans came in all forms, some looking to be part of a biker gang, to mafia, to flat out looking like they came from a Matrix convention. Sitting in a chair lazily with his legs spread apart was a magmar. A combusken swung her rear towards him as he held onto her waist, massaging her. Yeah, it was one of those places… Anything goes, just don't call the cops and you're good if you don't get your teeth smashed out. Luckily, I knew how to blend with this kind of crowd, so long as no one got annoyed with my different appearance. Naomi on the other hand I worried about. Places like these had no respect for women, so I was just waiting for someone to walk up and try something on her.

"He's usually by the bar," Raiden informed us as we walked past the party of humans. Halfway through the joint, a man smashed his pool stick against another mans head, snapping the stick in two. The two exchanged hits, but like it happened every day, no one paid attention.

"This place looks… rough," Naomi spoke up, but was muffled to a whisper from the music playing from a live band near the bar.

"Just don't talk to anyone, don't look anyone in the eyes, but don't look powerless," I responded. I looked away from Naomi, and towards the bar. There, passed out at the bar was him. My teeth gritted together from the sight, Jack Jaegar.

Suddenly, it got hot real fast, almost like an oven. I couldn't believe it was him… Only a year may have passed, but he still looked the same. Black trench coat, mafia looking hat, long grown out hair that cried for a trimming in its crazy mess. His hand stuck out over the table with his face buried in his other arm. A knocked over shot glass was inches from his limp hands, but bone dry.

"Well, we caught him passed out drunk," Raiden said, jabbing at his legs. "Should I zap him awake?"

"No," I shook my head. I glanced around the room, looking for someone who'd fit what I was thinking, until I spotted a machamp. Covered in gang tats, and his four arms wrapped around two pokemon..

"Get some money out, Raiden."

* * *

**Point of View Black**

Drip drip drip… There was a loose pipe somewhere. It was very annoying.

Down in the basement of the WPA base we found ourselves in a cell block. Rhys, Lilly and I were all crammed in the same one, along with five other pokemon. There were only two blankets, a toilet and a sink for us. Lilly, Rhys and I all sat along the wall, trying to get a small bit of space from the five other inmates. Rei sat against the wall, playing a harmonica that he got from nowhere. No I'm not even kidding about that, it was literally from thin air. If I had to guess it was probably some illusionary harmonica.

He played cliché harmonica prison music, something I've seen in a cartoon that had played on the TV long after Alex fell asleep. It was honestly quite annoying after five minutes and when someone tried stopping Rhys he just snapped their wrist when they tried prying it from him. Now a smeargle laid curled up on the ground, nurturing his injury in tears. All the others got the message, don't come near.

Rei was also deprived of his skull helmet, WPA wouldn't trust him with it. For the first time I got a good look at what was under a marowak's helmet. His head almost resembled a totodile, but the snout was a bit shorter.

A loud buzz startled me to my feet. A door soon opened at the end of the cell block and the sound of feet tapping along the hard floor followed. It grew nearer and nearer until three pokemon stood outside our cell.

"Where did you get that?" the delcatty questioned Rei as he looked up.

"Just had it on me."

The delcatty looked at Rei for a minute, barely blinking. "No, we took everything from you, including your helmet. You had nowhere to hide it."

"All but one place," Rei winked at her before extending out the harmonica. "Here you want it? All yours."

"Ew, no way," she quickly backed away.

"So," Rei stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Did Zack finally agree to speak to me?"

"He did," the delcatty said. "He wants you too, Ryder."

I stood up from the ground. I anticipated I would have been getting out of here soon, there was no way my Dad would leave me in here without one last word.

"What about me?" Lily asked with a bit of worry.

"Hmm, nope. He didn't mention you, sorry."

Lily frowned at that. "Don't you two leave me he-"

"We'll be back," Rei smiled at her.

"Alright, you two, come." One of the two pokemon accompanying the delcatty, an elekid, unlocked the cell. He opened just enough room for Rei and I to squeeze through. The elekid locked the gate behind us as the delcatty led us down the hall. The other two pokemon followed close behind. We travelled to the first floor, and across the facility until we were at the door of a conference room.

"Zack is inside. We have specific instructions to send you two in alone. Just know, if you two do anything, then you'll have all of WPA in here to put you down in less than ten seconds. We clear?"

"Yeah," Rei agreed, before opening the door. Inside I was blinded by a brighter atmosphere. A long table stretched across the room, made of some glassy wood. Plants were also in each corner of the room, but that was all there was to this room. No décor, just plain and simple. I didn't have to walk too far in the room before I caught sight of Dad. He sat at the end of the table with Isaac at his side. The grovyle leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, glaring at me and Rei with malice.

"Ryder, thank Arceus you're alright," my Dad stood from his spot, rushing over to me within a second. He embraced me in a quick hug, taking very little notice of Rei. With a weak arm, I tried to return the hug, but emotionally I didn't feel it.

Dad released me and gave me a little space, but kept his eyes focused on me, like he was studying me for the first time. Hell, after so long he may actually think he's looking at a different son. I wasn't the same, haven't stayed one way for too long over the months either.

"Listen," Dad cleared his throat. "I know what they're saying, I don't believe any of it. But, everyone is pinning this on you. We need to talk about this if we're going to change this, if not…" My Dad shook the thoughts away. "So, tell me it wasn't you. You didn't do it, right?"

"N-No!" I quickly uttered. "Why would I ever do that!"

Dad gave a sigh of relief. "I knew you wouldn't, but I just had to hear it."

"So is everything good then, this'll clear up, right?"

He shook his head at me. "No, sadly I can't overrule it, not without more support."

"But you're the lea-"

"A leader," Dad corrected. "There are four others. "I'm just one. Most blame you, others are undecided, but only because I was so intransigent when they tried to accuse you. If you talk though, we can fix this, but I need the full story of everything down to the last detail."

"It wasn't your son," Rei spoke up as he tore a leaf from a plant.

"You're the marowak that's wanting to talk, aren't you?"

"Mhmm. Names Rei, and I can tell you everything about what happened too."

"Yeah, you were there at the scene as well, so you can expect me to be questioning you."

"Alright, so I'll explain things. But more importantly, you should know that the doomsday clock is ticking, and times running out."

"Excuse me. Wanna elaborate on what you mean by that?" The fur on Zack's neck stood, I could tell he didn't like any of this.

Rei tore at the leaf, piece by piece smaller strands fell to the carpet. "Ghost has a plan to change the world, and it's right around the corner. I need the help of WPA to stop it, along with anyone I can get. So, I'd hope the World Peace Association will take some interest in this." Rei turned to my Dad, his tawny eyes tearing into him.

"If you're holding information, then you better start talking," Isaac stepped forward, his arms crossed in an intimidating pose. Rei and Isaac both stood as the same height, and both appeared equally intimidating.

"Of course." Rei smirked, and without his mask I was able to see his pointy teeth. "So how much do you know of nano cells?"

"A small bit, I know Genesis has been experimenting with them a lot over the years."

"Good good, you're not completely ignorant of your enemy. Now, what if I told you, Ghost has been conducting research on nanomachines that control pokemon and humans subconsciously?"

Dad stood, blinking his eyes in place, trying to figure out what to make of the rhetorical question. "I'd say you told me something that interests me. Go on."

For almost an hour straight Dad and Rei talked. He gave my dad the full lecture on how Ghost wanted to unify the world through having similar beliefs and cultures to minimize conflict. He even went into details about how no one would have free will to harm each other and stuff. It was nearly the same explanation I got earlier a little under a week ago after I departed Lumiose with him. By the end of all this my Dad was taken back, speechless as he stood in place.

"Well, what do you have to say, Zack?"

"I don't know," Zack answered blankly. "I'm trying to figure out how a nobody knows all this." Zack looked Rei in his eyes.

"Want to know my secret?" Rei closed the gap between him as he leaned in close to Dad's ear, nearly pressing his lips against it. "I'm really Rhys in disguise." Dad's eyes flinched to a glare as he darted back, charging a flame attack. Isaac leapt to my Dad's side, ready to kill in an instant.

"Hold the flames!" Rhys rose both his hands in submission. "You win, I yield."

"Why the Hell would you come here!" Flames spewed from my Dad's maw as he struggled to control himself. "Looking for a fight!?"

"I just told you why I'm here." Rhys turned to his zorua form, and didn't seem the least bit worried. "Let's be honest Zack, if I'm telling the truth you need me. I know everything about Genesis. I even know who Ghost is, down to every detail. I know how to stop their plan. Do you want to make an enemy of your greatest ally?"

"I don't care, you're responsible for a lot of crap I had to go through. You're responsible for-" My Dad stopped himself.

"Yeah, I am responsible for your brother's death. But, a lot more pokemon and humans are going to die if something isn't done. If you wish to settle things with me, fine, but leave it for after this battle."

"Ryder, get away from him!" My Dad ordered.

"Dad…" I looked him in the eyes. "He's serious. Genesis is doing this; it's why I chose to help him. I've seen proof of it as well. The pokemon who caused that subway to derail are under the influence of these nano cells."

"Bullshit, you don't know what the Hell you're doin-"

"I do!" My voice rose. "I'm not some kid anymore, I'm an adult! And you know what, I went through a lot of shit to get here. I watched Mom, Cassie… Kaz, all of them die. I survived on my own after, till Alex caught me. Then I survived multiple shit storms after. So don't say I don't know what I'm doing, because I've seen enough to know that Genesis needs to be stopped. I have a right to make my own choice and to choose my own side! I trust Rhys, he's not lying, it wouldn't make sense for him to do all this just to lie."

"And you're aware he's responsible for a lot of what's happened?" Dad retorted, still fuming heat.

"Yeah, I am. But, Ghost is up to something, and right now that needs to be our priority."

"He's right," Rhys added. "Whatever bad blood you and I share, we can deal with it after. You may hate me, but you know Ghost is the greater threat."

Dad snorted, before exhaling a sigh. "How much time do we have?"

"Less than a month. His plan takes action on new years"

"And you wait this whole time just to tell me now?!"

"Believe me, I did everything I could to get out here. There was a lot of preparation, even I, Ghost's right hand pokemon doesn't know everything. Everyone in Genesis is kept in the dark, only a small handful know what he's up to." Rhys walked towards my Dad, stopping only with a few steps between. "So, what'll it be. You can choose to kill me here, and you'll be fighting Ghost alone in the dark, or work with me and have access to everything you'll need to successfully win."

Dad's eyes went blank as he began to ponder everything. Rhys waited, until my Dad spoke up. "If what you're saying is true, then I'll do it. Not because I have any respect or trust in you, but because I agree Ghost is a threat." My Dad move in close to Rhys until their faces were inches apart. "I swear though, should you do anything to make me doubt you, I'll kill you in the most painful way possible."

Rhys just nodded. "You'll find that I am hiding nothing from you. I do have one request though, one you'll agree with, most likely."

"You got to be kidding m-"

"I will continue carrying out this mission under the persona of Rei the marowak. It is very important that I am able to keep my identity a secret, and it would probably work best if the world didn't see me as the criminal Rhys. For now, that is."

"Fine, but let's get something straight 'Rei,' you work under me, you got that? All members of WPA are under my command, not yours."

"Of course." A smile grew on Rhys as he transformed to his marowak for, with a new skull forming on his head.

* * *

**Point of View Stark**

Rope tightened, and with a grunt a knot was tied. The machamp from the bar firmly had Jack tied to a chair, still passed out drunk. The man snored, no worries, no guilt, easy dreams. Seeing it made me laugh out of hysteria, I really wanted to kill him right here. It'd be too easy, he was Christmas wrapped right here, thanks to the machamp I paid to help us.

"Anything else?" The machamp cracked his two sets of hands and flexed out his muscles. Tattoos of skulls riddled his arms with violent details of blood oozing from the eye sockets and knives sticking through them. Cool art, dumb to wear plastered to your arms and chest. It screams criminal all over it.

"No, that's all. Thanks for helping." I turned to Raiden. "Get his pay, tip him as well." Raiden did as I said, paying around four-hundred dollars for the help and for his silence.

"Well then, if you need anything else, you know where to find me." The machamp didn't waste any time on leaving us with Jack.

We waited for Jack to awake on his own. It wasn't until the first beam of light pierced the blinds of the motel room that Jack started to shuffle in place. His eyes opened, blinking repeatedly as he took in his setting.

"What the?" He turned to look around, before clenching his eyes shut with a migraine. "Whoever did this, you got something coming to you." Jack's eyes opened, and he turned to meet stares with me. At that instant his eyes widened like one of those bizarre anime characters. "What the fuck!" He yelled as he struggled in the chair, nearly tipping it in his struggle.

"Morning, sleepy head," Raiden teased as he gave a jab into the human's leg, sending an electrical current through him.

"You two got three seconds to explain what the fuck this is! I killed you, and you should be dead as well!" Jack thrashed about in the chair. Raiden shook his head, before sending an even stronger shock through him. The human seized for a second from the electrical volts, before he stopped, panting for air in pain.

"The gardevoir's ball is the one marked with a one," Raiden told me. I glanced at the two pokeballs Jack had left. I remembered back in the day how he had the pokeballs numbered by rank. I used to be number one back then, Sam was two, Raiden three, and Naomi in last. Now he just had two left, the gardevoir and the blaziken Naomi mentioned. I found number one and kicked in front of Jack.

Naomi came out of the shadows, revealing herself to Jack. The human's eyes narrowed in on her. "Jiminy fucking cricket, her too?! The fuck is this, you should all be dead fucking pokemon!" Jack continued to fight against the ropes binding him. Raiden climbed up onto the human's shoulder and placed his palm to his temple.

"Open it," Raiden told me, and I pushed the button on the pokeball. With a flash of light, a willowy form took shape. Two red eyes flickered, first thing she saw being Raiden's palm pressed against Jack's head. In a quick blur her hand reached to her back where she had a knife sheathed.

"Freeze! One move and I fry his brain till a potato has more intelligence," Raiden yelled just as her hand touched the blade's handle. Jack bit at his lip as he tried to pull away, but Raiden just pushed against his head. "Now, Eva, mind being a friend and translating what we have to say to Jacky boy here?"

Eva gave up on the knife as she curiously looked at Raiden. "So, what, you're turning on us now?"

Raiden smirked at her, "Yeah, that'd be the simplest way to put it. Now, do what I asked."

Eva placed a hand over her hip. "Fine, but if you kill Jack I'll put this knife in your-"

"And then I'll kill you," I growled from behind.

"Oh, it's you," Eva looked back in surprise. "I've heard lots of stories about you, infamous white umbreon. I remember hearing you were dead."

"You heard wrong."

Eva turned back to Raiden. "Fine, I'll translate. But what I said earlier still stands. Touch Jack and you're dead. Now go, I'll translate what you say."

I cleared my throat as I stood in Jack's view. "I don't even have words for this," I started. "I had this whole trip to ponder the words I'd say to you, but I can't even begin to form the right words. I'll kill you if you touch Naomi again would probably be a good start. And I'll make sure it's painful too."

"Tff," Jack snorted. "Think you scare me, you fuck-"

"Shut up and listen," Raiden flicked Jack in the eye, getting a yell of pain from the human.

"Right now I want to kill you," I continued, trying to keep my composure. "It'd be easy right now. I'd just kill the gardevoir, she wouldn't respond fast enough. I'd then move onto you. Usually I'd go for the jugular, quick and easy, but you deserve far worse than that. So, what would I do? Probably chew off your Achilles heels, then take you far out into the middle of nowhere and leave you unclothed to freeze and starve to-

"You ever going to get to the point?" Jack yawned. "Putting me to sleep with your fantasizing. What do you really want? If you wanted to torture me you'd already be having the romp of your life doing it."

"Smart, and dumb," I responded. "Yeah, you're right, I would have already done what I wanted to you if I didn't need you for something else. So, truth being said, I was sent here on someone else's whim. He wants your help getting ahold of the mercenaries not linked with Genesis. Since you were blacklisted after your failure in Cyllage, you now belong to a group that works outside of Genesis."

"And what's it to you, wanting back in the game or something?"

"I already said, someone else sent me. So here's the deal. I'm going to give you a meeting place, and you're going to bring your whole party of friends with."

"And why would I help you, fucking idiot?"

"Because, there is a lot of money involved. Millions to go around. My boss is Rhys, right hand man of Ghost."

"Ghost, as in the leader of-"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Rhys has a plan to go against them. So, in return anyone who helps will be paid a great deal of money, since the money will be coming from Genesis's pocket."

"How much?" Jack leaned forward with interest.

"For you, millions if you can get your friends to come and help. After that, you and I, we part ways. I won't come after you, and you won't come after me. I'm still wanting your blood, but after this Genesis ordeal is over I just want to settle down far away."

"Like I care what you want. What I care about is the money. Call your boss, I want to hear it straight from him."

"Fine, if he'll answer," I replied. "Naomi, can you set up a call?"

"Yeah," she nodded as she went over to the tablet that was on the table. She climbed up from the couch and onto the table. For two minutes she messed with the device using her shaky paws. It was obvious she was uncomfortable, Jack saw this and just laughed at the sight.

"What's the matter, got some brain damage you retar-"

"Quiet!" I snapped and shot a shadow ball past his face, searing the skin on his cheek. Jack didn't utter a word after, and that's just how I wanted it. A few silent seconds passed, before Naomi got a live video chat going. The tablet rung as we waited on Rhys to answer, and just when I thought he wouldn't answer, he did.

"This better be important, I don't exactly have a lot of time," Rhys showed up on the tablet in his marowak form.

"Jack wants to say hi," Naomi told him. "Can you talk to him?"

"Yeah, I'm currently hiding in a bathroom stall just so I can answer this call. Just got to be quick, kay?" Naomi grabbed the device and held it up in her maw for Jack to see the marowak.

"So you're Rhys, a pokemon?" Jack said with disappointment.

"Yes, and you must be Jack Jaegar."

"I am," the human said. "So let's cut the shit, how much do I get for helping with this, and what exactly am I doing? No BS, or I'm out."

"Right," Rhys agreed. "The pay for you will be five-million dollars, if you can bring me a sufficient amount of help. All of them will be paid as well. As for the task, well I'm about to fight a war and I need man power. So, I need people who aren't afraid to put themselves in danger, but can also work in teams."

"That's it, get paid to fight against Genesis?" Jack sneered. "Fine, but I want half up front, pronto."

"No can do, Jaegar," Rhys replied.

"Then fuck you, you fucking fucker!"

"All we can do up front is ten-thousand. Most of the money that's going to be used to pay your fees will be from what I commandeer after Genesis falls. When Ghost is out of the picture I'll have clear access to everything, including Genesis's money. It's five-million Jack, do you want to turn down the offer of a lifetime?"

"You mean the scam of a lifetime? Do you think I was born yesterday or something?"

"Not at all, I know you're an intelligent human, otherwise you wouldn't have survived this long being a killer. But, how about this, if you refuse to do what I ask, I could also leak information to the WPA on your little posse of friends down at Kershaw's. Would you prefer that? Not many places left for you to work after that."

"You threatening me, because if you are I'll slit your throat you fucking reptile!"

"I'd call it more of a warning, but perceive it how you like. Now Jaegar, do we have a deal?"

Jack looked Rhys dead in the eyes and studied him. A grin grew on the human's face, before he started laughing to himself. "Screw it, I don't care. Five-mil, I'll take it. If you're lying though, don't think I will hesitate on putting you down."

"Right, now I got to go. I'm quite busy." The call ended there. Jack glanced at all of us.

"Well, you going to let me go or what?"

"Not yet," I replied. "We'll mark down a place and time for you to meet us. The same person who helped us get you here will be back later tonight to untie you." With that said, I walked back to the gardevoir's pokeball and returned her back into it.

"You're going to leave me tied up here?!" Raiden jumped off the yelling human. He searched through the motel, until he found a scrap paper and a pen. In neat handwriting he wrote down the location, time, and date of where to show up.

"Well, take care Jack. See you soon," the raichu waved off as we exited the motel. Jack began to curse and threaten us, but we ignored him.

Outside the air was crisp. The motel was just outside the city on the main road that led into town. I sighed a breath of relief, happy that I managed not to kill him with all those years of built up anger.

"So, you really mean that, you're going to let him live after all this?" Raiden asked.

I didn't bother looking at the raichu, "No. When this is over, I do plan to kill him. He'll probably try to do the same."

Raiden exhaled a strong breath. "He will, so I'm glad you're not being an idiot about this. Just be sure to get the drop on him."

Oh I did plan to get the drop on him. First chance I get I'm killing him. It may not be slow like he deserves, but he's going one way or another. When he brings us the help we need, I'm taking him out. He's going to pay, for making me a killer, for hurting Naomi, for everything.

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** This chapter took a bit longer due to complications and it being longer. When I wasn't even that far into this chapter I developed something called stenosing tenosynovitis. basically what it is is where the sheath of my middle finger became so inflamed that the tendon couldn't get would also lock my finger up over night, and it would hurt a lot to open. So this made my right hand useless due to immense pain. So, I had to write this chapter with my less dominant hand... Fun.

**Guest review Zero Lunar:** I would like to thank you for all the reviews over the past two weeks. I read all of them and really enjoyed hearing your opinions. Unfortunately I don't think it'd be a good idea to respond to all of it here, so I'll just answer something you mentioned about updates. I update once every other week, but sometimes it takes me a third week if life complications get in the way. I also don't randomly disappear, but I do from time to time take a 1-2 month hiatus, but that's always in my author notes with the date I plan to be back. Thanks again for all your reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying the story.


	119. Not a criminal

**Book II: Impending Twilight**

* * *

**Chapter 119: Not a criminal**

* * *

The blaring noises of the TV filled the room. This morning Mr. Hayter settled for the news. As always, it was compiled with dark and downright depressing stories. A man on the TV spoke into a microphone on the city streets of what reminded me of Lumiose. On and on he talked about rising numbers in missing pokemon. With a bit of thought, I wondered if Genesis made a difference on the statics chart on the screen.

At the table, Mr.- John cut a fried egg with his fork. Every now and then he'd sip his coffee, slurping at it in a way that made me cringe in annoyance. Everything he did annoyed me now. How I just wished he'd go already… How I just wanted to go and leave, go home to Flare and tell them I'm okay. Sadly, I'm here for a little while longer. John said the first day of the new year we could leave, then I'd never have to come back.

With a clank of his cup on the table, he stood. "Well, I have work to do. I'll be back tonight, so I'll see you then." He walked near me and crouched down, extending his hand out. I moved back an arm's length from him, staring at him with an unsure look.

"Right," John frowned, standing up and turning to the door. "When you're ready then," he said, sounding betrayed, but he wasn't the one who had been deceived his whole life. John pulled down the door handle, before stopping. His eyes drifted towards his hand as he lingered for a moment. "I know you resent me, that's fine, but later tonight I would still like for you to hear out a favor. So, if you could be here when I get back, that'd mean a lot."

No response, I just let him leave me alone. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving quietness.

Eyes still on the door, I huffed out a sigh. "What could you possibly want from me?"

* * *

"So, that's the plan?" Zack paced back and forth in the conference room. Isaac, who had not said a word the whole time, just watched Rhys. The marowak sat at the table, coffee cup in hands.

Inhaling the steam with a sniff, Rhys responded. "That's the plan."

"Ridiculous," Zack shook his head, pushing smoke from his lungs. "You do realize I can't make an alliance with these criminals, right?"

"You can. Besides, times running out, we're out of choices. Ghost will win if you don't do what you have to."

"They're criminals!" Zack spat a flame in his fit.

"Well, after this war, do what you want with them. I never intended to pay any of them to begin with. They're criminals after all"

"Right," Zack snorted. "You're just using them, claiming you'll have all this money. I believe you will have all this money from Genesis, but what's your ulterior motive. I know for a fact you're not just going to step away after all this. So, what is it, let me guess, you want Ghost's spot, or all the money to-"

"Enough," Rhys' cup clanked from a firm hit against the table, spilling drops. "I've already decided I will be taking the majority of that money. With it, I plan to fix as much of the damage as possible. Genesis has torn a lot of lives apart, and I swore to do what I can to make it all be-"

"Just shut up," Zack snapped. "Don't think for a second I trust you. I doubt someone like you had a true change of heart. So, answer me, what are you hiding?!"

A dry chuckle left Rhys. He adjusted the skull on his head, before looking Zack in the eyes. "Revenge."

"Hmmf, believable," Zack snorted, sounding more convinced. "Why?"

"That I am not obligated to answer. But, let's just say I'm getting very sick of living in his shadow."

"Right, because you want to be the boss now."

"Think whatever you want. Either way, tomorrow your troops need to be moved to Snowbelle as I asked. As many as possible"

Scowling, Zack responded, "I already said I would. Just remember who's in charge of my people. Anything you want, you go through me."

"I already said I understood that," Rhys propped his chin up using his hand. The two waited, no words being said. That is until Rhys' eyes flickered to life. "One more thing, through all the other preparations I almost forgot."

"What now?" Zack scowled.

"I have a friend, her name is Lucy. Back in Shalour, Lucy and I were separated. I need you to understand that it is crucial that I find my servine friend. She has something very valuable to winning this war, and if Genesis realizes what she has she'll be dead.

"Like another criminal would make things any worse," Zack scoffed.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

The wind whipped through the air, cutting into my face. Even with both my arms shielding myself, the winds still hurt. My cheeks had grown numb over the night, my feet stinging from the snow reaching up my ankles. All I wanted was somewhere warm, even as a fire type it was just too cold out. That inner heat did little to fight days of harsh snow.

A scarf wrapped around my neck flapped in the wind. It's azul color offering some contrast to my bright yellow fur. My arms moved to hug the scarf against myself. thankfully, I managed to scavenge something that offered some comfort.

Looking back and forth, I found a narrow alley to take cover in. In the cover of the buildings, the snow was much shallower, and at the mid-point, I slid to my rear against the wall. My tail coiled around my body and I hugged it against me and my scarf. All I could manage were shivers and a few curses at how cold and tortured I felt. How I yearned to be at home in a warm bed, or just anywhere away from the snow.

"Alex…" I whispered to myself, a vista of the human appearing to the front of my mind. How much I missed my human. All these months and all I ever did was trouble him, and now I'm just up and gone like this. Maybe Dawn told him… but I imagined whatever she told him wouldn't have been easy for him or anyone. They probably sent Gray to deliver that message, Dawn wouldn't even care to do it herself.

"Dawn," I tasted the bitter name on my tongue. "I really hate you," I stated, but like she'd care.

No leads had come my way since I declared my war on the absol. I tried looking, I even scouted near the area they had me imprisoned, but I wouldn't dare go back. All that I had left were the WPA members in the city. If I could get information out of one, then maybe I'd have a chance of figuring something out.

"What to do, what to do?" I mumbled. If I knew how to use psychic abilities I could just break into a head and take what I needed, but I wasn't even sure how those powers worked. Sure, it was now my second nature, but I wasn't exactly sure how to access this part of my mind. I tried, I really did, I even attempted to move objects, but in the end, I just felt like a kid trying to discover some power I didn't really have.

"Maybe Ebony could have helped me out," I said to myself. Although, Ebony visited a trainer twice a week to train under him or her. I never met this person, but from what I've seen this person made good progress with her. Wish I had the money to hire someone to train me. Maybe I'd have to get a job, I could save for a pokemon residence… Maybe I could just live a new life, no one would ever know if I changed my name.

For a while, I thought about a new life. I found a bit of comfort from that, and after a while I found myself lying on my side, drifting in and out of sleep. It was still too cold to sleep, but just closing my eyes and trying felt better than nothing. It felt like forever until I actually fell asleep.

* * *

**Point of View Annie**

"Zylen, you really shouldn't be up!" I pushed both arms against the zoroark, trying to force him back in bed. But, with a firm grip on both wrists, he yanked my hands off. Feebly my arms hung limp in his possession, both his icy eyes stayed on me.

"I said I've had enough." His voice was still that of a ghost. Thin, no air, and sounding dead. Zylen bit down as he stood with a long groan of pain. Releasing me, he gripped at the wound on his lower left torso. Red started to spread from under the bandages.

"Zylen!" I cried. My eyes weighed heavy as I watched my closest friend torture himself. No matter what I couldn't let him do this, his wounds hadn't healed enough.

"I-I'm fine!" His voice whipped at me. I stepped back. In the end I knew I didn't have a right to boss him around... It was me who got him in the position he's in now.

"Look." Zylen propped himself against the cabin wall, already short of breath. "I've been a lot worse before. Yeah, it's rough, but there are other things to worry about right now."

"Like what?!"

"Genesis and what they're planning. Let's also not forget that WPA is also most likely infuriated with us."

"And Flare," I whispered, remembering how I've neglected him during Zylen's recovery. For all I know WPA could have killed him already.

"Him too. Although…" Zylen stopped, seeming as if he couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Although what?"

"It's been a bit, who knows whether WPA thinks we ran away or not. And if they do think that… I don't know what they'd do to your brother."

"Then we have to get to-"

"We've already lost a lot of time. I don't know if we can do anything."

"We have to try! He's my brother, I have to at least know he's safe, it's because of me that he'd be in trouble because I fell out of line!"

"Don't get me wrong, I intend to help track down your brother. But, I can't predict what has happened over the time you were nursing me back to health. Dawn might have gone for him, or maybe she just left him out of it. Who knows?" Zylen rifled his hand through his mane, searching for something. "Dammit, just when I needed one," he muttered.

"What?"

"Smokes, we'll have to hit up a store when convenient. All this stress and crap has me dying for one."

I placed a hand on my hip. "Usually, I'd advise against your bad habit, Zylen." Zylen shrugged at me, having no plans of changing. "So, you'll come with me to find my brother, right?"

Zylen nodded. "I planned to, so you'll have to deal with me a bit longer. But one thing, maybe it's best if we don't go straight to Flare."

My eyes snapped up at Zylen. "Wait what?!" I stared at him, blinking in confusion.

"I said we should wait to see Flare. I got a theory that if we go to WPA with our information we might be able to stop WPA from thinking we're defecting or whatever conclusion they've drawn."

"And what if it's too late and they think we're against them or running away?"

Zylen shook his head as he gave a distressed sigh. "Sorry Annie, but I don't know if Flare's still in good hands if that's the case. We've been gone for far too long, whatever they wanted to do with Flare they would have done it already. But, if there is still a chance then maybe talking to them can fix things."

"Maybe…" I said thoughtfully. "You're probably right, but where would we find Dawn?"

Zylen gave a smirk, "Leave that to me, I know a guy who knows a guy."

"As always…"

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

I jolted up with a deep breath. My chest rose up and down, I panted, feeling as if I almost suffocated in my sleep. For a moment, I laid on the ground, reflecting back to the dream I had. Already I had almost forgot it, but what I did remember was of Dawn. I just remembered being a fennekin, and being forced to face Dawn alone. In it, I was powerless, couldn't even produce a small spark of a flame. I shook the thoughts from my head.

Feeling groggy, I let out a yawn as I stood up. I stretched my limbs out and rubbed the grogginess from my eyes. With an inhale, I noted how awful the alley smelled. Last night I never took notice, but it was beginning to make my nose twitch from the rancid stench.

Not wanting to stay any longer, I walked down the alley. It wasn't until at the end of it that my foot crunched against something. A burn ignited in the padding of my foot and I let out a yell as I fell back on my rear, clenching my bleeding foot. A paw print in the snow revealed a glass shard stained in blood. No, it was a mirror shard. Looking to the left, a broken mirror leaned against the alley wall, just next to the dumpster.

"Crap," I sucked in a breath, still feeling the sting. Blood stained the snow beneath me. I examined my cut, thankfully there were no mirror shards in it. After a few minutes I pulled myself up using the wall as leverage. I kept my hand on the wall and stood up on one foot. My eyes caught the mirror image of myself. Two redish-orange eyes stared back. Truthfully, I cringed at the sight of myself, I didn't look like me. Granted I didn't know who 'me' was. It was as if the moment I became a braixen I was no longer the same pokemon. Really, I didn't feel like Flare anymore, I felt like ashes of the old me… Maybe Cinder, but whatever was left, it wasn't much.

Drops of blood fell from my foot, adding a contrast of red stains in the snow. The red that did wetten my foot was masked by my black fur. My golden-brown fur was a mix of dirt and whatever else was on it. No longer was it soft and fluffy to the point your hand would just glide through, but instead it was clumped together in spots as a dry tangly mess. The white fur at my jaw had stains of food that I was unable to clean off with my resources. The only thing that did remain in good shape was the blue scarf I had acquired, seeming to be almost new.

I turned to position my back on the wall. I uncoiled the scarf from around my neck and rose up my foot and started wrapping my scarf around it. Within seconds the scarf I had grown to like was a mix of reds and blues, looking as if the user had been murdered with it on. When secured, I tested my weight on my foot. A stab went up my foot, but it was going to have to do.

When I was on the streets limping, most humans were up and moving about. Most of the streets were occupied, filled with flourishing activity and the chatter of people. Many eyes were set on me as I struggled along the walls of the buildings. Most were taking notice of my wound, or just thinking I just needed to be put out of my misery.

It wasn't long until my stomach was grumbling in pain. "Food" it cried to me, and that was all I could think of. What I would give for a nice big juicy steak, some puffins , even kibbles wouldn't be too bad, just anything.

After a bit, I wandered into the market of Lumiose where many vendors were setting up their concessions. Most were farmers from the country. They sold a variety of fruits, veggies, meats and crafts. Of course, I was only here for one thing.

I couldn't believe I was going to do what I was thinking, it was so risky and against everything Alex had taught me. Even my own sister had taught me better. Still, none would be against it if they knew how miserable I was and that I needed it.

I scoped out the area, looking for a simple vendor to rob until I set my eyes on an old man selling fruits. About five baskets were filled to the brim with fruit of all kinds. Casually, I walked in the direction of the vendor, trying not to draw attention to myself. When a few yards from the vendor, I bolted at his merchandise. My foot burned, but I did my best to ignore it. With a strong leap I jumped up onto the vendor's booth and grabbed the first thing I could get, an orange. Both of the old man's eyes shot open wide in utter shock as he reached out for me, but I leapt away from his hands.

"Stop, that bastard is robbing me!" He screamed as I hurried away. I ran as quickly as I could, pushing through the crowd of people. No one had realized what had happened by the time I was on the next street. Each step sent a wave of pain up my leg, and halfway down the next street my foot gave out. I fell in the middle of a crowd, crashing onto the brick ground. My grip on the orange loosened and the orange rolled into the sea of humans, where it was taken by the kicks of their feet.

"Dammit," I muttered as I got up and limped in a hurry. I didn't stop running until I was sure I was in the clear. By that time, I was already lost in the heart of central Lumiose. I rested on the stairs leading up to the entrance of an apartment building. My foot throbbed, my lungs felt inflamed and my stomach ached from hunger. At this point, I felt there was no hope.

"This is freaking ridiculous," I growled below my breath. "Why is this happening to me?" I had to ask. With all my being, I wanted to know why I was always dealt the short end of the stick! Well, I knew the answer but didn't want to accept it. It was Dawn's fault, all hers! She's the one who antagonised me, the one who messed up my life, the one who took my sister and even exiled me from my life.

I pressed both of my palms to my face. At any moment I felt like I was going to snap. Firmly pressing my hands against my face felt like I was holding in all the pressure that was ready to burst free. A minute passed before I released myself, but when I did something caught my eye across the street. My eyes narrowed in on the pokemon walking by himself, a croagunk.

"Tyson," I whispered. I watched for a few seconds as he strutted along. I sat there blinking in complete surprise until the croagunk was almost gone from sight. In a quick jolt, I sprang up to my feet. Quickly, my pace increased as I walked after him. No way was I going to let him slip through my fingers, I was getting my answers.

I followed behind him, staying a good distance. Not once did he ever look back, or do anything to show he suspected me. I tailed the croagunk for miles through the city until we were at the shady side of Lumiose. The population of humans and pokemon thinned out and it became just me following him down an empty street. The entire street was under constructions and new buildings were being built. It was Sunday though, so no one was working at the moment.

Tyson made his way into the open buildings. No walls had been put up yet, just the skeleton of a building. I waited for a minute, before walking in after him. Inside, he grabbed an electronic lantern that had been waiting for him. Tyson examined the lamp, and with a flick of a switch, a light was summoned. Tyson scanned the vicinity, before setting his eyes on a stairway leading down. Without hesitating, he headed down the steps into an abyss of darkness. Moving as fast as I could in a limp, I moved to the stairs. When at them, I made my way down, taking it one slow step at a time.

Down below everything was pitch dark, save for the illumination of Tyson's distant lantern. The air had also become damp and cold. My arms hugged against myself in the freezing air.

"You're late," a crackling voice started from the dark. Two looming eyes of crimson illuminated in the dark. Never once did the blink as they became an ominous light that dwelled within the shadows.

"I've been busy," Tyson dryly replied.

"Right," the other pokemon said with equal attitude.

A purple foot stepped out from the shadows followed by a pokemon in the form of an egg. Sharp, pointy teeth you'd only see on a monster formed a smile. And two bloody eyes burning through the dark, looking Tyson up and down.

"Let's cut to the chase, do you got the money?" The gengar held out a plastic bag, containing a white powder that looked like flour (Was it?). No, they weren't here to exchange cooking ingredients, it was drugs… Cocaine?

"Of course," Tyson reached into his glove, pulling out a roll of money.

The two both exchanged possessions and stepped away. The gengar undid the band on the money and began to count, while Tyson held his drugs up in the light.

"Well then, I'll be sure to contact you when I'm in need again," Tyson smirked. Tyson turned to leave in my direction.

"Right," the gengar nodded. "Just one question though?" Tyson stopped in his tracks, looking back at the gengar who now frowned at him. "Why didn't you come alone this time?"

"Right." The gengar shook his head. "There is a kid hiding in the darkness right in front of you. I can see him as clear as day, is he not with you?"

In a quick motion, Tyson threw the lantern in my direction. The plastic object bounced up off the ground before rolling along the ground towards me. As the light revealed me, I stood from my crouched stance.

"Who are you, why are you following me?" Tyson growled, shifting to a fighting stance.

"Don't remember me?" I said, kicking the lantern with my good foot back at him. The light rolled along the ground till Tyson was illuminated once again.

"No, I'd remember some punk ass brai-" Tyson stopped himself. A grin forming on his face as his guard dropped. "But I do remember a punk fennekin. So you evolved now, huh?" Tyson laughed to himself. "Well congratulation, but you're still some kid that I'm going to have to take in."

I held up my palm to my face and a bright ember formed in it, casting a faint red light over my face and upper chest. "Where's Dawn?"

"What?" Tyson burst into a laughter, his gut expanding out as he laughed. "You really think you stand a chance against her, kid? You only escaped by luck."

"I don't care about any of that," I snapped, the ember in my palm growing into a flame. "What I do care about is her getting what she has coming to her. I won't let her hurt anyone else!"

The room fell silent as Tyson looked me in the eyes.

"Should we just kill him?" The gengar snorted. "This kid just seems like a headache."

"It's looking that way," Tyson sighed. "Here I thought today was going to be decent, but now I got to clean up this crap."

"You're a criminal just like Dawn," I muttered.

"It's my job to put you down. You're a danger to societ-"

"Yeah and I'm sure it's your job to be snorting coke too," I snorted.

"Heh, I never claimed to be a paragon." Tyson shrugged. "I mean, deep down Dawn's a good person, you just don't know that side of her. Me though, I'm far from good myself. Sure I play on the good guys team, but I've done too much bad stuff to ever be considered a hero or anything. Didn't Dawn ever tell you, everyone on her special unit was a criminal?"

"My sister wasn't a criminal!"

"Oh, so you did get something out of her." Tyson chuckled to himself. "Well sure, your sister was never a criminal, and I never broke the law once either. Like you too Flare, you're not a cri-"

"Stop!" The flame in my palm exploded into an overwhelming torrent as I tossed it right at the croagunk. Both him and the gengar leapt out of the way. A storm of hissing flames exploded into the ground, sending a flurry of embers everywhere.

"Still got that temper I see," Tyson stated. "Face it kid, you're like me, a criminal. Only a matter of time before you're taken in."

"I'm not anything like you, nor is my sister or Zylen!"

"We're not different?" Tyson smiled. "What if I told you I was once a part of Genesis?"

I stopped right there. All at once my anger faded as I stared at the smirking croagunk, unable to even blink for a moment. "that's different," I stuttered.

"Really, what was so different? Both organizations killed, both experimented, plotted for domination, hardly anything was different. You're just ignorant and in denial, kid." Tyson cracked his knuckles. "Enough chit-chat though, about time I finish you." Tyson rose up both of his fists as his feet spread apart.

"This is your deal, so leave me out of it," the gengar nonchalantly stated, as he crept back into the shadows.

"Why don't we take this upstairs," I suggested. "Neither of us have an advantage down here."

"Fine by me," Tyson agreed.

The two of us both kept our distance as we went up to the first floor. A silence lingered in the room as we both faced each other from our own corners. We both waited for the other to move first, not taking our eyes off each other for a split-second.

In unison, the two of us both sprung into action at the same time. Tyson bolted at me, as I leapt back with a fireball in my palm. Cocking my arm back, I tossed it. Tyson spun around the attack, keeping his speed. The croagunk leapt at me, tackling me. All the force went onto me as I scraped against the ground.

"Having fun?" Tyson slammed his fist into my cheek, banging my head into the concrete. For a second, everything went black, and the next thing I knew Tyson had both his gloved hands firmly around my neck. I grabbed both of his arms trying to pry them off, but the pressure on my neck increased. Each second my grip on him grew weaker and my vision grew blurry. Instinctively, my right hand rose up and grabbed Tyson by the cheek. My palm reddened as Tyson let out a loud yell and smoke started to come from between his skin with the sizzling of cooking flesh. Both his hands released me, but I never let go of him. My other hand rose up and grabbed him as I brought him to the ground with me.

"Mother fucker let go!" Tyson screamed out, punching at me repeatedly. One firm punch on the nose, and I heard a crack and blood began gushing from my nostrils and trickling down my throat. My hands released the croagunk and I scurried to my feet and created a gap between us. Both my hands clenched over my bleeding nostrils. A current of blood gushed down the back of my throat, so I leaned my head forward in an attempt to stop it..

Tyson remained on the ground, rocking back and forth, holding his scarred face. A bit of smoke came from him as he whimpered in pain.

Guilt welled up in me as my stomach turned. Never had I hurt someone on this level, I always toned back my flames to avoid severe damage to my opponents. This was the first time I actually aimed to kill.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Tyson cried out, removing his hands to show the damage. He crawled onto his hands and knees as he looked up at me. Charcoaled skin flaked from him as a web-like pattern of deeper burns and melted skin made me gag. I placed a hand over my mouth, finding myself unable to breath.

Tyson removed the gloves from his hands. "Get over here!" Tyson launched himself off the ground, cocking back his fist.

Jumping back, I evaded out of his path and followed up with a flaming punch. Blue at the core of my knuckles, my fist erupted in a violent explosion. Tyson flew across the room until he was skidding along the ground with traces of burnt flesh that had torn off.

Tyson didn't move this time, instead, he remained on the ground, panting in his raspy breath. I walked up close to him, stopping with a small gap separating us. The croagunk shifted to his back, looking up at me.

"Shit," he spat out. "Got me pretty good with that." His entire hip to the left side of his chest was covered in charred skin. "I'd fucking lay you flat if I could move, but I'm about to pass out," Tyson's voice became weak.

"You could have just answered my question. I didn't want to fight," I replied, trying to keep the disgust out of my tone.

"Then how else would you have vented all that hate?" Tyson snorted. "True what they say, fire types really are hotheads."

I shook my head, ignoring that statement. "Where's Dawn, help me and I'll call an ambulance."

Tyson gave out a feeble laugh. "Think I'm afraid to die, kid? Besides, I'd deserve to die after everything I've done," Tyson's voice went to a whisper.

"You becoming remorseful now?" I crouched down onto one knee, balancing myself with one hand.

Tyson closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Look at what you did to me. I can't see it, but I can tell by how you're looking at me. I look disfigured now, don't I? How bad is it?"

I never responded. I couldn't.

Tyson's fake smirk faded away. "Like I said, not like I don't deserve this. I worked for Genesis, I've done awful things with my life. Which is why I'm also so annoyed to see kids like you hiding from who you are."

"I don't hide, I've accepted who I was. I've also accepted that I don't have to be that person anymore. Someone special to me taught me that, it's a lesson I'll forever cherish. I almost forgot it over the months."

"Is that so? Cute," Tyson joked but showed no emotion in his words. "You know I was around when Dawn became scarred?"

I looked at Tyson with curiosity.

"I've been with Genesis since I was a kid. When I was a lot younger, Genesis wasn't independent yet. They were a branch in some underground government operation. Anyways, I was trained from birth for security in this facility and well, one day Dawn was brought in. She was just a kid, about five years older than me. I was ten at the time." Tyson shifted in his spot, before letting out a moan of agonized suffering. "I didn't know why at the time, but she was part of some resistance. She had information, and because of that they were torturing her and her friends. Looking back at it, it really was sad, from what I saw of the old her, she was sweet, and tried to keep her friends safe. She lasted longer than I thought, but…" Tyson became quiet, his eyes opening to look at my expression. "They did a lot to that young girl. I never laid a hand on her, but I was present a lot when she was tortured. When it wasn't the trained humans doing the work, my colleagues were doing it just for kicks. They were raised to be vicious killers, they enjoyed every second of it. Hell, at times I thought it was funny…

"They beat her, verbally tortured her, telling her what an ugly person she had become. They even preyed on her when she was too weak to resist... I watched it all happen, and because of that, Dawn became who she was." Tyson's jaw tightened as his fists trembled. "So you may hate Dawn, but she was molded into who she is. Because after her friend broke, and the torture was for nothing, she was taken far away from her homeland. It was a long time before we met again, but from what I was told she was experimented on after she was taken away."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, you want to kill her so badly yet you don't even understand who she is. You may think Dawn is exploiting pokemon, but really she's trying to redeem them."

"What?"

Tyson let out a dry laugh at my confusion. "That's why I'm here. WPA raided a Genesis facility and we met again. She recognized me instantly and beat me half to death. She didn't finish me though, instead, she took me in. For whatever reason, pokemon like me, she believes should pay for what they've done. Now here I am, working to make the world a better place to fix what I've done. She's not the bad person you think she is, she's just different if you don't know her."

My jaw hung agape from Tyson spilling out his guts like that. I wasn't really sure of what to make of all this. "Dawn took my sister," I responded, at lost for any other words. "I just wanted her back, and now I don't even know where my sister is, or if she's still alive."

"There is something I never told you," Tyson started. "Two weeks back, your zoroark friend was found on a security tape in a pokecenter."

"He was?! Why didn't you-"

"It's too dangerous," Tyson cut me off. "The head of Genesis took him, he wasn't killed but we aren't sure what happened to him."

"I don't care, you need to tell me where he was, it's a lead! Tell me this, and I promise I'll reconsider things with Dawn, all I really care about is finding my sister!"

"Snowbelle," Tyson answered. "That's where we saw him."

I gave him a nod. "I'll send medical attention." I stood up from the ground and got ready to run from the scene before a burn ignited in my back and I collapsed to the ground. The sound of water spraying to the ground caught my ears as a warm liquid rushed from my backside.

"Jason," Tyson whispered.

"I thought you had this covered, guess I overestimated you." With my entire backside burning, I looked up to see the gengar looking over me, both his red eyes peering into me.

"I got careless," Tyson admitted. "The kid was a joke a week ago, I guess I didn't expect him to do this."

"Hmmmf, like I care," the gengar muttered. "What I'm more interested in is the fact that you're some WPA pig. Ever thought to mention that to me?" The gengar pressed his foot onto tyson's chest, digging his foot into his burns. Tyson let out a yell as his eyes and mouth clenched shut. "I've lost two of my little brothers to you WPA pigs. So, I think it's only fair if I repay the favor, don't you?"

"Don't," I muttered as I reached a hand out to Tyson. I tried to form an attack, but I was too weak to do and damned thing.

"Just getting what you have coming," the gengar raised up his hand, a dark energy forming. "People like you, are just making it harder for guys like me to make a living."

"Do whatever you're going to do, but nothing's going to bring back your bro-"

Jason brought his hand down. A red mist sprayed into the air as the gengar ripped into his chest. Tyson never even let out a final breath as his face went blank. I yelled out at Tyson, but I already knew it was too late. The gengar dug around in his chest, tearing up his internal organs with his shadow claw. With a yank, the gengar pulled his hand out, splashing blood all over the ground.

"Tyson, no," I whispered as I pressed my head against the floor, unable to believe what had happened.

"Now for you," the gengar panned his view towards me, blood spattered all over his face.

* * *

**Point of View Aiden**

"Dope," I mused, flipping a page in my book. Already halfway through, I continued to be absorbed in a book someone had thrown away. I mean who in their right mind, right? This is knowledge we're talking about!

I continued to giggle, flipping through the contents of my story. Lucy and I both found a bench in the middle of a park. Off in the distance, a large number of children romped on a playground, screaming, laughing, and crying out as they pulled on each other's hair. It'd be cute almost if it didn't give me a raging headache and get in the way of my reading.

I flipped another page, my jaw hanging agape at the conclusion of the chapter. "Oh my god!" I said in astonishment, hands trembling.

"Okay, what're you doing?" Lucy scowled, casting me an odd look.

"I'm readi-"

"That's not reading, it's a comic and you can't even re-"

"It's a manga thank you, get your facts straight. Secondly, a good manga can tell the story just through the pictures. Like look, this guy I decided to name Bob in this story just got betrayed by Billy, see-see?!" I pushed the picture book inches from her face.

"Get that crap outta here!" Lucy snapped, grabbing the book with a thorny vine.

"No, wait, I was at the end!" I clung to the book, and with a loud tear all the pages scattered into the wind. I gave a gasp, holding a hand over my mouth. "Lucy… what have you done?"

"Doing you a favor. Like you should be reading that nerdy crap. Besides, we need to be searching for Rhys, not reading comi-"

"Manga!"

"Whatever." Lucy's eyes rolled. "Anyways, I'm going to get something out of the vending machine. Want anything?" Lucy dug through her backpack, pulling out a few dollars.

"Chips, or if you really want to say you're sorry you'll get me some cheese puffs."

"Better be cheap," Lucy muttered as she walked off to the vending. As she went away, I began scraping together the remnants of my manga. Already most of the pages had blown off into the wind, but I managed to salvage a good third of the story. I shuffled through them, trying to make sense of it, before giving out a defeated sigh.

"Now I'll never know what happens to Bob," I pouted, as I let the wind carry away the pages. For a moment, I watched them on their journey into a brave new world of being scrap paper, before I noticed a page snagged on Lucy's bag.

I looked back in the direction Luce left in, seeing that she was just now at the machine. A devilish smirk formed on me as I unzipped the bag. "Okay Lucy, what're you hiding from good ol' Aiden?" My paws rifled through the bag until my hand touched something cold and hard. I felt at it for a second, before realizing it was a case. "Gotcha," I chimed, pulling out the forbidden fruit. Both my hands fumbled around with the latches, trying to unhook them.

"Hey, stop!" Lucy's voice screamed. Faster than I realized it, Lucy slammed herself into me, somehow not breaking the sound barrier in her lightning speed. The saliva spat out of my mouth and I gave a cry as I tumbled to the snowy ground. Before I could even move, one of Lucy's vines coiled around my wrist and yanked me onto my back side. With her other vine she held my other hands. The thorns hiding with just peaked out, barely cutting into my skin.

"Ow-ow-ow. Not the thorns!" I pleaded as Lucy sat over my stomach and leaned in close. I gulped as her two eyes burned into me like a heat I never felt before. Out of fear, I stated the first thing that came to my mind. "I've ummm… I've seen enough anime to know where this is going."

"What?" Lucy's head cocked to the side.

"It's a umm manga thing… Well more of the internet, but it's usually with tentacles instead of vines and umm- wait why am I explaining this?!" I cried out as I realized what kind of dark stuff I was getting into. "You're too innocent!"

"I'm innocent now?" Lucy flinched before sneering. She began to wringing out my wrists.

"Ow-ow-ow!" I cried out, cringing at the discomfort. "I'm sorry, I was just curious, I won't do it again!"

Lucy examined me for a second before her vines released me. "Hopefully, you're smart enough not to, or next time it'll be your neck."

"Heh, kinky, some people would enjoy that," I joked.

"What is wrong with you?" Lucy said, not moving off of me.

"I don't know, I've been asking that for a long time," I said with a smirk." Now, unless you feel comfortable there, can you please get off me, you're umm… never mind."

Lucy looked down at me as if she never noticed me, and quickly pushed herself off of me. I inhaled a deep breath as air could properly move through me again. while Luce just picked up her secret little box.

"You ever going to show me what's in the box?"

Lucy growled, "I told you, you braindead dinosaur, not until after I find Rhys."

"Right, zorua guy. And where is he?"

"I don't know. He'll be around soon, I know it."

"So faithful," I dryly stated, before pulling myself up.

"Let's just go, we've got to search to make sure he hasn't arrived."

"Aye," I nodded.

Lucy led the way back into the city. Our search went like any other search. Lots of banter between us, no success, maybe a few near death experiences from the psycho servine. She is a piece of work and I'd hate to meet Rhys if he's like a father to her.

As Lucy and I walked down a street, I snacked on a bag of cheese puffs. Lucy on the other hand snacked on a bag of trail mix, going around anything that was unhealthy, like the M&amp;M's. I questioned her about it, then she gave me some long speech about properly fueling her body and how she had to keep her figure. She even told me I was going to get fat when I got older because my metabolism would slow down, but it won't and if it does I'll just burn any extra fat. We fire types are good at burning things.

Along the way, there were a variety of shops, and I even saw a bookstore up ahead on this human filled streets. Just maybe Lucy would repay me for my manga she destroyed. Just as I started to ponder how I'd ask her, I noticed a shimmering a few feet ahead of me. I stopped in my tracks, cocking my head in confusion.

"Hey Lucy, either my eyes are going bad or the air right there is all weird," I pointed at it, and Lucy turned to see. Just as I did point a white figure took shape out of thin air. My jaws dropped as a long slithery monster launched at me. I screamed at a high pitch as a snake wrapped around me multiple times. The force of its muscles crushed against my ribs, making me barely able to read.

"Aide-" Lucy shouted before a white sableye held her into a military style neck hold. She kicked and screamed as her vines withdrew, but with a strong jerk from the pokemon Lucy ended up nearly fainting. Her vines fell limply to the ground as she flickered in and out of consciousness

"Cry and scream all you like, you'll find that all eyes are blind, and all ears are deaf to our presence," a man spoke in a cold voice.

In my struggle, I turned to the man, finding him to be staring at Lucy and not me. The human wore a thick black winter jacket with fur lining the hood. His hands were gloved and he held a cigar in his right hand.

"You…" Lucy's voice became terrified as the man knelt down in front of her.

"Hello, Lucy." The man didn't show a single emotion on his face. On his left cheek, I could make out severe scarring around his mouth area, like the skin had been torn up.

"How did you-"

"I have my sources," the man spoke, before taking a hit from his cigar and blowing out a cloud of smoke directly into Lucy's face. The grass type gave out a coughing fit as her lungs rejected the smoke. Reaching out to Lucy, the man grabbed at her backpack and yanked the bag from her. He unzipped the contents and pulled out the metal case Lucy had been guarding this whole time.

"How foolish of you to blindly follow Rhys. Did you really think I was too foolish not to see what was happening?" the human opened the container, only to toss it to ground. "Where is it?" The man growled, grabbing Lucy by the jaw, forcing eye contact.

"Very far from here," Lucy answered. The human just sighed, before raising up his cigar and pressing it against Lucy's neck. Her eyes shot wide open as the cigar burned against her skin. She screamed over the sizzling of her skin as she flailed about, trying with everything to free herself.

I fought against the Seviper holding me and yelled, "Stop it, leave her alone!" The human stopped and turned back at me curiously. He stood from his spot, leaving Lucy alone as she teared up in pain. A throbbing red spot of seared off skin stuck out from her neck.

"Someone, don't just ignore us, help!" I yelled out to all the humans that just walked past us like nothing was happening. None even bothered to glance, it was like we didn't exist to them. I turned at them, yelling out to them, but they continued on their merry ways, not even caring. "What's wrong with all of you?!" I yelled out.

"You don't get it, do you?" the human knelt down next to me. "They can't see or hear you right now. You might as well be a ghost right now, because right now that's what we are."

"Ghosts?" I repeated. "That's bull!" I yelled out, trying to fight my way free from the snake's body, but it only tightened against me.

"Think what you want," he said. "But, maybe you know where it is, do you?" the human leaned in close.

"I never even knew what was in that box! Why don't you look again, maybe she's hiding some magical secret string that you missed!"

"Hmmmf, how amusing. It's always the jokers who break the easiest, because that's all your personality has as a defense, little remarks that don't stand for much. In the end, when push comes to shove, your personality type snaps like a twig." The human stood up, turning his back to me. "Take them both back to the base."

"I'm not going-" Before I could finish the seviper started to squeeze against me. All at once I felt the force of my ribs breaking, the air being pushed out of me, and darkness falling over my eyes.

* * *

**Point of View Flare**

In and out of consciousness, I struggled to cling to reality. I laid in a pool of my own blood, only able to see the faint illumination of the lantern Tyson had left. The gengar dug at the ground with a shovel, making a pit big enough for two. A few feet from me, I could see Tyson lying in the dim light of the lantern. His eyes were wide open in shock, blood all over his lifeless face.

I Struggled to move, but my body wouldn't budge more than a few inches. The pain in my back from the wound no longer ached, instead, I just felt numb everywhere. I didn't have any energy left in me, all I could do was struggle to see things to my imminent death.

"Done," the gengar said, tossing the shovel aside and walking towards Tyson. Grabbing his foot in one hand he dragged him into the shadows towards his grave. I heard the sound of dirt shifting and the thud of Tyson's body in the pit.

The sound of light steps approached me until two red eyes glowed inches from my own face. "Don't do this," I pleaded with the little strength I had left.

"And why would I do that?" the gengar grabbed me by both of my wrists, dragging me along the ground. With a strong pull, I was thrown onto a slope and rolled down into a small pit. I landed on top of something bulky, and when I felt at it I realized it was Tyson.

"Please, we can-"

"Just shut up, you have nothing that'll make me stop," the gengar snapped. "I can't have pokemon like you running around crying to the police that I killed a WPA agent. So, you're just going to rot in the ground here, under the construction of this building. All I'll have to do is replace the cement on this spot of the ground and no one will ever find you. No one will ever even know what happened to you."

Both my fists tightened on what I presumed to be Tyson's arms. I could hear the gengar lifting his shovel back up and stabbing it into a pile of dirt. The dirt was then flung on top of me, getting into my wound, making it burn like salt in my wound.

'Someone, please!' I yelled in my head, but I didn't have the energy to even speak. My breathing picked up as the dirt continued to pile on me, but soon the weight was beginning to make it hard to even breath. I tried to push myself up, but my hands would hardly move an inch. This was the end, I had no doubt about it.

"That's far enough," a voice stated firmly through the darkness. The gengar's two eyes turned away from me and to whoever had come.

"Great, who are you?" he growled. No response came, only the sound of something cutting through the air, and a grunt from the gengar. Something fell to the floor, and I could feel blood spilling down into my grave.

"Everything is going to be alright, just hang in there," The voice urgently called to me. I let out a breath of relief. The voice had sounded familiar, and knowing that it was a friend I allowed myself to give into unconsciousness.

* * *

A strong light burned against my eyes lid, taking me from my rest. For a moment, I fought it, but the sound of voices caught my attention. Both of my eyes opened to the sight of a blurred figure leaning in over top of me.

"Alex? I mumbled, as the human took shape. A warm smile radiating from him.

"Thank God, you're awake," my human said, placing his hand over my own.

"How did I?" I started to ask but remembered he couldn't understand.

With a quick glance over the room, I realized I was in a pokecenter. I gripped the sheets of my bed, remembering how much I missed the feeling of a bed. I wanted to go back to sleep right here, but I wouldn't allow myself. I wanted to know what happened more than I wanted sleep.

"You have had us all worried sick, Flare. You just disappeared out of nowhere, and then I get a call today saying you're here," Alex began speaking. "I looked all over for you, we all did, non-stop. I was afraid I lost you too, but thank God we found you."

I gave a frail smile, "Sorry."

Alex stood up from his spot, "I need to get the nurse, be right back." He then proceeded towards the door and left.

"You're up, that's good," A voice sounded through the room. A white blur stood from the back of the room, and after straining my eyes I saw that it was Grayson.

"Gray?" I said in surprise. "What're you-"

"It's alright, I'll explain. For now, save your strength, you've lost a lot of blood and shouldn't really be doing anything but resting." The absol used his two forepaws to help him stand up next to my bed.

"Did you save me?"

Gray gave a nod. "I did."

"How did you-"

"Shh, I said to rest, I'll explain." I did as Gray said, and didn't speak. "Dawn sensed a danger, and at the time she was tangled up in something else, so she sent me."

I stopped breathing at the mention of Dawn. If she sent Gray, then she knew I was here, and she'd probably kill me when she had the time.

"Sadly, I wasn't fast enough to save Tyson… I didn't expect him to be dead when I arrived on the scene. But there is one thing I've been meaning to talk to you about, but now I have two things on my list. One: I saw what happened to Tyson, and I realize you wouldn't potentially do that, but Dawn won't be happy if she realizes you did it." Gray exhaled a frustrated breath. "But, I told Dawn there was another pokemon on the scene, and that he escaped after I killed the gengar."

"But why?" I nervously asked, almost too afraid to hear his motive behind this.

"Because, I know a lot more about you now, and this gets into number two. I know your little secret. You're Ex-Flare." All the fur stood up on my body as I looked Gray in the eyes, unable to breathe. Not once did he blink, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes. "I get why you did what you did now, Tyson told me everything after you were originally imprisoned. You were just trying to find your sister that was taken from you long ago, and they were hiding things from you. You being Ex-Flare explains a lot as well, from your friendship with the blaziken, to your depressed attitude when in Geosange, and how you'd never talk about your past. It all made sense when I figured out the truth."

I remained frozen, not knowing how to respond to Gray. He wasn't wrong, and there was no doubt in his words or expression, he knew he had the truth. "So, you're going to tell everyone and turn me in?" I looked away from Gray, not able to take his stare another second.

"Only if that's what you want," Gray replied. I turned back at him in surprise.

"But I'm Team Flare, I'm a criminal, I should be dead right now for that!"

"Shut up, Flare," Gray rose his voice. "You were just a kid from what I heard, it's not your fault, and it shouldn't be held against you. I am upset that you lied, but at the same time, I can see why you would lie. I'm not telling anyone, and I'm not turning you into the WPA or the police, nor will I expose your secret to anyone."

I bit down at my lip, unable to process what him knowing this even meant, even if he did pledge his silence. "Don't you hate me?" I said without thinking.

"Why would I?" Gray looked confused, but still kept his monotonous look.

I turned away from him again, finding it too hard. "We're natural enemies… I was born into Flare, and WPA and Team Flare hated each other. There would have been a time where I would have gladly tried to hurt you, even kill."

Gray didn't answer at first, and just simply thought about what I said, until he was ready. "It doesn't matter. You did lie, but my feelings, our bond, none of it has changed. You're still you, and never once did I feel you were a danger to anyone."

"But-"

"No, just let it go, Flare. Don't get lost in the mess of your own past, I made that mistake and believe me, you'll regret living in it."

I exhaled a sigh. "Alright," I nodded once.

* * *

**Point of View Kana**

It wasn't until much later in the night that John finally came back. With a slam of the door, I was startled awake. My head shot up from the couch cushions as I looked at the source of the noise. John gave a sigh as he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes and took a seat at the recliner across from me. He leaned back into it lazily as he held his head with his left hand, as if he was coping with a headache.

"Mr. Hayter?" I nervously asked, unsure if the human was about to pass out on the spot.

"Sorry sweaty, long day," he simply answered, before leaning forward. He gave one final rub against his eyes before speaking up. "Thanks for staying awake, I know you'd usually be in bed by now." I waited patiently as John continued on. "I need something from you Kana, it's the reason you were brought here."

"Wait, the reason I was…" I stopped mid-sentence, searching my mind for something that'd make sense of this. "What do you mean, I was brought here by mistake, wasn't I?"

"Sorry," John began. "I lied to you again, but not without good reasons. I need your help, and you're the only one I could trust to do this."

* * *

**Chapter End**

* * *

**Author Note:** Once again my chapter comes out a bit late. I apologize, but I've been busy. Had a wedding to attend, so I lost a weekend, lots of school stuff to wrap up, and I had to set aside A LOT of time for Dark Souls 3 :). Anyhoo, hopefully I can flip that around. One thing I will mention though is that I'm graduating high school next month in May, and after that I'm starting a full-time job for our family business to help save up for college and stuff (I'm taking a year off to save). So what I'm getting at is that I don't know what my schedule will be like, from the way things are described I'll be working an average of 50 hours a week and it's a hard labor job. So I'm hoping to keep the usual schedule, but I can't say what'll happen. But I do plan to finish this story one way or another.

**Special thanks to genericgamer207 for editing this chapter. **


	120. Notice

This isn't an update for the next chapter, but rather a notice that I'm taking a minor break from writing The Black Dawn. Lately in life I've just had so much going on. I'm just four days from graduation, I'm about to start a new job and all this other stuff I've probably mentioned. All in all, I just can't focus on writing lately and whenever I do it's not fun like it used to be… Most of all I've just felt depressed lately, and I just want to take some time to focus on some other aspects of my life. Sorry, I know the Black Dawn series is nearing an end with just two arcs left, but I don't want to finish the story if I can't even focus. I wasn't even happy with my last chapter; it just didn't feel right for some reason. I'll still be working on writing, just at my own pace.

**I will aim to have things back up and going within the next two weeks or by** **June 15th.**

Also, before I forget to say this (Cuz I will next time I update) I am strongly considering changing my FFN username. I kinda hate my username now, it was cool when I used it like 4-5 years ago, but then a movie came out and my name just hasn't been viewed the same ever since (I'm sure I've mentioned that before). So in the future if you see my story posted by another name, that's just cuz I changed it, I'll probably give a heads up before I do on the next chapter though.


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